Women working in various sectors including organised, unorganised, public, private and government sectors took out a rally in the Capital on Friday demanding, among other things, implementation of “equal pay for equal work” and early passage of the law for prevention of sexual harassment at workplace.
The women, who marched under the banner of Working Women’s Forum (WWF), met President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar under the leadership of All-India Trade Union Congress general secretary Gurudas Das Gupta and presented a memorandum listing their demands.
Led by WWF convenor Amarjit Kaur and Bihar unit convenor Usha Sahani, the delegation also demanded universal entitlement of maternity benefits for all working women; minimum wages and social security benefits for the “Asha” scheme and mid-day meal workers; and social welfare schemes for domestic workers.
Later Mr. Das Gupta said he was planning to move a private member’s Bill in the current session of the Lok Sabha for the welfare of the working women and providing them various benefits. He said 95 per cent of the working women were deprived of a minimum level of social security and they were employed in hazardous and dangerous industries. “Casualisation and contractorisation had badly affected them,” he added.
