An NGO [non-governmental organisation] in Peshawar named Community Appraisal and Motivation Programme (CAMP) has allegedly forced a woman to resign for bringing a 6 months baby to work.
According to the details, Zeenat Khan — who worked as a media coordinator at CAMP’s office — while talking to Naya Daur said that when she started bringing her child to the office her employers raised objections and “told her to drop the kid at home or hire a maid”, adding that it was not much of an issue as the child used to sleep most of the time.
Zeenat further said that she told her employers that she was unable to leave her kid at home as her parents and in-laws did not live in Peshawar.
“I offered to arrange and pay for daycare facilities at the office, but my employees made excuses about there not being any space available for this purpose” said the mother, adding that they even told her that such a measure would increase their expenses.
She said that the organization was well-funded and they had rented a bungalow in one of the most posh areas of the city.
Zeenat revealed that the project she was working for — called Da Khor Barkha (behn ka haq) — was aimed at women empowerment and funded by the Commonwealth.
“Despite being a project aimed at empowerment of women, most of those employed were men at high salaries” she added.
In her resignation letter, Zeenat wrote about how the management had raised concerns over her bringing her kid to the office, and spoke of all the reasons why she had to bring her child to the office, and that she had offered to pay for daycare facilities as well.
The organisation responding to Zeenat’s resignation letter has told her that the resignation was ‘her own decision’, and that they had advised her to make arrangements for childcare at home.
