Aurat March organisers demand increased spending on health and education.

On Monday, the Aurat March organisers published a list of 60 demands, which included ending patriarchal violence, increasing the representation of women in climate change decision-making at all levels, cutting the defence budget, and increasing funding for health and education.

At a pre-march press conference held at the National Press Club, women’s rights advocates Farzana Bari and Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir delivered these demands to the media (NPC).

Together with boosting the minimum wage, the proposals call for an end to debt traps and the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) anti-poor policies.

The decision to concentrate on the “feminization of climate justice,” according to the organisers, was made in the wake of the country’s devastating floods last year.

Read More: On March 12, 2023, Aurat March will be held in Karachi.

They claimed that in response to this disregard, Aurat March Islamabad had advanced several key demands for 2023, including ending period poverty, ensuring economic justice and budgetary allocations for universal childcare in all formal work settings in Pakistan, and formalising the informal sector/market (where a majority of women are employed).

The march organisers claimed that despite an application for a no-objection certificate (NOC) being filed to the district administration well in advance, it was denied just a few days prior to the march without a valid justification.

The Islamabad police and the district administration were reminded of their duty to protect the lives of lawful marchers who had been following the same path since at least 2018.