ahore: February 28, 2013. (PCP) The legislation must be created to acknowledge workers of informal sectors as formal labourers, this was stressed by the speakers during the three-day training of trainers titled “Collective Efforts to Advocate the Rights of Female Workers in informal sectors” at Lahore in Technical Services Assistance (TSA) on 19-21 February 2013. The main Objective of this activity to sensitize the trainees for their role in advancing and protecting rights of women workers, and to capacitate them with knowledge and skills to address wide range of human rights problems. 22 Muslim and Christian participants including female workers, youth and representatives of civil society organizations actively participated in the training under the umbrella of the Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation (AWAM). The director of the AWAM, Nazia Sardar said, “Stereotypes, outmoded customary practices and discriminatory laws are the main causes behind immense human rights abuses and violations in Pakistan.” “The passage of legislations by government for protecting women’s rights is commendable, but a lot more needs to be done on the part of the government, towards raising awareness about pro-women legislation, guaranteeing firm implementation on the laws, and bounding government machinery responsible for ensuring law and justice, to provide immediate response to the complaints filed by the females,” she added. The executive secretary of the AWAM, Naseem Anthony said, “The gender equality in social, economic, political and cultural fields has the significance importance for the progress and prosperity of any society.” “Gender discrimination creates a space for domestic violence in the society, therefore, a law protecting women against domestic violence must be approved by the Punjab government,” she added. Hanif Ramay said, “The large number of working women associated with informal sector are contributing big share towards the economic growth of the country, but this human resource is neither acknowledged nor protected in labour codes, so this labour force remain invisible in labour statistics and labour framework.” Salman Abid said, “There is need to take advocacy initiatives for the protection of the rights of the marginalized groups. Advocacy is an effective tool to bring about positive change in the society.” Maria Kokab said, “There is a large bulk of women working in informal sectors as domestic workers, home based workers and peasant workers in Pakistan, who are exploited by the employers for working in an unregulated, unorganized and undervalued form of employment, due to absence of any labour legislation for this group.” The director of the working women organization, Aima Mehmood said, “The capitalism and feudalism are responsible for the exploitation of working class in Pakistan. The government must take affirmative practical steps to curb such exploitative systems and to rehabilitate, develop and empower the underprivileged class.”