Daily Times

KARACHI: The International Women’s Day conference was designed and organized by the Working Women Welfare Trust on the theme, ‘Be active for a Positive Change from Woman’s Perspective; at a local hotel on Tuesday.

Social activists, scholars, and women representing different fields including Akram Khatoon, Nuzhat Williams, Tahira Tariq, Dr. Siara Bano, Sabiha Shah,Rehana Siddiqui, and others participated in the event.

They said that women are making tremendous contributions in every sector but society and government do not acknowledge it in terms of giving justice to their sacrifices to their economic fields.

The job impacts on the psychological and physical health of women are not satisfactory; not only does a woman face stress at the workplace, but also at home which in turn can cause a number of health problems.

Empowering women to allow them to participate fully in the economic sector and across all sectors is essential in order to build stronger economies, achieve internationally agreed goals for development and sustainability, and to improve the quality life for women, families and communities.

Effective legislation is necessary to bring a positive change in society so as to ensure that women are protected from violence, harassment (at the workplace and generally), gender discrimination, and they have the right to work with dignity and honor.” The perspective and voices of women must be heard and given importance while developing policies and laws”, they said.

“A woman can be an agent of change who, when given a good working environment with full protection, can bring a positive change in society which will lead towards real development”.

While International Women’s Day is a global day, celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, it also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

The first National Woman’s Day was observed in the United States in 1919 on 28th February. The Socialist Party of America designated this day in honour of the 1908 garment workers’ strike in New York, where women protested against terrible working conditions.

No one government, NGO, charity, corporation, academic institution, women’s network, or media hub is solely responsible for International Women’s Day. In spite of that, many organizations declare an annual IWD theme that supports their specific agenda or cause, and some of these are adopted more widely with relevance than others.