This document summarizes the work of HomeNet Pakistan in organizing and advocating for home-based workers (HBWs) in Pakistan. It discusses HomeNet Pakistan's vision and mission to empower HBWs and improve their working conditions. It provides statistics on the large numbers of women engaged in informal home-based work. It also analyzes problems faced by informal workers like lack of rights, representation and access to resources. The document then outlines HomeNet Pakistan's process of organizing HBWs into member-based organizations and engaging in advocacy efforts to address their issues and have their work recognized in policies. It discusses expanding this work to also organize domestic workers and engage with various stakeholders including policymakers, unions and political parties.

1. INTERNATIONAL SUMMERSCHOOL
7 July 2015
Northern College -UK
Ume Laila Azhar
Organizing
the Informal Workers

2. HomeNet Pakistan
Vision
“HomeNet Pakistan envisions a society in which home based
workers are ensured visibility, recognition, legal and social
protection, and a decent standard of living.”
Mission
HomeNet Pakistan, as a member of HomeNet South Asia,
strives to empower home based workers to realize their
economic, political and social rights through the
strengthening of their respective organizations, adoption of
fair trade practices, resulting in the improvement of their
working and living conditions.

3. Basic Facts -HBWs
 Pakistan Informal sector has expanded to 74 %.
 Nearly 76% of women had joined the home-based sector in no more than
the past 15 years; more specifically, the trend for home-based work had
intensified from the 1990s onwards.
 Based on the countrywide enumeration, the total workforce of HBWWs
came to be 11,626,761 i.e. approximately 12 million women. The home-
based women’s urban work force was estimated to be 3,040,269 (26%)
million and the rural work force 8,586,492 (74%) million.
 Among the four provinces, the urban home-based women work force in
Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and KP is 1,275,022 (41.9%) million, 748,056
(24.6%) million, 905,401 (29.8%) million and 111,790 million (3.7%),
respectively.
Source : Unacknowledged Treasures

4. • 70 - 80 % of a total working population is employed in the informal
sector.
• 77% to 83 % of women employed at the national level operate in the
informal sector
• There was a rise in the proportion of Home-based workers in total
employment. It increased from 20.8 percent in 2001-02 to nearly 27
percent in 2005-06.
• Overall employment increased at the rate of 3.44 percent per annum
during 2001-02 and 2005-06 onwards .Home-based workers grew
more than twice the rate at 8.91 percent per annum.
• Presently it is now above 10 percent per annum

5. Problem Analysis for Informal
Workers
They are “informal” in the sense that they are mostly:
 unregistered and unrecorded in official statistics and thus not
recognised, supported or regulated by the government;
 have little or no access to organized markets, credit institutions,
formal education and training institutions, or to many public services
and amenities;
 are compelled to operate outside the legal framework and beyond
the scale of social protection, labour legislation and protective
measures, even if they are registered and respect certain aspects of
the law.
 The informal economy includes also employment to the extent that
workers are undeclared (by both informal and formal enterprises)
and do not enjoy social benefits mandated under the law

6. The workers in informal sectors are mostly
confronted by the following major problems:
 Employment Deficit
 Rights Deficit
 Social Protection Deficit
 Representation Deficit
 Growth Deficit
 Lack of Access to Financial Resources
They are uncounted –No National statistics
available and are considered as UNPAID family
helpers

7. Women Exclusion
 One of the major issues regarding the informal sector is the
invisibility of women workers in the national statistics and policy
discourse .
 This is due to the definitional problems and socio cultural
constraints, gender bias and flaws in sample size and data
collection methods . And as a result activity patterns of women
workers remain ignored. Not because they are not working but
because their work is not counted or recognized
 As a consequence of the exclusion of women in the informal sector
from data collection is their not being prioritized in national,
provincial or districts polices or budgets or planning.

8. Name of HBW: Ms. Ikhtiyar Bano
Place: Hyderabad
Age: 30
Nature of Work: Bangle Making
Earning: Rs.20-40 for set of 320 bangles
Working Hours: 7-8 hours per day

9. Name of HBW: Ms. Shamim
Place: Lahore Multan Road
Age: 45 above
Nature of Work: Shoe Making
Earning: Rs.1000-4000 monthly
income
Working Hours: 13hours per day

10. Name of HBW: Ms. Irshad Nasir
Place: Eminabad Gujranwala
Age: 38
Nature of Work: Stitching Shalwar
Kameez
Earning: 100 perday
Working Hours: 9 hours

12. What needs to be
done
 Ensure their visibility
 Create their marketing
linkages
 Policy and legislation
 Organize and educate
HBWs to build their
voices from below

13. LEARNING FROMSEWA TRAINING ON
MEMBERBASEDORGANISATION
Concept of MBOs
Working collectively (as a
group, cooperative,
association etc)
Unity of Workers
Understanding of HBWs on
issues
Understanding the
Cooperatives of HBWs Model
Contribution of their services
Concept and role of leaders
Importance of Team work,
leadership
Benefits of Organizing
Brining the HBWs on
collective platforms

14. Guidance from HNSA &WIEGO
 Katmandu Declaration
 Strategizing for HBW at
country level
 Policy level initiatives
for ensuring their rights
 Organizing the
constituents –HBWs

15. ADOPTING THE
CONCEPT OF MBO
 Democratic
 Transparent
 Accountability
 Solidarity
 Independent

16. PROCESS OF ORGANISING
IN PAKISTAN
Building on the Mapping
of HBWs done in 2001-
02
Understanding the
Concepts of MBOs and
adopting the concepts at
community level
HBWs organized Sector
wise – Kasur+Hyderabad
Importance and Benefits
of Unionization

17. Breakthrough
In District Kasur 40 HBWs
organized in two community
organizations, as MBOs.
One HBWs group (JAJBA)
registered with social
welfare department in Kasur
is a paid member of HNP.
Improved the quality of
these active women HBWs
through;
o Capacity building,
o social assistance like health
and education,
o awareness on micro financing
services
o IDs cards were made

18. Later in Kasur, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Multan and
Lahore HBWs groups linked with Health, WASA,TMA
and Solid Waste Management departments to address
their need regarding their civic issues.
In Hyderabad home based workers bangle union was
formed
Progressive Women HBWs union

19. Challenges in Organizing as MBOs
Capacity building of the network members on MBOs concept
Identification of HBWs leaders
Agreeing on Paid membership
Conducive environment for participation and HBWs
representation
Organizing around RIGHTs vs HBWs needs
Informal workers vs Trade Unions
HBWs movement from below

21. Why Domestic
Workers ?
HBWs VS DWs D
Definitions of HBWs and
DW
Second biggest and
vulnerable sector
Predominately women in
majority
Increasing VADW
HBWs advocacy paved the
way for DWs

22. Domestic workers C189
 Cooks
 Sweepers
 Gardeners
 Drivers
 Care takers for children and Senior citizen
 Domestic helpers
 Laundry person
 Many more providing services Un counted
Un protected
Employers

23. Organizing DWs
 Pre and Post C189 situation
 Developing strategies for
organizing Informal sector
 Piloting the strategies
 Mapping of DWs
 Formation of MBOs
 First UNION of DW
 Convention of DWs
 Taking the process to policy level
advocacy and other districts
 Identification of DWs in 5 districts
 GoP skill development initiatives
 Leadership development

27. Domestic Workers Convention held in
June 2014

28. Continued Engagement with
policy makers
 For Protection of HBWs
and DWs
 Ratification of C177 and
C189
 Legislation
 Extending social
protection
 Ensuring sector wise
Minimum wages for
HBWs

29. Engagement with trade Unions

30. Engagement with Political
parties

31. What happened?
 HBWs issue is now recognized
 Consensus on organizing of
Informal workers for voice and
visibilities
 Informal workers issue as one
labour agenda –inclusion in
provincial labour policies
 Unions emerging
 Draft policies for HBWs and DWs
 Draft bills for HBWs and DWs
 Inclusion in the Political party
manifestos of Pakistan peoples
party
 HBWs preparing for LG elections
 CEDAW/C/PAK/CO/4

32.  The Committee recommends that the State party:
a) Adopt effective measures in the formal labour market, including
temporary special measures, to increase female participation and eliminate
both horizontal and vertical occupational segregation; to narrow and close
the wage gap between women and men; and to ensure the application of
the principle of equal remuneration for equal work and work of equal value,
and equal opportunities at work.
b) Prepare a plan of action for the protection of women working in other
areas of the informal sector, such as agriculture and domestic work, in line
with the Convention;
c) Prioritize the adoption of the National Policy on Home Based Workers
and ensure its proper implementation so as to guarantee women access to
social security benefits; and, take measures to ensure that the
correspondent policy is adopted by all Provinces in the State party; and
d) Ratify ILO Convention No. 177 on Home-based work, as well as ILO
Convention No. 189 on decent work for domestic workers and amend the
relevant domestic legislation accordingly.

33. ACCOMPLISHMENTS
 MBOs of HBWs in HNP board
 Mainstreaming of HBWs issues
 Leadership development
 Political education of HBWs leaders
 Representation of HBWs leaders at local
level committees . HBWs preparing for LG
elections
 Linkages development with line
departments for livelihood
 Representation of HBWs at Local
government (mobilization )
 HBWs Urban issues under discussion
 Recent development in Social protection
framework
 GoP pilot projects in Sindh and Punjab
 NPHBWs (Draft ) Provincial HBWs policy
in Sindh and Punjab
 Amendments in the harassment bill
proposed for the inclusion on HBWs and
DWs
 Members of HNP adopted methods of
organizing HBWs

34. Challenges and bottlenecks
 Who will organize the Informal sector?
 Are trade unions ready for this as their long term programme
and NOT as “Project”?
 Ensuring Implementation of Policies for HBWs and DW? Who
will do that ? Government ?TU ? NGOs?
 Spaces for rights based organizations shrinking
 More focus on the Skills and micro financing as service
delivery driven
 Leadership development and finding spaces
 Absence of any strong Regional and International discourse
for HBWs
 Political commitments of the government or political scoring ?

36. Way forward

37. THANK YOU
H o m e N e t P a k i s t a n