LIFE for women in rural Sindh is tougher than that of the majority of us who live in big cities. The Sindhi women are the poorest and the most powerless people. They are socially and economically subordinate to men.

Their plight is made worse by the recent floods and heavy rains in the province. With almost no economic opportunity, the realities for Sindhi women are bleak, with little guard against malnutrition and disease.

The lack of financial means affects these women’s lives. At least one in every 1,000 women dies in childbirth and there is a staggeringly high infant mortality rate. Hardly any women in rural areas have access to formal medicines.

It is the need of the hour to supply them with the tools to impact on their own situation by being able to feed and protect themselves and their families; to break the cycle for these women so that their daughters do not grow up feeling helpless but empowered to shape their own destiny.

The government, the State Bank of Pakistan, should provide them micro-credit loans and also the necessary skill and training in the desired field of investment. Indeed, the financial and social impact of empowering and enabling women from extremely poor backgrounds will have wider implications.

These women can participate in the formal economy in the province – empowering women both economically and socially and creating dignity through individual financial support will give the Sindhi women the ability to determine their future and the future of their children.

They will have the capabilities to provide basic human rights for their families; which they are deprived of so far.

WASIM ABRO
Islamabad
Source: Dawn
Date:2/2/2011