The Sindh chapter of the Women Workers Alliance (WWA), a group working for the rights of working women, has demanded of the provincial government to implement its labour policy and laws for ensuring a safe working environment for female workers.
In a conference held by the WWA Sindh, the participants said that female workers in the province face various challenges and problems at the workplace, such as gender-based discrimination, harassment, unequal pay and non-payment of minimum wages.
A group of WWA members, who carried out visits to inspect workplaces in Karachi, Mirpurkhas and Sukkur, told the conference that they had found that at least 128 employers in commercial and industrial establishments or other workplaces in the three districts they visited refused to issue contract letters to female workers.
Describing the atmosphere at workplaces as uncongenial for working women, the participants said that sadly, female workers were facing violence and discrimination in all forms and manifestations, which was affecting their social and economic lives.
Finding proper daycare during the workdays has become one of the major issues that female workers face, the meeting was told. The Sindh Factories Act mandates the availability of daycare centres for factories with female workers.
They said that women also face problems regarding working hours, overtime, salary contracts, group insurance, gratuity and bonus. Social workers, officials from the labour department, trade union activists and female workers in the private sector attended the conference.