World March of Women- Reform or Revolution?
After centuries of fighting for freedom and equality, what have we got?
we still earn less than men for the same work - globally we earn 40% less
EqualPay legislation has failed. In those countries which introduced legislation -
some
more than 30 years ago - women still earn 75% of male wages (in the US it’s more
like 58%
if you’re not white)
domesticviolence worldwide is getting worse. It is reaching epidemic proportions in
countries like Britain. In some poorer states half of all women and girls suffer
from
domestic violence and 60 million are currently ‘missing’ - most killed by their own
families
genderapartheid is alive and well in parts of the world like Iran and Afghanistan,
where women face segregation and open hostility and discrimination
rapeas a military strategy is also increasing. In wars like those in the former
Yugoslavia and Rwanda rape is used by the military against civilians. In the Gulf
War
the US even used it against their own military personnel
evenin ‘peacetime’ violence against women is increasing. One woman is raped every 17
minutes in Canada, every 5 minutes in the US. In Canada, 1 woman in 8 will be
sexually
abused by the time she reaches 18
Far from being the dream of liberation presented by some feminists, the workplace is a
living hell for most working class women. Not only are pay and conditions getting
worse
but sexual abuse is rife. Even in richer countries like Canada, 10% of all women are
reporting some kind of abuse in their workplace. The more the capitalist crisis
deepens
the more it needs to seek out cheap, flexible part-time labour and women are perfect.
It
relies as never before on the exploitation of working class women and children, most
of
whom are sinking deeper and deeper into poverty. Worldwide rural poverty has increased
by over 50% since the start of capitalism’s present economic crisis in the ‘70’s.
Slavery is one of the answers capitalism has found. One million women and children are
sold as slaves each year, and more than 30 million women have been sold worldwide,
many
into the multi-billion dollar sex trade.
For feminists the answer to all this is to have more women in positions of power.
Unfortunately they don’t mean power by working class women to run society as a whole.
They mean individual women ‘making it’ under capitalism. They ignore the fact this
means
exploiting other women. They also ignore the fact that some women are doing very
nicely
under the present social set up. Feminism can’t get round the fact that capitalism is
based on the violent exploitation of one class by another and it has inequality at its
very core. If you’re female and belong to the exploited class then the best thing you
can hope for is the chance to be exploited on equal terms with men. If you’re rich
then
inequality isn’t a problem. It is the working class who pay for this system,
especially those who are most disadvantaged, from women and children to the old and
immigrants. Capitalism can’t end oppression because it thrives on divisions, between
men
and women, between races, between religions, ages, nations, whatever it can think
of,
and feminism is just another of the ideologies it uses to do this. Capitalism only
exists only to make a profit, and it exploits women and children to the death to get
it.
We want working class women to have real power.
Instead of pleading for equal pay with men, we want the overthrow of the wages system.
Instead of asking for equality under capitalism, we want its abolition. We want a
society of freely associated producers who produce for human need and don’t exploit for
profit.
We’re fighting for communism because it is the only realistic way to fight inequality
and
the violence and oppression that goes with it.
FIGHT WITH US.
The comrades of the International Bureau for the Revolutionary Party
Internationalist Notes/Notes Internationalistes (Canada)
Internationalist Notes (Usa)
Circulo Internacionalista de colombia
Communist Workers Organisation (GB)
Bilan et Perspectives (Francia)
P.C.Int. – Battaglia comunista (Italia)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Battaglia comunista
Organo del Partito comunista Internazionalista
Sezione Italiana del Bureau Internaz. per il Partito Rivoluzionario
http://www.ibrp.org
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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