Central demands for Aurat March 2022

KARACHI: With 8th March approaching, people are preparing for Aurat March 2022. For this year’s march, the organizers have put out a detailed post about what their demands are. This year, the central demand for the Karachi spell is to ensure that labor, in all forms, will not be taken for granted, nor will it be provided for free.

The main focus of labor was explained as such, “We believe that human labor is at the rooh (soul) and heart of creating and producing for society as a whole. We labor in factories, on farms, as home-based workers, on the streets as sanitation workers and hawkers, in homes as domestic workers, and caregivers, and as artisans and professionals,” the organizers have detailed and further explained, “When it comes to being recognized and counted as workers, we are not counted, and our labor is minimized, unpaid, unprotected, and unfairly compensated.”

The first demand put forward for Aurat March 2022 is that “All workers, whether they work in factories, on farms and homesteads, in homes as domestic workers, or as sanitation workers, be given living wage, which gives access to safe housing, quality education and affordable healthcare.” Furthermore, there is a demand for “immediate enforcement of minimum wage across all sectors.”

The second central demand is that, “The work of caregiving and emotional labor shall not be treated as free.” Aurat March 2022 has called for “social security for all our labor,” and a “provision of social security and protection through monthly stipends” to be given not just to women but to the “khawajasira community” as well.

The organizers also wrote, “We have the right to consent to work and to say no to forced labor. We also assert the right to say no if we are tired of working. We have a right to say no when we don’t want to work for free or under exploitative, subhuman conditions.”

The final demand focuses on other minority groups and highlights that, “The state prioritize welfare of the child by putting an end to child labor, trafficking for work and bondage labor.” The organizers stressed on the need of state intervention such that, “The government provide child care and child protection centers in every district of Karachi and child support services in the rest of Sindh.”