Mini Expo offers boost to Islamabad’s Young Entrepreneurs

(Published in Pakistan Observer on 9 Apr. 2014)

Sana Jamal

Islamabad – Many people dream of starting a business of their own, however small, but for most that just remains the dream as the unpredictable life of an entrepreneur scares them away. But there are some passionate souls, who took that leap of faith and ultimately live their dreams.

Passion is exactly what impelled the some 16 young entrepreneurs to set up booths to display and sell their creative creations at Mini Expo recently held at Minerva House in Islamabad. Delightfully decorated stalls featured a variety of products including brilliant crafts and floral decorations, chic jewelry and accessories, novel home décor items, modish outfits as well as homemade food.

With an aim to boost self-starters, the Mini Expo 2014 was organized by Minerva, a social youth enterprise, to encourage small scale and home based entrepreneurs who had been marketing digitally only. “This Expo offers a platform to step out of their comfort zones, to reach a wider and real-time audience, to give them chance to explore the market, face the competitors, and go home with a great deal of learning” said Minerva’s CEO Sana Khalid explaining the purpose behind Mini Expo.

Pakistani Rural Women help revitalize Economy

Sana Jamal 

ISLAMABAD – Out of great disasters come great opportunities. This notion has fascinated and revived the humanity out of hardships since the earliest days. As Pakistan shifts from relief to recovery phase in the post-flood scenario, the focus was the rebuilding livelihoods. During these hard times, Pakistani women have emerged as the strength of the economy and the communities as they are helping the families get back on their feet and start their lives all over again.

A conference in Islamabad, organized by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Entrepreneurs Program, gathered women, particularly from the flood and conflict affected areas, who shared their stories of livelihoods improved, and incomes boosted. The women group from Swat, with their faces well covered in their long hand-embroidered dupattas, is one of the beneficiaries of the Entrepreneurs project. “Earlier these skilled women won’t get due credit or compensation for their art as the major chunk of profits was seized by the middlemen (between the skilled worker and the consumer),” said Farzana Akram, Project Officer at Lasoona, one of the implementing partners of the Project that is providing women micro-entrepreneurs from Swat access to bigger markets and buyers. 

With skilled workers, and access to better markets, the product quality has improved and there has been a huge increase in the incomes of micro-entrepreneurs. “Some 964 women have been trained. And we have just successfully delivered 476 pieces of hand embellished fabrics to Generation, Pakistan’s leading retain chain. The order was worth Rs. 485,000” told Ms. Farzana gladly.

WPC demands extensive role of women in Politics

Published in Pakistan Observer (30 Sept. 2011)

Sana Jamal

Islamabad - Following a round-table conference, a unanimous declaration was passed by the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus, on Thursday, calling for equal opportunities for women in the public and political spheres. The Parliamentarians also agreed to build consensus among their respective political parties to provide at least 10 per cent quota for women on winnable general seats before the next elections.

Structural changes in society stressed to offset VAW

Published in Pakistan Observer (25 Sept. 2011)

Sana Jamal

Islamabad - Women from South Asian region often experience and face gender inequalities due to rules of a patriarchal social system, which makes it difficult for women to seek their due rights as they have little support from the community and state. To address the concerns of survivors of violence, a number women rights activists from the region gathered at the South Asian Conference on Violence against Women (VAW) to review policies, and institutions in South Asia that have attempted to provide relief to women survivors.

Gender Equality Impossible Without Help from Men: Plan 2011 Report

Published in Pakistan Observer (23 Sept. 2011)

Sana Jamal

Islamabad - Girls and women around the world can only win the battle for gender equality if boys and men in their lives join the cause to help improve their lives, says a new report released on Thursday in Islamabad. The report ‘Because I am a Girl: The State of the World's Girls 2011’ published by the children's rights organization Plan International, states that men of all ages - fathers, brothers, husbands - must play an active role if gender equality is to be achieved for girls and women.

Joint Struggle to counter VAW urged

Published in Pakistan Observer (23 Sept. 2011)

Sana Jamal

Islamabad - Speakers at a conference here on Thursday urged for collective struggle and structural reforms to challenge Violence Against Women (VAW) in South Asian countries particularly. The three-day South Asian conference on “Reclaiming Space: from victimhood to agency: State and civil society response to VAW” organized by Rozan in Islamabad was widely attended by women activists from all over Pakistan who were joined by delegates from India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Mukharan Mai, the chief guest of session shared her own story from a victim of violence to a survivor and then an activist taking forward the movement for education of young girls. With the motto to “stop violence through education”, Mukhtaran weaved the struggle of VAW by educating not only women but also men in her region.

Acid crime Bill may lapse within next 30 days

Published in Pakistan Observer (20 Sept. 2011)

Sana Jamal

Islamabad - National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) has expressed its concern that if the Bill against acid crimes was not adopted within 30 days, it would lapse and lose its credibility. In a statement issued here on Monday, NCSW noted that on one hand the incidents of acid crimes are on the rise in the country while on the other hand, the Bill against acid crimes, which has been passed by the National Assembly, is at a standstill as it awaits the approval of the Senate. “This significant bill may lose its credibility and would meet similar fate like Domestic Violence Bill, if it is not adopted within next 30 days” NCSW official told Pakistan Observer.

Women in Trade Initiative to enhance women participation in Business sector

Published in Pakistan Observer (13 July 2011)

Sana Jamal

Islamabad – Young generation filled with hope and passion can be a source of great strength for a nation but if their skills meet right kind of learning, they truly become an asset for the country as well as the world. To increase the the participation of Pakistani young women in the international trade sector, US Agency for International Development (USAID) in conjunction with several multinational firms launched the Women in Trade Initiative on Tuesday.

Report on Violence against women launched

'Zero tolerance against all sorts of violence in Pakistan' urged
Published in Pakistan Observer (6 July, 2011)

Sana Jamal

Islamabad - Speakers at a report launch on Tuesday, urged the legislators to adopt Domestic Violence Bill (DVB) at the earliest, as the number of reported “incidents of Violence against Women (VAW) mounted to 8000 during 2010.”

Empowering Women for Agricultural Development

‘An Acre for Every Woman’ demanded
Published in Pakistan Observer (2 Apr. 2011)

Sana Jamal

ISLAMABAD: In an informative world, which is often reminding us of the future threats for instance, food shortage, global warming, and water crisis; it surely is hard to believe that “we live in a world that is capable of feeding every person that lives on the planet” and women can play a dynamic role in overcoming the food mismanagement often termed as food shortage in the country. This point of concern was highlighted at a talk on ‘Food Security and Coping Mechanism’ arranged by National Commission on the Status of Women here on Friday.

In the backdrop of food insecurity and price hike in Pakistan, Head of the Green Economics, Shirkat Gah (NGO), Najma Sadeque initiated the idea of ‘An Acre for Every Woman’ which will “bring life-altering opportunities to balance the gender power dynamics and enhance personal dignity for women in Pakistan” she believed. As researches indicate that “as compared to men, women are more likely to spend their income on the well-being of their families, including nutritious foods, school fees and health care.”

In her presentation, she introduced an alternative idea for producing vegetables on ‘at least 16 (4X4) square feet’ land which can help meet food needs of a person per year. She said that the area will be enough for growing leafy vegetables including spinach and will not only save money but also provide fresh and healthy vegetables at home.

Filmmaker Deneb Sumbul’s documentary, ‘A woman’s harvest’ highlighted the hardships of a rural woman as she gets very little amount as a pay of her hard work on farm. While the short film ‘Mini farming’ was a guide to sow home grown vegetables - a feasible solution to hike in food prices.

A common Pakistani is facing serious food price hike which is also reality, but if there is a food problem, it does not need a technical answer; it needs simple steps such as a campaign to get people to grow their vegetables in their home gardens which would reduce food inflation in the country. This was the simple yet effective step proposed by Ms. Najma.

‘We Can’ launches Report on Social Trend on VAW

Sana Jamal

ISLAMABAD: ‘We Can’ campaign in Pakistan launched two critical documents: ‘Impact Assessment Report’ and ‘Strategy Paper’ on Tuesday at a local hotel in Islamabad after completing its six years in March 2011. The campaign dedicated these two significant documents to International Women’s Day (IWD) as March 2011 also marks 100 years of IWD.

The objective of the report was to reduce the social acceptance of violence against women (VAW) in Pakistan. And the key findings of the ‘Impact Assessment Report’ indicate that “a very high percentage of Pakistanis i.e. 86% feel that VAW in any form is wrong; 97% feel that husband and wife should take major decisions together while 90% feel that men should share housework as it is the responsibility of both husband and wife - which signifies that no change is small” informed Amna Qadir, the author of the report.

Speaking on the occasion, Neva Khan, Country dir. Oxfam GB said that “We Can Campaign has successfully generated over 350,000 Change makers across 41 districts in Pakistan inculcating awareness on gender equalities with positive shifts in paradigms towards all forms of violence against women.”

The report defines a change maker as one who “commits to personal and to talk to 10 other people about VAW” and indicates that 85% of the circle of influence feel that they are change makers.

Dr. Noreen Khalid (Manager EVAW and Gils Education) “With the help of these change makers, millions of people have been enabled to address violence in their homes and other spheres of life.”

6% decrease in Incidents of violence against women reported

Published in Pakistan Observer (25 Feb. 2011)

ISLAMABAD: “There were 8000 incidents of violence against women in the country in 2010 according to the newspaper reports – which indicates a decrease of 6 per cent in the violence against women as compared to the preceding year in 2009.”
This information was revealed at a press conference by Aurat Foundation and Violence against Women Watch group (VAW) in Islamabad on Thursday. The two organizations have compiled a brief report “based on the reported cases in a majority of newspapers of the country as no FIR was registered in a large number of incidents, reflecting the citizens’ lack of confidence in police” told an official of Aurat Foundation. The report covers the incidents of violence against women in Pakistan during January -December 2010.

The summary of the report titled the “3rd Annual Statistics of Violence against Women” shows a positive sign with the decrease in violence. But at the same time, it is also a warning for the related authorities as it presents a pretty grim picture of the overall state of affairs regarding violence against women in Pakistan.

According to the figures in the report, “Out of a total 8000 incidents, as many as 5492 cases of violence were reported from Punjab; 1652 from Sindh; 650 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 79 from Baluchistan and 127 from Islamabad. The figures of Islamabad are alarming given the smaller population and high security maintained in the capital.”

Violence against women may take the form of beating, torture, rape, burning, confinement, honor killings, acid-throwing crimes and women trafficking. According to the report, out of the total incidents, “2236 women were abducted; 1436 women were murdered and 557 were killed in the name of ‘honour’ killing; 928 women were raped; 633 women committed suicide; 32 women were made victim of acid attacks and 38 women were target of stove burning.”

National Women’s Day marked

Published in Pakistan Observer (13 Feb. 2011)

Sana Jamal

Islamabad - Islam initially granted all due rights to women in a primitive era when they had no rights at all, however, in today’s era mistreatment of women is often justified in the name of religion. This viewpoint was noted at various events held across the city by women activists and NGOs to create awareness about women rights on National Women’s Day (Feb. 12).

To commemorate National Women’s Day, a discussion on ‘Religious Extremism and its Impact on Women’ was organized by Insani Haqooq Itehad (IHI) on Saturday at National Library in which civil society, women activists, and rural women participated urging the government to immediately pass the ‘Domestic Violence Bill’.

A variety of programmes were also arranged by Women Action Forum (WAF) at Nomad gallery on Saturday including discussion on discriminatory laws and its impact on women in which women activists highlighted that the state of women particularly was deteriorated during Zia’s regime who omitted all articles regarding the equal rights of men and women.

Bushra Gohar, Chairperson Standing Committee on Women Development said in her address that “religious extremism has its roots in the state systems and policies” and the “present government is committed to abolish laws or constitutional amendments introduced by Zia-ul-Haq.”

Justice (R) Nasira Javaid Iqbal said that “today women’s rights in Pakistan are gradually deteriorating as 80% housewives are facing domestic violence which often goes unnoticed as 66% women accept it as their fate, 33% complain, while less than 5% take steps to redress the situation.” Women are often “denied any legal redress or community support despite being brutally mistreated” thus “inheritance and family laws should be brought under a Uniform code”, she added.

Women activists at the seminar termed the existing discriminatory laws an outcome of extremist policies by the Zia regime. Samina Khan, Executive Director, SUNGI (NGO) was one of those women activists who were baton charged on 12th Feb. 1983 when Punjab Women Lawyers Association in Lahore protested against Gen. Ziaul Haq’s law of evidence that reduced the testimony of women in court to half that of men” she said while giving a detailed account of the historic day.

Measures to improve women status stressed

Published in Pakistan Observer (12 Feb. 2011)

Sana Jamal

Islamabad - Ignorance and backwardness are the major reasons of oppression on rural women hence timely measures must be taken to improve the status of women by providing them equal opportunities. This was the crux of the two seminars held in Islamabad to mark the National Women’s Day (Feb. 12).

Women activists at a conference termed the existing discriminatory laws an outcome of extremist policies by the Zia regime and urged the parliament for effective legislation to defend the vulnerable women of the country. The conference was organized by National Commission on Status of Women (NCSW), Potohar Organization for Development and Advocacy (PODA) and Aurat Foundation (AF) at Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA).

Begum Shahnaz Wazir Ali, former Advisor to PM on social sector, said that the struggle for the rights of women has just begun and it is “the mission of present government to empower the women and enlighten the women of their rights” because women play a key role in the development of any society.

National Assembly Law committee Chairperson Naseem Chaudhary said that to make the women “aware of women of their rights, it is important for them to be educated.”

At another seminar “Tribute to Women’s Leadership at grassroots level: Actions and Achievements”, Mukhtaran Mai, the chief guest of the seminar said that “women in rural areas are particularly vulnerable to oppression because of lack of awareness hence there is a need to raise the level of education.”

National Women’s Day is observed every year to mark the police brutality against women in Lahore on February 12, 1983” when Punjab Women Lawyers Association protested against Gen. Ziaul Haq’s law of evidence that reduced the testimony of women in court to half that of men, informed Naeem Mirza of Aurat Foundation.

Implementation of Anti-Sexual Harassment polices stressed

Published in Pakistan Observer (11 Jan. 2011)
Sana Jamal

ISLAMABAD: In the backdrop of Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act (Section 509), a seminar-cum-book launch was held at local hotel in Islamabad on Monday to make the effective implementation of law possible at all levels.

The seminar titled ‘Leaders of Change – Implementation of Anti-Sexual Harassment Legislation’ was jointly organized by International Labour Organization (ILO), OXFAM, Alliance against Sexual Harassment-AASHA and Mehergarh (an NGO).

Fouzia Saeed, Executive Director of AASHA; Samina Fazil, President Islamabad Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Ms. Margaret Reade Rounds, ILO Country Representative; Wilson Lee of National Endowment for Democracy and Mehfooz Elahi of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and
Industry spoke on the occasion.

To promote opportunities for women and men to obtain descent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity, the two booklets were launched at the event which discusses the Anti- Anti-Sexual Harassment policies.

Relief sought for women

Published in Pakistan Observer (9 Jan. 2011)

Sana Jamal

Islamabad—In a male-dominated society where a women is faced with inequality of some kind or other, Dr. Rakhshinda Parveen’s latest book asks the state for some relief in taxation system for disabled, divorced women, divorced mothers and unmarried women, at least the exemption in property tax.

With an objective to unveil the hidden faces of gender inequality in connection with the taxation system, Rakhshinda Parveen- a social activist launched her book titled ‘A Tax Break For Economic Freedom: The case of divorced mothers, divorced, disabled and never married (above 40 years) Pakistani Women- a Civic Entrepreneur’s Perspective’ at a local hotel here on Saturday.

Economic Freedom Network- Pakistan (EFN) in collaboration with Creative Anger, and sponsored by Friedrich Naumann Stiftung arranged the book launch-cum-seminar which was attended by gender experts, human rights and women rights activists, legislators, policy makers financial pundits and media persons participated.

The purpose of the book is the realization of the author’s dream, that is “a society where policy recognizes the needs of divorced, disabled and never married women through a clear policy and strategy in taxation system,” said Rakhshinda Perveen, the author of the book.

Calling herself a dreamer, Perveen said that she had a “dream of a society in Pakistan where divorced women, disabled women, divorced mothers and unmarried women (above 40 years) who face a number of emotional traumas and stigmatized both subtly and openly can at least get some support from the state.”

Rich colours and energy depict women in Artwork of Nahid Raza

Published in Pakistan Observer (Dec. 25 2010)

Sana Jamal

ISLAMABAD: Lively colours mixed with strong emotions in the paintings of Nahid Raza depicted strong woman and conveyed the message to respect and value women.

The artist, Nahid Raza greeted the guests with a gentle smile at the inaugural ceremony of her painting exhibition here at Tanzara art gallery. "My paintings show strong women, who fulfill all their responsibilities.” said the artist.

Upon entering the gallery, one is bound to get mesmerized by the resounding energy from the multi-colored art pieces of Nahid Raza, a veteran artist with more than 4 decades of experience.

“Her (Nahid’s) rich colour palette and varied surface textures help create brilliant effects, making the paintings aesthetically pleasing” said Noshi, the curator of the art gallery.

The exhibition included 33 paintings depicting different facets of women. The artist has used acrylic on canvas to display marvelous artwork. The leading contents in the paintings were faces of women which seemed to be sway the onlookers into a fantasy world.

Some of the marvelous work by the artist was presented in the themes of ‘Hidden faces’, ‘Symbols of love’, ‘Alone’ and ‘Generations’. “The theme ‘Buraq’ with the head of a woman and body of a mare (female horse) depicts the element of spirituality in woman” said the artist while talking to Pakistan Observer reporter.

Swara’ criminals must be dealt with iron hand

Published in Pakistan Observer (24 Dec. 2010)

Sana Jamal

Islamabad—“Neither Quran nor the law of the land allows brutal customs such as Swara under any condition” Justice Fakhrunisa noted at a seminar here Thursday. The seminar held at a local hotel on Thursday at the end of the two-year project of Rahnuma, affiliated with Family Planning Association of Pakistan (FPAP) with the aim to sensitize people against the barbaric custom of ‘Swara’.

Dr. Anjum in her introductory remark said “Sawara is a custom of marriage as compensation which takes place between two families to end a family feud. The innocent girl who is only four or five years old is handed over to the enemies so their men folk who have committed the crime can escape punishment.”

Around ten young women came from Swabi and Mardan, two cities in KPK to tell their horrifying tales at the experience sharing seminar of FPAP.

“My husband, the man I was given to in Swara sold three of my daughters that he had sired. He wanted to sell my boys next and would beat me regularly for resisting prostitution” said Saba (pseudonym) sharing her story. Her terrible story brought tears to the eyes of many and awareness among few about this brutal custom called ‘Swara’.

‘Through the Gender lens’ launched

Handbook on Gender Based Violence launched

Published in Pakistan Observer (11 Dec. 2010)

Sana Jamal

ISLAMABAD: As the World celebrated the Human Rights Day amidst seminars and talks, challenges to human rights in Pakistan have enlarged as the number of internally displaced persons, extra-judicial killings and gender based violence increased this year. Relating to the theme for Human Rights Day for 2010 ‘human rights defenders who act to end discrimination’, a handbook titled ‘Through the Gender lens’ was launched here at Islamabad.

The research-based book is the product of Uks research and publication centre, Islamabad in collaboration with UNFPA and is meant for Pakistani youth to analyse and develop gender-sensitive media content on Gender Based Violence (GBV).

Rural women’s role in society dev highlighted

Published in Pakistan Observer (16 Oct. 2010)
Sana Jamal

Islamabad - To highlight the importance and address the woes of rural women, Oct 15 was celebrated as ‘World Rural Women’s Day’ all over the world.
To mark the World Rural Women Day in Pakistan, a two-day annual conference was arranged by Potohar Organisation for Development Advocacy (PODA) in collaboration with 56 other organizations at Lok Virsa, Islamabad.Firday’s conference was presided over by Federal Minister for Culture Pir Aftab Hussain Shah Jilani and inaugurated by Farzana Raja, Member National Assembly and Chairperson of the Benazir Income Support Programme.

The theme of the conference was “Rural Women, Disaster Mitigation and Peace” where the rural women from across the country participated to articulate the problems they were going through especially after the floods.

“We have chosen the theme of disaster because the rural women are currently in great miseries due to the havoc played by the flood in various parts of the country,” said PODA Director Samina Nazir.

This day is celebrated worldwide to coincide with the World Food Day, in order to emphasize the role played by rural women in food production and food security.Rural women of Pakistan constitute the invisible work force which keeps the family and the rural economy alive, but their labour often goes under-rewarded.

Pakistan rural women are major contributors in agriculture and production fields. A rural woman’s work ranges from crop production, livestock production to cottage industry to household and family maintenance. However her role and dignity has yet not been recognized even after her extended involvement in economy and family at the same time.