Afghan Govt Criticized for Absence of Women In Political Roles
New Age Islam News Bureau
23
May 2020
Dubai Sports Council convened a virtual forum for female players of Dubai clubs this week, under the leadership of Rawda Al Mahrazi, chairwomen of the Council’s Women’s Sports Committee
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• Dubai Sports Council Organizes Virtual Forum for Female Players of Dubai’s Sports Clubs
• A Lost Phone Brings a Female ISIS Returnee to Trial for Crimes Against Humanity
• Two Kosovar Women Charged With Joining IS In Syria
• Prophet Muhammed Expanded Women's Rights to Include Inheritance, Property and Marriage Rights
• Rape Charge Through Video Clip: Punjab IG Prisons Moves FIA Against Woman ‘Prisoner’
• How Egyptian-Moroccan-Dutch Model ImaanHammam Is Giving Back This Ramadan
• Pakistan- No Govt Policy or Law for Home-Based Women Workers In KP
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/afghan-govt-criticized-absence-women/d/121934
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Afghan govt criticized for absence of women in political roles
23 MAY 2020
Kabul, May 23 (IANS) Recent meetings of prominent Afghan political leaders have been held without the presence of women, which has sparked reactions from activists who said women should be given a role in decision-making about the future of the country, the media reported.
This week two meetings were held with US special envoy ZalmayKhalilzad -- one with President Ashraf Ghani and another with Abdullah Abdullah, head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, and there were no women present, said the TOLO News report on Friday.
In another meeting, Ghani and Abdullah met with a number of former Mujahideen leaders and some prominent politicians.
No women were present in these meetings either, which were held to discuss the next steps in the peace process, including a quick start of the intra-Afghan negotiations.
"The country''s politicians should ensure the presence of all citizens in big decision-making for the government, but, regretfully, they are forgetting women, as women are not a priority. This happens in the absence of the international community''s pressure," said ShahlaFarid, a member of the government''s negotiation team.
Women activists and former MPs took to social media, criticizing the government for this move.
"It means that only men''s views are important on national and political matters in the current situation of the country," Shahrzad Akbar, the chairperson of Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, wrote in a tweet.
"Where are women?" she asked.
"Mr. President, a change in customs and habits is a difficult task," said Fawzia Kofi, a former MP, on Twitter, pointing to an Afghan way of thinking, which, she says, prioritizes men in politics.
But, presidential spokesman SediqSediqqi said women''s empowerment was at the top of Ghani''s agenda, reports TOLO News.
"President Ghani''s key policy element on women''s empowerment and political integration have not been symbolic, but a meaningful approach to elevate women and raise them up to higher levels of decision-making over the past five years. And this approach will remain firm in the future," he said.
The office of First Lady RulaGhani said this office is busy in social activities and that it is not involved in politics.
https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/afghan-govt-criticized-for-absence-of-women-in-political-roles/1843608
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Dubai Sports Council Organizes Virtual Forum for Female Players of Dubai’s Sports Clubs
May 12, 2020
DUBAI — Dubai Sports Council convened a virtual forum for female players of Dubai clubs this week, under the leadership of Rawda Al Mahrazi, chairwomen of the Council’s Women’s Sports Committee, and more than 40 players from different clubs participated in the forum.
SheikhaShamsa Bint Hasher Al Maktoum, member of the Board of UAE Volleyball Association, attended the forum and thanked Dubai Sports Council for the initiative.
She said: “The entire world is currently passing through a tough stage, and we need to unite our efforts and comply with the instructions of the Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management. At the same time, we need to keep encouraging our females to continue exercising at home.
“Exercising regularly is important, even if it is at a lower rate than before, because it will ensure the players stay fit and healthy in these challenging times.
“We are working on a plan to resume our sports activities at a time that will be determined by our wise leadership, and we will take all the necessary precautionary measures to ensure the total safety of our players upon the resumption of sports activity.
“A comprehensive sterilization program must be adopted by all clubs and auto–sterilization gates need to be fixed at the entrance of all clubs. But for now, I urge all female players to adhere to the government’s instructions and stay at home.”
Rawda Al Mahrazi thanked SheikhaShamsa in the forum and added: “We convened this forum today to assure everyone that we are together in these challenging times, and we will move forward together, overcoming the challenges posed by the pandemic by continuing to exercise at home and staying fit.”
Al Mahrazi stressed on the importance of the clubs’ support to female players in continuing their fitness routine at home, and the importance of continuous encouragement of the players and follow-up on the mental side.
“Emirate women are capable of reaching the peak of their athletic ambitions on the international stage, and the Women’s Sports Committee seeks to provide them with the tools and opportunities to pursue their dream,” she said.
“Our focus is on opening doors for women of all physical abilities, and to attract and promote the best talents... players with great ambition, and support them in reaching their best levels.”
Dr. Dana Al-Hawami, a physician and clinical nutritionist, also attended the forum and gave tips to players on how to maintain physical fitness through proper nutrition and by staying away from unhealthy foods.
She also listed the most important factors in staying healthy and fit, such as eating healthy, adopting a healthy lifestyle, exercising regularly, sleeping enough hours a day and thinking positive. — SG
https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/593032/Sports/DSC-organizes-virtual-forum-for-female-players-of-Dubais-sports-clubs
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A Lost Phone Brings a Female ISIS Returnee to Trial for Crimes Against Humanity
byMaisMasadeh
May 22, 2020
Almost six years have passed since the genocide against the Yazidis, an ethno-religious minority group in Northern Iraq, and one of the first trials against a female ISIS returnee accused of crimes against humanity recently commenced in Hamburg. While some European countries, such as France, have given up on their nationals who joined the so-called Islamic State by letting them face the death penalty in Iraq, Germany is standing by their citizens and taking steps to prosecute them domestically. As the Hamburg judges move forward with the case against Omaima A., they will have to determine whether she is guilty of charges including keeping a 13-year-old Yazidi girl as a slave.
The Case of Omaima A.
On May 4, the trial against the 35-year-old German and Tunisian citizen, Omaima A., began in the Higher Regional Court (Oberlandsgericht) in Hamburg. She is facing multiple charges related to her participation in ISIS.
In January 2015, Omaimatraveled from Germany via Turkey to Syria with her three children. Her apparent aim was to join her then-husband, an ISIS fighter, in Raqqa under the rule of the would-be Islamic State Caliphate. After arriving in Raqqa she was initially housed in an ISIS women’s shelter before her husband, Nadar, arranged housing for them together.
From that point onward, Omaima brought up their three children in accordance with ISIS ideology and participated in ISIS activities. Her household also included an enslaved 13-year-old Yazidi girl, as allowed by ISIS ideology. While she did not join Nadar on the battlefield, Omaima still possessed a Kalashnikov AK 47 assault rifle.
Nadar was killed in an air strike on Kobane only a few months after Omaima and the children arrived in Syria. Following this, she received a condolence payment of $1,000 and a further $310 for child support from ISIS. Omaima then married another ISIS fighter, Denis Cuspert, who was a German national and high-profile ISIS propagandist. Following a series of disputes with her new husband, and desiring to give birth to her fourth child back in Germany, Omaima left ISIS territory at the beginning of September 2016 and returned to her previous life in Hamburg. She was working as an event planner and translator when she was arrested in 2019.
It is unclear whether Omaima lost her phone in Syria or deliberately left it behind. Regardless, a Lebanese reporter got hold of her phone — complete with 36 GB of data, pictures, and videos — and drew attention to the case, which prompted official investigation. Phone data show her children playing with guns and grenades, Omaima using a Kalashnikov AK 47, and even celebrating Osama bin Laden’s birthday over a cake depicting his picture and the two U.S. towers. Omaima was arrested on September 9, 2019, and has been in custody ever since.
Given that her phone holds so much data it could be a mine of evidence against other ISIS returnees and defectors.
The Indictment and Universal Jurisdiction Over International Crimes in Germany
Omaima’s case is particularly significant because she is one of the first female ISIS returnees to face charges of crimes against humanity in Germany, or elsewhere for that matter. In particular, she has been indicted for enslaving a 13-year-old Yazidi girl as a crime against humanity under the German Code of Crimes Against International Law (CCAIL) (section 7(1)(3)).
She is also facing an interesting mix of other charges, including violating the War Weapons Control Act for possessing an illegal weapon (section 22a(1)(6)). Under the German Criminal Code, she is accused of: joining a foreign terrorist organization (sections 129a(1)(1), 129b(1) sentences 1 and 2); violating the duty of care she owes to her children (section 171); human trafficking of a minor under the age of 14 for the purpose of labor exploitation (sections 232(3)(1), 232(3)(2), 233(1)(1), 233(3)); and depriving a person of liberty (section 239(1)).
Omaima’s case is one of the universal jurisdiction prosecutions currently underway in Germany. (Just Security has discussed the German universal jurisdiction cases in other articles.) Here, the CCAIL provides a framework for exercising universal jurisdiction, expressing the harm to the international community caused by such crimes and requiring no nexus to Germany. Questions of her nationality, her physical presence in Germany, where the alleged crimes took place, who they affected, and so on, accordingly are important only for prosecutorial discretion. At the same time, Germany has jurisdiction over her other alleged crimes, which took place in Syria and do require a connection to Germany to be tried there, because she is a German citizen.
Although Omaima’s charges mark a benchmark success for international justice, the auditorium of the main hearing room allowed only six places to protect against infection risks of COVID-19 while the judges stood behind proxy glass during the hearing.
Challenges Posed by ISIS Returnees
Up to 41,490 international citizens from 80 countries are thought to have joined ISIS in Iraq and Syria between April 2013 and June 2018. Among them are 5,904 nationals from Western Europe, but the countries to which they return are handling their cases in assorted ways. In particular, responses by the U.K. and members of the EU toward women, children, and other ISIS fighters who have returned to their country of origin varies depending on a range of policies, ethical obligations toward their citizens, accountability for justice, dissemination of information at the EU level, and the individual’s former or present engagement with ISIS.
ISIS returnees not only pose potential threats when they arrive in Western countries, but also present an unexpected challenge to law enforcement officials. A 2018 evaluation by the European Parliament on the “Return of Foreign Fighters to EU Soil” articulated many dimensions of this challenge, which remain hotly debated in various policy circles. These include: the prosecution and trial of European departees to Syria and Iraq; the sharing of information between European member states and third countries on these departees; and the need to develop evidentiary standards for battlefield evidence. As a result, member states will continue to deal with returnees on a case-by-case basis, while promoting information sharing and the provision of mutual legal assistance among states.
Moreover, ISIS members have fluid and constantly changing personal information in the ambiguity of war, particularly when they slide back to their countries of origin with different names. To address this, governments will need more guidance and robust information sharing.
Women and children returning from ISIS present even further challenges. With children in particular, balancing human rights and national security concerns when making decisions about returnee children is delicate. They cannot consent from a legal perspective, but judges still consider how radicalized each child is to determine what type and duration of rehabilitation is necessary for that child.
The question of what to do with women is even more vexing. First, women often claim they were forced by their husbands to follow them to Syria and Iraq, essentially negating their consent or involvement. As such, additional evidence is needed to determine whether they actively engaged with ISIS and, if so, what the type and scope of their engagement was. Women’s roles in ISIS have changed as the group has evolved. Initially, women were constrained to domestic functions — supporting their militant husbands and raising children to carry on the organization’s vision. However, as the so-called caliphate has been collapsing in recent years, women have been called to arms. For example, ISIS released a video in 2018 showing women fighting alongside men in Iraq and Syria. Second, evidence shows women to be key influencers in their networks, often with family and friends. So, it’s likely that women play a key role in recruiting other foreign fighters; however, establishing such evidence is difficult.
Responses to ISIS Returnees by Current and Former EU Members
In the case of the U.K., all returnees are interviewed by the security service to establish a holistic report on their involvement in the conflict, other relevant experiences, and risks they might pose. If there is no evidence, or insufficient evidence, that an individual has committed an offense, they are placed into a deradicalization program, which can include intensive mentoring and support from psychologists to ensure stable reintegration. Children who have been indoctrinated with ISIS ideology receive intensive care and continue to be monitored after rehabilitation. If there is evidence of an offense, or if the individual is deemed to potentially pose a threat, the government will prevent them from returning to U.K. society, including by revoking their British citizenship, as in the case of Shamima Begum, and the two Beatles. Such tactics could theoretically be used against children as well as adults, but, like other EU members, the U.K. makes determinations on a case-by-case basis and has repatriated some children with U.K. citizenship, including orphans, unaccompanied minors, and children who were left stranded when their parents were denaturalized.
By contrast, France seems to prefer that its citizens be prosecuted in the region “provided that individuals are afforded a fair trial,” according to a European Parliament report. However, in a shocking revelation, the Wall Street Journal reported that France allegedly enlisted the help of Iraqi units to ensure that French nationals fighting in the country do not escape Iraq or Syria. The apparent aim of this effort was to prevent these individuals from posing a threat upon their return in France. By doing so, it allowed French nationals to be prosecuted in the region which, in most cases, involves the application by Iraqi judges of the Iraqi Anti-Terrorism Law No. (13) for the year 2005, and potentially the death penalty if proven guilty. In May 2019, an Iraqi court sentenced 7 French citizens who joined ISIS to death by hanging after prosecuting them under the anti-terrorism law. The French Foreign Ministry said in a statement that “France respects the Iraqi authorities’ sovereignty,” but added that “France is opposed, on principle, to the death penalty, anytime and anywhere.”
In the EU, Germany has one of the highest numbers of persons who travelled to Syria or Iraq. Since December 2017, all ISIS returnees to Germany have been subjected to criminal investigation. Before that, women, like Omaima, and children were exempted unless evidence of criminal activity was brought forward.
Conclusion
The more cases there are of ISIS returnees being prosecuted, the larger the established empirical evidence-base will be. This year, for example, German courts have dominated international news with their commitment and tenacity for justice. It is undoubtedly difficult to prove cases related to faraway abuse. Yet the cases of Taha Al J., who is charged with genocide and crimes against humanity, Sabine S. last year who was sentenced to prison for membership in ISIS, and now Omaima, among other cases, show that there is some hope for long-awaited justice.
https://www.justsecurity.org/70280/a-lost-phone-brings-a-female-isis-returnee-to-trial-for-crimes-against-humanity/
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Two Kosovar Women Charged With Joining IS In Syria
May 22, 2020
PRISTINA -- Prosecutors in Kosovo have filed terrorism charges against two women for allegedly joining the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in Syria.
Kosovo's Special Prosecution said on May 22 that the two women, identified only as A.A. and L.I., went to Syria, where they "willingly became part of the terrorist organization" and provided logistical support to IS fighters.
They moved around Syria "depending on the change of territory of the Islamic State," according to prosecutors.
Following the defeat of the IS group, the women were handed to Kurdish forces and deported to Kosovo on April 24, 2019, with the assistance of the U.S. military, they said.
The two suspects face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of "organizing and participating in a terrorist group."
A Kosovar woman was indicted on a similar charge earlier this month.
She is part of a group of 110 Kosovars repatriated from Syria on April 19 last year. They included alleged IS fighters, 32 women, and 74 children.
About 400 Kosovars are believed to have joined terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq.
https://www.rferl.org/a/two-kosovar-women-charged-with-joining-is-in-syria/30629191.html
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Prophet Muhammed Expanded Women's Rights to Include Inheritance, Property and Marriage Rights
22.05.2020
Religious scholars largely agree that at the onset of Islam in the early 600s CE, the Prophet Muhammed expanded women's rights to include inheritance, property and marriage rights. It was a revolutionary move at a moment when women held few, if any, rights.
Throughout the centuries, however, Sunni scholars have taken divergent views on how to interpret the Quran and the Prophet Muhammed's sayings, culminating in the establishment of four schools of legal thought.
The strictest of those is known as the Hanbalischool and forms the basis of hard-line currents in Islamic thought, including Saudi's ultra-conservative Wahhabism and variants of Salafism. It is this current that has further isolated women in the eyes of the law in states where Islamic law is practiced or enshrined.
However, that hasn't stopped activists, civil society actors and even governments from trying to elevate the legal status of women with regards to Islamic jurisprudence.
Making inroads
In Mauritania, dubbed an exporter of conservative Islamic thought, women's rights have long been subjugated to the status of men, a legacy that was underwritten by the Hanbalischool's influence in the West African country.
But the Mauritanian government has sought to change that. Earlier this month, it backed proposed legislation to "remove prejudice and discriminatory attitudes towards women and girls."
The draft law's main aim is to better protect women from violence and provide a legal avenue to bring charges against perpetrators, oftentimes family members such as husbands or fathers. It specifically designates violence against women as a crime.
However, the proposed legislation has triggered controversy among conservative scholars and leaders, who see it as an affront to men's status. They have argued that the draft legislation violates Islamic law, and as such cannot be afforded legitimacy through parliamentary backing.
Similar efforts to spearhead women's rights in Mauritania failed in 2018 for similar reasons. Currently, the country does not have adequate laws on rape and other forms of sexual violence, according to Human Rights Watch.
'Religious lobby'
SaadEddin al-Hilali, professor of comparative law at Cairo's al-Azhar University, considered the seat of Sunni thought, said those who tend to voice opposition against women's rights in the name of Islam make up a "religious lobby."
Al-Hilali said that the lobby often comprises "senior religious scholars who appear in the media to influence public opinion … regardless of whether an opinion is religiously permissible or forbidden."
In Islam, each legal school has prescribed ways to establish a sound opinion on a matter. However, al-Hilali believes that few are adhering to the criteria, and instead are opting to express their personal views on the matter.
"Everyone cannot pretend that his personal opinion comes directly from God," al-Hilali said. "For, in principle, all jurisprudence can contain right and wrong — even if it is expressed from the highest authority."
Blurring lines
MarwaSharafeldin, Egyptian activist and Oxford University doctorate, agreed, saying the use of religion as a means to prevent legal protections for women is clearly unacceptable, even in Islam.
Sharafeldin said such reasoning could be used to justify violence against women within Islam, a notion she outright rejects as fundamentally against the religion's values. As a result, the distinction between jurisprudence and religion is often deliberately blurred by proponents of hard-line interpretations.
"Some representatives of political Islam are trying to distinguish themselves at the expense of women," Sharafeldin said.
Last week, Musawah, a movement centered on equality in the Muslim family, launched a campaign to "build support at the national, regional and global levels for the urgency of reform towards equality and justice for women living in Muslim contexts."
Uphill battle
The movement has identified at least 45 countries that have Muslim family laws that discriminate against women and girls.
"Not only do these family laws fail to fulfill the Sharia requirements of justice, but they are also being used to deny women rights and dignified choices in life," Musawah said.
Even in Egypt, long considered a bastion of moderate religious practice, women's legal rights have come under threat from conservative lawmakers, who have held up much-needed revisions to the country's family law. Opponents say the latest proposals would weaken men's status by strengthening women's legal claims.
For activists, civil society groups and even governments, it remains an uphill battle.
"For women and girls, there can be no equality in society without equality in the family," said Musawah. "Religion, ideology, culture or tradition can no longer be used to justify discrimination against women and girls."
https://www.dw.com/en/womens-rights-in-islam-fighting-for-equality-before-the-law/a-53539222
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Rape Charge Through Video Clip: Punjab IG Prisons Moves FIA Against Woman ‘Prisoner’
Asif Chaudhry
May 23, 2020
LAHORE: Punjab Prisons Inspector General MirzaShahidSaleemBaig has sought action of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) against the ‘unknown lady prisoner’ who levelled allegations of rape against a senior officer of his department.
The unidentified woman prisoner, in her recorded video clip, leveled allegations of rape against a DIG of prisons with involvement of other officers. She said ‘abortion of babies’ would follow if any victim got pregnant.
She alleged the district jail Lahore’s staff had been taking women prisoners to the office of the deputy inspector general (DIG) to “sexually please him”.
She appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan to take notice of it and visit jails. She demanded an impartial investigation into her allegations and action against the guilty officers.
The video clip got viral on social media, showing the woman with covered face levelling serious allegations against a DIG in Punjabi language.
The IG Prisons rejected the allegations, declaring it an attempt by some elements to defame the department and its officers. He said the prisons department had approached the FIA for action against the woman and the perpetrators behind the malicious propaganda against his department officers.
He shared with Dawn a copy of the written complaint the prisons department had submitted to the FIA’s cyber wing for action.
In the complaint, Punjab DIG Prisons Lahore Region Mubashar Ahmad Khan, on the behalf of the IG Prisons, demanded a forensic audit of the video clip of the woman prisoner.
The prisons department expressed doubt on the background voice, stating that “voice changer device” might have been used in the video clip to target the DIG and other officials for some ulterior motives.
The DIG, in his complaint to the FIA, said first of all, the district jail was not housing any lady prisoner. Secondly, there was a 16km distance between the office of the DIG in question and the district jail.
“As many as 195 closed-circuit television cameras have been installed by national radio and television corporation and prisons department at the district jail,” said the DIG in the complaint.
These CCTV cameras functioned for 24/7 surveillance, recording movement of all the prisoners and the staff and in the presence of these gadgets in the highly sensitive zone, it was out of question to take any prisoner out of the jail, he said and added that other jails in Lahore were also being monitored under the similar system.
The DIG said all the women prisoners were being kept separately in the Central Jail in the double lock system and the said premises was manned by all the women officials or employees.
The Punjab Prisons Department has demanded action against the woman or the persons who were behind the allegation.
Meanwhile, another official,seeking anonymity, told Dawn that the recent video clip might be the result of ‘politics’ in the prisons department. He said there was a grouping in the department, involving many senior officers, to clinch top slots and the video might have been made in this context.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1559038/rape-charge-through-video-clip-punjab-ig-prisons-moves-fia-against-woman-prisoner
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How Egyptian-Moroccan-Dutch Model ImaanHammam Is Giving Back This Ramadan
May 23, 2020
DUBAI: In addition to coming together with loved ones, spiritual reflection and abstaining from food and drink from sunrise to sundown, Ramadan is a time for kindness and giving back to those in need. Egyptian-Moroccan-Dutch model ImaanHammam took to her social media on Friday to reveal that she has donated to two mosques and a charitable organization this Ramadan.
“For Ramadan this year, I’m giving back to three causes that are close to my heart,” said the model on Instagram, writing that the three causes all “support women and their right to worship in peace.”
Among the causes that Hammam is donating to is She’s the First, a non-profit organization that fights gender inequality through education and whom Hammam is an ambassador for.
“[She’s the First] are working to help girls of all cultures and religions choose their own futures through education. I was fortunate to meet and work with many Muslim students in The Gambia and I’ll continue to support them with time and financial donations as well,” she wrote.
Hammam also revealed that she donated funds to the Masjid Al-Huda, a mosque in Fisher, Indiana, to help them develop a prayer space for women. “The second cause I chose to support is the @alhudafoundationfishers Mosque in Indiana. They are working to build a space for women to pray and it’s such a dream to help support their building plans by donating and buying bricks to make this happen,” wrote the 23-year-old.
“And finally, something a little closer to home... I’m proud to donate to the beautiful Islamic Cultural Center of New York which serves the Muslim communities in New York,” said Hammam of the third cause she is financially supporting.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1678771/lifestyle
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Pakistan- No Govt Policy or Law for Home-Based Women Workers In KP
5/22/2020
PESHAWAR: Many home-based women workers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa came from a humble background and spend their lives while trying to earn livelihood with dignity.
FarkhandaJabeen from Peshawar is also one such woman worker who is doing sewing and embroidery, but her financial condition did not stabilise even after doing work for several years as she is not getting proper reward for her work.
'Home-based work is the cheapest business to start with, but lack of any government policy or law on the subject has left this profession virtually worthless,' Farkhanda said while talking to TNN.
KP Workers Union president Tajmina said while talking to TNN that the main problem for women workers is lack of recognition. She said there is need of laws in this regard after which women workers will get social security cards and other privileges enjoyed by the workers.
Tajmina said home-based worker women get too little money as compared to their effort. She said bridal and other embroidery suits used in functions by people are expensive in the market and average price of such suits starts from 10,000 and the range gets higher as much as the buyer can afford. However, she said, the women workers, who work day in and day out on finishing of these suites, only get Rs500 or Rs600 for their work. She said the actual profit is earned by the middleman.
Farkhanda, also known as Shah Gul, said she had to shoulder the responsibility of supporting her family in a very young age after her father passed away. She said her mother taught her different skills and enabled her to earn livelihood. She said her mother also died too soon and left her alone to support the family. She arranged marriage for her four sisters and two daughters and also entered marriage in 2005, but her husband also fell ill and she had to resume hard work to support family. She said she learned many skills due to compulsion of circumstances and her life particularly became very difficult after husband's death in 2014.
Farkhanda then found a job in the Chamber of Commerce where she earned a good package and she learned the art of making artificial jewellery and then transferred this knowledge to many other women. She said she is now capable of many any artificial object. She makes decoration pieces, clothes, jewellery and other items at home, but still she is not satisfied with her income. She said the government must encourage the working women and provide them assistance to further polish their talent and transfer their talent to other women.
Shah Gul also won awards from the Chamber of Commerce, Lur Da Hawa and World Bank, but she is still unhappy over not getting any recognition or encouragement from the government. She said the government must provide loans to working women on easy terms.
Tajmina said she has held a couple of meetings with female lawmakers over ensuring rights for women workers. She said MPA Zenab has assured her that she would definitely do something for home-based women workers.
KP Labour Department Director Irfan Khan said a law for home-based workers is on the cards and meetings are being held in this regard. He said home-based workers will get all rights after enactment of the law.
Marina Khan, who is associated with SMEDA, said the current lockdown situation has increased the value of home-based work. She said home-based work is the safest option for working women as it remains safe from external factors.
https://menafn.com/1100210217/Pakistan-No-govt-policy-or-law-for-home-based-women-workers-in-KP
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