There is no Law for Women belonging to Informal Sector

There is no Law present which recognizes the rights of women belonging to informal sector in Pakistan. Most women belong to informal sector in Pakistan. These are usually the domestic workers or the home based workers. These women face multiple problems everyday but still they are having no recognition by the legislature.

Recently a consultation was conducted to formulate a Policy Recommendation for Women Workers at Islamabad. Number of social sector organizations and renowned activists contributed to the session.

Salman Yousaf Khan (Golra), a renowned lawyer, politician and social worker recommended that there is need for separate legislation for women belonging to informal sector. Existing labor laws do not recognize women from informal sector as workers because of which labor courts in all provinces lack jurisdiction to entertain matters related with women workers from social sector. He further contented that the ombudsmen created under The Protection Against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2010 only deal with women of formal sector as they are forum for organizational disputes only. Salman Yousaf Khan stressed that each province shall have its own legislation in order to recognize women workers from informal sector.

There is an International Convention of International Labor Organization for home based workers which is known as ILO C-177. Similarly there is another convention dealing with Domestic Workers which is known as ILO C-189. The participants at the consultation stressed the need for ratification of both conventions by the Government.

At the moment the provinces of Punjab and Sindh have drafted their laws pertaining to Home Based Workers. However, the same are not approved by the legislature till date. There is dire need to make things right for women belonging to informal sector if we have to progress forward.

Regards,

Humanity Assistance & Relief Trust

Team

humanitytrust@hotmail.com