Musawat I Equality

Women’s access to employment opportunities is restricted in Pakistan, particularly due to the high levels of harassment faced by women in the workplace. About 93 per cent of working women in Pakistan acknowledge facing workplace harassment. In 2023, Pakistan ranked 142 out of 146 countries in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report. At the federal level, the Parliament of Pakistan enacted the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act 2010 (and 2022 Amendment) to provide legal protection to women against harassment at the workplace. However, the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment to Pakistan’s Constitution in 2010 shifted many legislative subjects, from joint national and provincial authority to the provinces exclusively. This also includes the special law pertaining to workplace harassment. All provinces (except Sindh) have enacted their provincial laws on workplace harassment. Sindh with its 55.69 population stands second largest Province by population in Pakistan. Therefore, it is essential for the Sindh Province to enact a law to provide protection to workers against harassment. In the project Musawat (translated to Equality), the Karachi Hub of the Global Shapers Community, World Economic Forum will collaborate with the Sindh Human Rights Commission, a statutory body established under Sindh Protection of Human Rights Act 2011, with a mandate to provide for protection of human rights in the province of Sindh.