Hyderabad – August 1, 2025:
More than 90 participants, including women agricultural workers, civil society representatives, and labour rights advocates, gathered in Hyderabad for a Women’s Assembly aimed at spotlighting the often-overlooked struggles of women cotton pickers in Sindh.
Organised by the Sindh Community Foundation (SCF) in collaboration with the Commonwealth Foundation, the event took place under the theme “Claiming Safe Working Conditions and Climate Justice.” Speakers voiced serious concerns over exploitative wages, lack of labour protections, and the worsening impact of climate change on the lives and health of rural women — particularly the more than one million women working in Sindh’s cotton fields.
In his remarks, SCF Executive Director Javed Hussain emphasized the urgency of introducing social protection programs for women in agriculture, who remain on the frontlines of both economic hardship and environmental stress.
“Climate change is no longer just an environmental issue — it’s a direct threat to the health, livelihoods, and dignity of women working in the fields,” Hussain stated.
He pointed to the Sindh Women Agricultural Workers Act (2019) — a landmark law meant to ensure minimum wages, maternity benefits, healthcare, and social security for women farm workers — but lamented that the legislation remains largely unimplemented in the province’s rural areas.
Representing the Sindh Abadgar Board, Nadeem Shah acknowledged that women perform over 70% of the province’s agricultural labour but remain invisible under current labour laws. He advocated for the formal recognition of agriculture as an industry, which would allow for the enforcement of labour protections and the inclusion of farmworkers under official safety nets.
The assembly concluded with a unified charter of demands, calling for:
- Immediate enforcement of the Sindh Women Agricultural Workers Act, 2019
- Strict monitoring of minimum wage implementation
- Universal health insurance and social protection programs for women farmworkers
- Inclusion of women in welfare boards and compensation schemes
- Awareness campaigns targeting landlords and contractors on labour rights
- Climate adaptation policies tailored to agricultural women workers
- Expanded outreach and representation in policymaking processes
The event served as both a platform for urgent advocacy and a reminder of the continued marginalization faced by women in agriculture — especially in the context of Pakistan’s growing climate and economic challenges.
