08/12/2020 Women’s economic status and the gender-based violence (GBV) experienced by landless Women in Sindh was the topic of a virtual panel discussion on Tuesday organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to mark the 16 Days of Activism to end Gender Based Violence under the global theme of this year: “Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect!” More than 60 participants from Government of Sindh, academia, civil society, UN agencies and activists, participated in the discussion.

The event highlighted some of the many ways in which women in Sindh experience violence as part of their roles in the food system and rural society, and how this has been exacerbated during the COVID-19 response. Women can face violence when they attempt to obtain equal access to land, water, information, credit and other resources to produce food and earn income, and yet this access is a necessary condition to end hunger and address food insecurity. The event particularly highlighted the initiatives in better land tenure governance that are being trialed in Sindh to empower landless women farmers, and how a rights-based approach can improve the distribution of resources.
Hussan Banu, from district Jamshoro, Sindh, shared her story by video, on how her rights are now protected after the introduction of a Village Grievances Redressal Committee (VGRC) and informal tenancy agreements under FAO’s Improved Land Tenancy in Sindh project, funded by the European Union. “Thanks to informal tenancy agreements and VGRC, our landlord now cannot evict us at the time of harvest, and we are paid on a timely basis”, she said.

Nuzhat Shirin, Chairperson, Sindh Commission on the Status of Women, while highlighting the role of commission, said that the commission is making efforts to pass the bill on the inclusion of women in water resource management. “We are also engaged in different capacity building programs to sensitize women on their rights, especially property rights,” she informed.

Wali Muhammad Qureshi, Director, Women Development Department Sindh, while congratulating the efforts of FAO to organize an informative discussion, said that women being half the population need a special focus to bring them on a par with men in all walks of life, and this includes rural and hari women. The main problem, he opined, is that in most cases women do not own lands because of non-transfer of family assets to women. This needs to addressed, because when women own the land, they will be more productive as growers, he added.

Genevieve Hussain, FAO Policy Officer, said, “The full participation of rural women in decision-making and dispute resolution, without fear for their safety, is crucial for the efficient and fair use of land and water resources in an agriculture-based economy.” She added, “We must prioritize equality of women’s access to economic resources, if we want to end hunger and poverty”.

Assistant FAO Representative (Programme), Aamer Irshad, stated education as the key to empower women in any society, for which land assets then generate income to invest in human development.   

With a wide network of Farmer Field Schools across the country, FAO has been conducting series of awareness campaigns against gender based violence in food security and agriculture sector. Given the pervasiveness of the issue, our collective efforts are needed to ensure women’s safe participation in agriculture, at all levels of the sector.