On International Labour Day, the Sindh Community Foundation, in collaboration with ‘Feed The Minds’, organized an awareness seminar in the village of Maiho Machi in Matiri district. The seminar aimed to highlight the labor rights of women agricultural workers and was attended by female cotton workers and local growers.
Javed Hussain, the head of Sindh Community Foundation, addressed the seminar and emphasized the importance of implementing labor laws to fulfill global commitments. While recent laws to include women in agriculture under labor coverage are groundbreaking, he stressed the need to implement these laws strictly at the grassroots level.
Hussain also highlighted the emerging threat of climate change to the agriculture and livelihoods of women agricultural workers, particularly cotton workers. The effects of climate incidents last year and potential future incidents have left these workers vulnerable.
He emphasized the need for decent work, climate safety, and social protection to protect the labor rights of agriculture workers in the country. Hussain demanded that women agricultural workers be included in labor welfare schemes and that the textile sector step forward to ensure the implementation of labor laws in the value chain of cotton. As Pakistan is the fourth-largest cotton-producing country in the world, specific protection for workers is needed.
