Islamabad, 7 March 2023 (GNP): On Monday, the Aurat March organizers published a list of 60 demands, which included ending patriarchal brutality, increasing the representation of women in climate change decision-making at all levels, cutting the defense budget, increasing funding for health and education.
At a pre-march press conference held at the National Press Club (NPC), women’s rights advocates Farzana Bari and Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir delivered these demands to the media.
Together with boosting the minimum wage, the proposals call for an end to debt bondage and the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) anti-poor practices.
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The decision to concentrate on the “feminization of climate justice,” according to the organizers, was made in the country’s wake’s devastating floods last year, which led to over 1,100 deaths and the destruction of one million houses.
While they added that overall relief and rehabilitation measures were necessary and are still essential today, the impact on women and young girls in particular had been largely ignored in the mainstream conversation.
They claimed that, in response to this disregard, Aurat March Islamabad has pushed many critical objectives for 2023, including ending period poverty, securing economic fairness and budget allocation for inclusive childcare in all formal employment settings in Pakistan, and formalizing the informal sector/market (where a majority of women are employed).
The March organizers said that despite a well-timed application for a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) being turned down without a valid justification just days before the march.
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The Islamabad police and the district administration were reminded of their duty to protect the lives of lawful marchers who had been following the same path since at least 2018.
The March’s organizers declared it will start outside the National Press Club (NCP) at 2:00 p.m. on March 8 and end at D-Chowk as usual.
