KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 28
Women rights activists have underlined the need to recognise the contribution of homebased women workers to the national economy.
Speaking at a press conference here today, Enforcer of HomeNet South Asia Chandani Joshi said millions of people were involved in homebased works, particularly in home-based enterprises and craft businesses but their work had not been legally recognised.
Joshi said media outlets should disseminate the works of home-based workers and help them get legal recognition of their work.
Sabah Nepal Chairperson Sristi Joshi Malla said 61 million people were involved in home-based works in South Asia but their interests were still ignored in the region. She urged the government to ratify the ILO Convention 190 to fully protect the interests of homebased women workers. In the absence of legal protections, home-based women workers are exploited by their contractors and sometimes subjected to violence, she added.
"In the aftermath of Gorkha earthquake in 2015, many home-based women workers who had lost all their products, suffered exploitation and sexual violence," Malla said.
Journalist Kamala Panthi said the people of the country should develop a habit of buying domestic products in order to protect the interests of Nepali women workers so that home-based workers and entrepreneurs could get better remuneration for their work and products.
HomeNet South Asia (HNSA) is a network of homebased worker organisations across South Asia. A leading voice for vulnerable homebased women workers in the region, HNSA represents over 1.2 million workers, 95 per cent of which are women.
This year, HomeNet South Asia will hold its first ever Congress to commemorate the historic summit, and to celebrate and stand in solidarity with the home-based workers' movements across South Asia. The HNSA congress will be held from October 18 to 20 in Kathmandu.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 29, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
