Pakistan: Aurat March to focus on wages, security, peace for women

Islamabad [Pakistan], February 26 : Pakistan's Aurat March, scheduled to be held on International Women's Day on March 8, will focus on wages, security and peace for women, local media reported.
The slogan for this year's Aurat March on International Women's Day is Ujrat, Tahaffuz Aur Sukoon, said social worker Sheema Kermani at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Thursday. She said this year, it will be the fifth Aurat March, Dawn newspaper reported.
After her speech, an organiser of the march put forward the three central demands saying that the march is dedicated to the labour and hard work of women and khawajasira.
The three demands include that "all workers, whether they're working in factories, on farms and homesteads, in homes as domestic workers or as sanitation workers be given a living wage based on access to safe housing, quality education and affordable healthcare for themselves and their families. As a first step immediate reinforcement of the minimum wage across all sectors, and for all actors who refuse this to be fined under the law," the Pakistani newspaper reported.
"The provision of social security and protection through monthly stipends for all women and khawajasira community in view of the care labour they perform and economic violence they are subjected to," Dawn newspaper reported.
"The state prioritise the welfare of the child by putting an end to child labour, trafficking for work, and bonded labour. The government should provide childcare and protection centres and child support services in every district of Karachi and in the rest of Sindh," the Pakistani newspaper reported.