Faisalabad: April 30, 2015. (PCP) A meeting for Formation of District Level Network and Development of Linkages with Relevant Stakeholders was hosted by the Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation (AWAM), implementing the project “Enhancing Women Workers’ Awareness on their Rights and Labor Laws” under the Gender Equity Program (GEP) of Aurat Foundation (AF). 25 participants including; government officials, women workers leaders, trade unionists, journalists, and representatives of organizations joined the event held on April 23, 2015 at Faisalabad. The purpose of the meeting was to develop networking and linkages among key stakeholders for facilitating women workers to promote their skills and undertaking collective advocacy initiatives to protect their rights. Speaking on the occasion, the director of the AWAM, Nazia Sardar said, “It is pity that some women leaders exploit the rights of other women workers after they become middle persons between market and workers, creating obstacles to empowerment of women for personal gains. The middle persons should play a positive role to defend women rights, and develop better coordination between employers and workers to have fair wages and employment benefits for workers.” “It is the duty of group leaders to exchange information and knowledge about marketing among women workers, and it is imperative for the government to pass national as well as provincial policies for home based workers to protect their labor rights,” she demanded. The project manager of the AWAM, Shazia George said, “The domestic workers and home-based workers work physically, but not counted officially. They have no identify as laborers for being part of informal type of workforce, as they are not legally covered as workers under labor codes in Pakistan. Women workers are considered invisible despite the fact that they are playing their crucial part to strengthen the trade and industry of Pakistan.” “The government of Pakistan must acknowledge their contribution in national economy, and reward them their lost identity by regularizing them to extend social and legal protection coverage to workers engaged in informal sector. The government must ensure fair representation of women by allotting them 15% shops in model bazars as per their reserved quota in government schemes and jobs,” she demanded. The president of the women shelter organization, Razia Joseph said, “The nature of employment is temporary that is why women workers confine themselves within four walls of their houses. Women workers face difficulty to have access to the market due to hesitation and fear of harassment at market and workplaces.” “Women workers must be encouraged and motivated to start their business at small scale. Women workers should also be determined to set up display centres to promote their products in market, which can be helpful to uplift the economic status of their families,” she added. The DDO of the social welfare department, Sofia Rizwan said, “There is need to establish a liaison between government institutions and NGOs to explore the skills of women workers, and ensure their access to the market for sale of products. It is our responsibility to arrange exhibitions for promoting their hidden talents, and create employment opportunities for them to increase their visibility and give them recognition as workers in Pakistan.” A social activist, Nasreen Zia said, “Women workers fail to sustain their work for financial constraints, which is the basic reason of their failure to run business or have easy access to market. Women workers should dedicate their time and work with long term commitment, and must have trainings to improve their skills in marketing and bargaining skills.” A trade unionist, Arif Ayaz said, “It is sad that women are not treated equally in our society despite having population equal to men in Pakistan. There exist disparity in terms of working hours, wages, opportunities and employment benefits. Women workers must form their trade unions or association to carry on their struggle for rights to challenge laws, policies and practices discriminatory to women workers.”