Call for Womens’ Day 2020 from AIRWO India: Resist fascism! Fight for equality and dignity for women!
Even as the divisive, communal and sinister CAA was passed amidst surging protests throughout the country, led in great part by women and youths, atrocities against women and the relentless pauperization of the masses have continued to rise steadily.
We are approaching the International Working Women’s Day at a time when Indian women are not only facing unprecedented violence but also being deprived of decent jobs and wages and being pushed into an existence of dependence and penury. Data released by the National Crime Records Bureau have revealed that a total of 2,249 unemployed women committed suicide in 2018. The total number of suicides by unemployed women and men surpassed that of farmers and serve as a harsh comment on the state of joblessness and poverty in the country.
Further international greetings to the Women’s Day 2019
From the Philippines sent Sharon Cabusao Silva greetings ” Fiery and militant greetings on International Women’s Day!”
From Africa writes Mwambu Margaret Jane from Uganda: “Thank you so much and wishing you a happy women’s day, see you soon”. Yours, Mwambu Margaret Jane
Grüße zum Frauentag 2019 aus Dhaka/Bangladesh vom Socialist Women’s Forum
Brief des SWF Bangladesh 8 March 2019 als PDF Datei
Dear Sisters & Women Activists,
Solidarity greetings to all on International Women’s Day. On 109th International Women’s Day Socialist Women’s Forum organized a rally at 11am 8th March 2019. Also six leftist women’s organizations including Socialist Women’s Forum observed International Women’s Day jointly. Our call was ‘protest rape-sexual harassment-violence and come on the struggle to establish women with human dignity and equal right’. On this occasion we demanded ‘ Equal right on inheritance’; ‘Equal-wage on equal-work’; ‘Establish uniform civil code’; ‘Economic value of household works in GDP’; ‘Stop violence against women’; ‘Stop gender-base violence at work’ etc.
Please keep us informed about your activities, analysis and keep in touch.
Comradely yours
Shampa Basu
General Secretary/Central Committee
Socialist Women’s Forum
deepl Übersetzung:
Solidarische Grüße an Alle am Internationalen Frauentag. Am 109. Internationalen Frauentag organisierte das Sozialistische Frauenforum am 8. März 2019 um 11 Uhr eine Demonstration. Auch sechs linke Frauenorganisationen, darunter das Socialist Women’s Forum, haben gemeinsam am Internationalen Frauentag teilgenommen. Unser Aufruf lautete “Protest gegen sexuelle Belästigung – Gewalt und der Kampf um die Verwirklichung von Frauen mit Menschenwürde und Gleichberechtigung”. Bei dieser Gelegenheit forderten wir ‘ Gleiches Recht auf Erbschaft’; ‘Gleiches Entgelt für gleiche Arbeit’; ‘Einheitliches Zivilgesetzbuch’; ‘Wirtschaftlicher Wert von Haushaltsarbeiten im BIP’; ‘Gewalt gegen Frauen beenden’; ‘Geschlechterbezogene Gewalt am Arbeitsplatz beenden’ usw.
Bitte informieren Sie uns über Ihre Aktivitäten, Analysen und bleiben Sie in Kontakt.
Call of the World Women’s Movement for International Women’s Day 2019
European Coordinators of the
World Women‘s Conferences of Grassroot Women
Halinka Augustin/Netherlands and Susanne Bader/Germany
Call of the World Women’s Movement for International Women’s Day 2019
“In the struggle for liberation I felt freedom for the first time, that’s why I organized myself!”
In many countries of the world, women’s consciousness has awakened on a massive scale!
On International Women’s Day, the day of struggle of the world women’s movement, we look with pride at our revolutionary pioneers like Clara Zetkin! She wrote under the impression of the first socialist revolution in Russia in 1917, as a result of which the right to vote for women was won:
“The first dictatorship of the proletariat is a true pioneer of full social equality for women.“
In many countries, on International Women’s Day 2019, the women’s movement chooses the “strike” as a form of protest, following the example of the workers’ movement. The struggle for the liberation of women is on the agenda in the 21st century. Women of all social strata and classes are at odds with the capitalist system, its representatives in the bourgeois parties and governments. But the contradiction is often still limited to individual questions and demands and is non-binding in its form. In order to become a force that can change society, it needs clarity and organization.
The first theoretical seminar of the World Women’s Movement 2018 in India was an important contribution to this. In this strategy debate it became clear:
From Africa to Europe to Asia female workers fight organized for their equal rights and participation in social life. In India, Sri Lanka, female tea plantation workers are on strike for equal wages with their male colleagues. Female textile workers in Bangladesh are fighting union battles for wages they and their families can live on. Women farmers demand a right to land. The approximately 67 million domestic workers worldwide demand employment contracts and social security, protection against sexual violence and an end to lawlessness. Carers and nurses in the Netherlands and Germany fight for recognition of their work and higher wages.
Continue reading “Call of the World Women’s Movement for International Women’s Day 2019”
STATEMENT BY SOUTHERN AFRICA RURAL WOMEN’S ASSEMBLY ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY, 8 March 2018
Today 8th March marks International Women’s Day. This is an historic day that has to be remembered for the struggles of poor women over 100 years ago who fought for an 8-hour work day, and decent working and living conditions for women. Over the decades International Women’s Day has symbolized the ongoing struggles for living wages, against violence, the rights of women and most importantly against patriarchy.
Although more than 100 years has passed since this significant date not much has changed for women and girls who live in rural areas. Women and girls who live in rural areas in SADC play a crucial role in improving rural livelihoods and the overall wellbeing of those who live in the country side. However, they experience increasing levels of inequality and are often at the forefront of being marginalised and displaced as a result of the increasing land grabs in the region, no access to clean drinking water and are victims of gender-based violence.
World women of all continents ! „Women rise for Afrin !“
Coordinators
of the World Women’s Conferences
of grassroot women
Halinka Augustin/ Europe / Netherlands
Susanne Bader/ Europe / Germany
Zaman Masudi/ Germany / Deputy
Meral Cicek / Near East
2018 / 03 / 18
Women of the World ! World women of all continents ! „Women rise for Afrin !“
The Turkish government carries out an invasion against international law in the Democratic Federation of North Syria. Hundreds of thousands of men and women are escaping.
The kurdish women movement calls for an international solidarity campaign „Women rise for Afrin !“.
At our 2. World Women‘s Conference of grassroot women in Kathmandu / Nepal we decided mutually: Our partnerships across country borders from grassroots to grassroots are a duty that no struggle is left without solidarity.
On 21 March 2018 ICOR ( International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organizations ) calls for a worldwide day of action.„Efrin will live!“
21 March is the day of the Newroz festival, a day of peace and freedom. This day and also other actions on March 24, 2018 ( Global Action day for Afrin ) are fine opportunities to make good on our promise. „Women rise for Efrin !“ „Efrin will live !“
Let us take over responsibility for actions and alliances and let us show that we fight alongside our kurdish sisters !
Long live international solidarity !
Download call for Afrin: 180319 World women call for 180321us
International Appeal on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
International Appeal on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
“On this day, 25 November, we unite forces with all women in the world to eliminate all form of violence. Our main concern is the fight for freedom, equality, justice, solidarity and, above all, peace.”
Continental Coordinators – World Women Conferences Representative – World March of Women Africa
In West Africa numerous women are caught up in battles. They do all they can to support the demands for better living conditions for everyone.
Women are the people most responsible for the survival of families and thus particularly vulnerable because the have to provide the bare necessities, also during battles. Despite all the risks, they have do carry out their activities accordingly. They organise themselves.
In Kenya many young people lose their lives in the fight against government troops. Women desperately seek platforms for a solution. The political situation demands that women raise their voices against oppression. In Nairobi a large peace demonstration denounced murder. But police and the military continue to kill. In Sudan we see that the decision of the people for independence subjects many women to great violence. In Somalia militarism remains a threat with terrorist attacks and bombs. It is not possible for women to gather together. Rape is used as a mass war weapon.
Call for an International Day of Action against Feminicide on August 3rd!
Call for an International Day of Action against Feminicide 
Let’s make August 3rd the International Day of Struggle against Feminicide through our joint organization!
On August 3rd 2017 is the third anniversary of the genocidal attack by the so-called Islamic State (IS) on Êzidi (Yazidi) Kurds in the Northern Iraqi city of Sinjar. Starting on August 3, 2014 the attacks and massacres caused a humanitarian catastrophe but importantly had the genocidal objective of eradicating the whole Êzidi community. Women were systematically targeted within this genocide and therefore it also constitutes a feminicide.
On August 3, 2014 the world became witness to a genocidal attack by IS, having the ultimate goal of eliminating one of the oldest religious communities in the world, the Êzidis. Rendered helpless and defenceless when the peshmerga troops of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) withdrew from their positions in Sinjar without prior warning, the Êzidi community suffered systematic massacre, rape, torture, displacement, enslavement of girls and women and forced recruitment of boys as child soldiers.
Unofficial reports show that over 5 thousand women and children were kidnapped and sold on slavemarkets in the course of the assault. The women and girls were not only sold in Northern Iraq and Syria but also in countries like Saudi Arabia, where they continue to be held and exploited as sex slaves.
Download Call in English:
Call for an International Day of Action against Feminicide
Download Call in Kurmanci:
Bangawaziya ji bo roja calakiya navnetewî dijî qirkirina jinê
Download Call in Turkish:
Kadın Kırımına Karşı Uluslararas- Eylem Gunu İçin Çağrı
Support from the chair of the federal union of women in ver.di
Support from the chair of the federal union of women in ver.di – now more than ever.
We – the women in ver.di – would like to express our strongest support for the struggles and actions taken by our comrades of the GARMENT WORKERS TRADE UNION CENTRE.
Having followed your struggles for dignified wages and working conditions, the women in ver.di are deeply impressed by your activism and your ongoing mobilization. We are proud to show our solidarity to you — to workers – especially women – who rise against a system of exploitation that might seem impossible to defeat.
We in ver.di know how difficult this fight can be – even if you surely face problems and resistances we can hardly imagine. This is why it is important to us to show you that your voices are heard and you actions are seen here in Germany and in Europe.
In times of right-wing politicians on the rise who threaten reproductive rights and health care for women all over Europe and the U.S. and neoliberal politics that affect financial security of workers everywhere we feel the need to be an ally to working women all over the world.
Strong trade unions that voice the demands of working women are an important counterpart to capitalist exploitation and to those who hold power and wealth. To us, gender equality and women’s rights are at the heart of these struggles, since they are far too often neglected and under attack. To us, solidarity, exchange and cooperation with organizations all over the world are important values we would like to uphold. Rest assured that the women in ver.dioffer their support to you.
We will continue supporting your struggle on an individual and collective basis by reporting on your actions to our committee members, by further endorsing the Joly Project and by actively promoting the Clean Clothes Campaign – which implies asking critical questions on the origins of the clothes we buy and the conditions under which they were manufactured.
Lastly, we wish you an excellent and fruitful conference where courageous and fierce ideascan be discussed and shared.
The women in ver.di send their kindest regards from Berlin and stand beside you in
solidarity.
Barbara Henken
Chair of the Federal Union of Women in ver.di
Karin Schönewolf
Chair member
Karin Schwendler
Download: Solidarity Letter: