Addressing a public gathering "Women March" organised by various organisations working for women rights here on Friday outside the National Press Club, the activists said that their struggle did not stop even during late General Zia-ul-Haq's regime.
The march was also attended by the Women Action Forum, Progressive Students Federation, representatives from the transgender community, Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign, and the Sindhi Aurat Tanzeem.
The speakers said, "Women can achieve more if they are supported by male family members. This gives them a lot of strength to achieve what they want in terms of the careers they want to adopt; otherwise, they will have to struggle for their rights." They demanded that women should be given the right to choose who they want to marry as "even Islam gives them this right but in Pakistani society, parents force their daughters to marry against their will."
They said, "Women don't even feel safe in public places. A mother should not be afraid of going to school to pick her children up. Women should have that freedom. If women don't fight for their rights, they will keep on suffering and become victims of violence."
Among others the event was also addressed by Senator Sherry Rehman of Pakistan People Party, Dr Farzana Bari and Tahira Abdullah.
The participants of the march demanded: an end to violence against women; legislation that protects the rights of women and transgender persons; minimum wage and other legal protections for the informal sector; regularisation of teachers and health workers; an end to privatisation of health and education sectors, particularly for women; removal of restrictions on student politics and end to curfews in hostels; hostels for women and daycares for the children of working women; construction of low-income housing and an end to the campaign against informal settlements; an end to military operations, return of the missing persons; and a political solution to the Balochistan problem.
They pointed towards the recent murder of Afzal Kohistani, the man who had exposed the 'honour killing' of five women in 2011 for celebrating at a wedding, and demanded that the state must arrest his killers, as well as killers of all the victims of honour-related crimes.
Senator Sherry Rehman said she joined the women movement during college days when Pakistan was under the dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq, adding that during Zia era women activists were thrashed and humiliated by the authorities. She paid glowing tributes to the late PPP leader Benazir Bhutto for her services for women rights. "The world acknowledges the services of Benazir Bhutto," she said.
Tahira Abdullah stressed the need for boldly taking back the shrinking physical, political and artistic spaces for women. She pointed out that women artists, be they singers, dancers or actors, were censured by society and sometimes even attacked and killed for pursuing their dreams.
Women living in slums raised the issue of low-income housing in Islamabad and described the insecurity under which they raise their families given the state's lack of commitment to regularisation of informal settlements. "We live with constant fear of having our homes snatched from us to make way for the next big housing project for the rich and losing whatever little stability we have achieved for our children," said Kausar Atta who lives in Meherabadi, a slum.
Pointing to poor investment of resources in low-income housing and public health and education, Kausar raised the question of how the poor can be expected to provide a decent life to their children when the state's policies are so clearly biased against the working class.
