"Women pickers toil unprotected in Pakistan's cotton fields", 10 Sept 2017

...Women labourers make up the bulk of the estimated half a million cotton pickers in Pakistan, the world's fourth biggest cotton producer.

With the widespread use of pesticides, and a lack of safety equipment, Batool's story is familiar to many of them.

Pakistan's government and provincial authorities say they are taking steps to ensure the use of safety gear, but women's rights groups say nothing is done when farm owners don't comply...

There are two laws dating back to the 1970s governing pesticide use and ensuring health protection of farm workers from possible exposure to pesticides.

Former federal agriculture minister, Nazar Gondal, said they were poorly enforced...