Shirkat Gah, in collaboration with the Anjuman-e-Mazarin Punjab, organized a two-day convention on the rights of peasant women in Okara, Punjab. For the first time in Pakistan, over 500 peasant women representatives in the presence of 500 other peasant women came together to endorse their Charter of Demands. The Charter calls for recognition of women’s work as farmers and demands equal land and labor rights for women, as well as demanding women’s representation in consultations regarding agricultural policy and in political institutions from the local to national level. The convention was a show of strength in numbers for peasant women, and a huge step in drawing attention to their desire to be recognized as agricultural workers on the same terms as their male counterparts.
