Against all odds ; A woman narrates her struggle to vend fruits in Blue Area

Against all odds ; A woman narrates her struggle to vend fruits in Blue Area

Against all odds ; A woman narrates her struggle to vend fruits in Blue Area
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Vending perishable merchandise on pushcarts in the Blue Area is not an easy task for any gender as there are numerous challenges involved in it.

However, Saba Noreen has been defying all these odds for the past three years and now she is earning a decent livelihood to care for her little girl and jobless husband.

Saba Noreen’s financial miseries which were exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic situation in the country, have become her strength. Before the outbreak of Covid-19, she was a housewife but now she is an entrepreneur.

Early in the morning she visits the wholesale fruit and vegetable market, also known as Sabzi Mandi, and gets the required produce after bargaining. Then she loads the merchandise on her pushcart.

Afterwards, she picks up her five-year-old girl Sadaf and starts pushing her cart towards any selling point in Islamabad’s Blue Area. Sometimes she places the little child on the pushcart to make the job of pushing the pushcart on the streets of Blue Area easier.

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Speaking to Bol News, Saba stated that after the outbreak of the pandemic, she had little options to survive as her husband had lost his job and she herself had little formal education which was hardly enough to get a decent job. “Feeding my family was the real point of concern for me. My daughter Sadaf also has a medical-related issue as it is sometimes hard for her to breathe easily. So I borrowed some finances from relatives and started a business selling fruits on the pushcart,” she further said.

While responding to a question, she explained that she always goes to Sabzi Mandi herself to purchase fruits. “Paying a visit to Sabzi Mandi is not an easy job for a woman. In our patriarchal society, it is typically a man’s role in all practical aspects. As a woman, you face a lot of issues while dealing in Sabzi Mandi. However, since I have no other option, I keep doing my job,” she claimed.

She elaborated that selling fruits on pushcarts is not a comfortable job for a woman. “You have to face a plethora of issues while dealing in this business on the roads and streets. One needs to be ready for darting stares of passers-by when you are standing behind the pushcart as it is believed that women can only just buy merchandise from the pushcart vendors but they cannot do this business themselves. Women have to deal with this kind of casual sexism all the time,” she lamented.

Although Saba is managing to take care of herself and her family, she says that she could not avail incentives which were extended by the federal government after the Covid-19 outbreak to poor citizens including the Rs12,000 package.

“I myself applied for the grant of Rs12,000 and sent a message on a cellphone to get it. However, I was not granted this amount despite my humble efforts,” she further lamented.

She argued that she needed at least this grant from the government for her family which would help her expand her business and make it steadier.

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