Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Pakistan, Jeannette Seppen, on Monday inaugurated a unique “Women’s Action for Better Workplaces Project” that seeks to improve the working conditions of women in public and private sectors as well as act as an advocate for gender sensitive labour laws in the country.

Funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the one million Euros project will span over 24 months and will be implemented by the Trust for Democratic Education and Accountability (TDEA), in collaboration with the member organisations of the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) – Sangat Development Foundation, Centre for Peace and Development, Urban Rural Development Organisation and Now Communities.

The project aims at enhancing the capacities of women workers and their organisations to negotiate and advocate with employers, policy-makers and legislators for an improved legislative framework and effective implementation of existing laws.

While inaugurating the project, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Jeannette Seppen, said that she fully understood the struggle for empowering women around the world and in Pakistan. She recalled that the women of the Netherlands were given the right to vote in 1922.

She said a lot had changed and much was changing for good. “Our history leads us to work together, as our problems are same … we believe in Pakistani men and women and we have seen progress in empowering women, but yet a lot still needs to be done,” she said.

The Chairperson of the Punjab Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW), Fauzia Viqar, said that the lack of data on women workforce was a major impediment in devising appropriate policies. She said there was a need to know about the facts and figures of working women at the district level.

She informed that the PCSW was planning to conduct a survey on the participation of women in economic activities as a prerequisite for targeted policies and actions.

The Chief Executive Officer of TDEA-FAFEN, Shahid Fiaz, said women’s empowerment is a crucial issue. “We have to provide them an enabling environment where they are willing to go out and work”.

The Executive Director Sangat Development Foundation, Zahid Islam, Executive Director Centre for Peace and Development, Nasrullah Khan, Chief Executive Now Communities, Farhat Parveen and Programme Manager, Amir Iqbal of Urban Rural Development Organisation, also presented an overview of the issues that working women faced at the provincial levels.