Faisalabad: June 16, 2010. (PCP) ) On 12th June 2010, AWAM (Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation) in collaboration with LEHR (Liaison for Enforcement of Human Rights) organized a public forum titled “Forms of Gender Discrimination-Struggle for Just Society”. Naseem Anthony (Executive Secretary-AWAM), Shazia George (Coordinator-AWAM), Zafar Iqbal, Nazia Sardar, Mumtaz Kousar, Shahzad Rafiq and Nabila Emmanuel were among the speakers of the public forum held at Wazir Khan Wali in Faisalabad. Naseem Anthony said, “The customary practices such as; vani, wata satta, early marriage, honour killing and marriage to the Quran, cause decline instead of development for the citizens, therefore, key to progress of the nation is the exclusion of such traditions and customs from the society.” Shazia George said, “Male dominating society defines roles for females and confines females to household chores due to widespread gender discrimination in society, therefore females are bound to recluse from the development process.” Zafar Iqbal said, “Patriarchal system is the main reason behind the prevalence of different forms of gender discrimination in the society; therefore, it is pertinent for citizens of Pakistan to struggle for bringing about a positive change in social behaviours and for building a just society free of any kind of discrimination by elimination of gender discrimination.” Nazia Sardar said, “The basic obstacle in the empowerment of women is the mounting tendency of discrimination in the society on the basis of gender, therefore, exploitation of women’s rights and male dominance has increased due to negligence of existing discrimination on the grounds of gender in the society.” At this juncture, the speakers demanded that: public awareness about laws against Domestic Violence and Sexual Harassment at Workplaces must be multiplied and implementation of these laws must be ensured; discrimination in laws against women like Evidence Act and Citizenship Act must be amended; customary practices against women must be banned and jirga system must be outlawed; women’s representation as per their proportion of population must be ensured in every field of life by increasing reserved quota for women; govt. must ratify ILO convention 177, must acknowledge working women such as; peasant workers, domestic workers and home based workers as labourers, and must ensure protection of their rights through legislation and formation of union.