By Zahiruddin
CHITRAL: Lake of transport and accommodation facilities were the common problems as pinpointed by the working women in Chitral with no other obstacle faced by them in their working places but they did demand special measures for economic emancipation of women in the male dominated society of Chitral.
In the khuli kutchery held by Chitral DC Irshad Sodhar for the working women, it was reported that the local women were facing transport problems while the non-locals confronted the acute problem of accommodation while no complaint of maltreatment or other nature reported on the occasion.
The women stressed the need of creating job opportunities for women as well economic emancipation through widening the base of women entrepreneurship so that they could be able to exploit the locally available resources many of which were unique in nature.
Addressing on the occasion, the DC enumerated the measures to be taken for the amelioration of women with special focus on the working ones and said that keeping in view the socio-cultural environment of the area, a women-specific market was being established in the city where no male can enter.
He said that with the efforts of the district administration, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) has approved grants for 36 women of Chitral who will start their business and many more will get it in due course of time leading to the development of women entrepreneurship.
Mr. Sodhar said that the women in the length and breadth of Chitral will get a big opportunity of earning livelihood within next couple of months as the district administration is banning black polythene shopping bags to be replaced by biodegradable bags of cloth whose preparation will be entrusted to women.
He said that bulk of such biodegradable bags will be purchased from the women at their doorsteps and this will provide them with an ample opportunity of earning pretty amount of money and change their lives for better.
He said that the women folk have also been entitled to share the amount accrued from the royalty of forest for the first time which was yet another step to strengthen them financially.
He said that complaint centre has been set up in the DC office where working women can register their complaints of any nature.
The DPO Chitral Mansoor Aman also spoke on the occasion and expressed his deep concern over the rising number of suicide cases of young women in the district and asked them to assert their complaints instead of concealing them.
On this occasion, Fakhr-e-Chitral Award were given to a number of women who accomplished services in different walks of life who included Dr. Salma Hassan (health), Professor Mussarrat Jabeen (higher education), Bibi Halima (secondary education), Farida Sultana (literature), Bibi Sultana (social activities).
