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International Women’s Day, March 8: Time to Recommit to Equal Rights
Women make up more than half the American workforce and are approaching half of union members. On International Women’s Day, March 8, the AFL-CIO is recommitting itself to continue the struggle for equal rights, dignity and respect for all working women.
This past week, the AFL-CIO Executive Council pointed out that much needs to be done for women workers to gain equal footing. For example, the council cites a United Nations report, which shows the majority of the world’s 1.3 billion absolute poor are women. On average, women receive between 30 percent and 40 percent less pay than men earn for the same work. Women also continue to be victims of violence, with rape and domestic violence listed as significant causes of disability and death among women worldwide.
Noting that International Women’s Day began a century ago when women workers in New York City marched for better wages, the council said in a statement:
Just like women 100 years ago, women in America-and around the world-are fighting back. On this year’s anniversary of International Women’s Day, we recommit ourselves to continue to the struggle for equal rights, dignity and respect for all working women while paying close attention to women’s concerns in our fight to create jobs.
Click here to read the council statement.
Here’s some of what’s going on in conjunction with International Women’s Day:
- In a survey, women members of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) pointed to times when they felt a lack of respect on the job because of their gender. You can read some of the comments here.
- Some of the nation’s entertainment unions will unite on International Women’s Day to give voice to the women of Afghanistan with a presentation of “Out of Silence: Readings from The Afghan Women’s Writing Project,” in Los Angeles. This will be an evening of dramatic readings of selected essays and poems written by emerging Afghan women writers who often face estrangement, beatings, and even death for creatively expressing themselves through the written word. Presenting the readings are members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), Screen Actors (SAG), Writers Guild of America, West with Producers Guild of America and the Women In Film International Committee.
- LabourStart, the global labor news service and PSI, the global union federation for public-sector workers, have launched a campaign to free Seher Tümer, a Turkish public-sector union leader. She has been in prison for her union activities for more than a year. You can join the effort to free this brave union leader by clicking here.
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5 Comments
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Thank you so much for brining attention to these issues today! If you’re looking for a simple action you can take to celebrate International Women’s Day check out http://www.Girl2Woman.org. Every time someone shares the videos on the site with a friend, $1 is donated to Pathfinder International to support reproductive health care for women and girls worldwide. Pathfinder is trying to reach 200 thousand video shares by International Women’s Day (today!!) in honor of the 200 million women who want but lack access to contraceptives. It’s an ambitious goal so we need all the help we can get!
Last Saturday, March 6th 2,000 women and men marched and rallied celebrating International Women’s Day. We began by rallying in fron of the Grand Hyatt Hotel to bring attention to the gross abuse of it’s housekeepers and the anti-union activities of the hotel bosses. (UNITE HERE recently won 8 charges filed with the NLRB) According to the union and several university studies, Latina women employed by Hyatt are at the highest risk for injuries. With the inhumane work loads imposed on the housekeepers, it is easy to see how this is the case.
International Women’s Day began in the ranks of labor and labor should celebrate the rich history of women not only in the U.S. but around the world as well!
Good article. It’s right on the mark. Absolutely, much needs to be done for women workers to gain equal footing. I’m vacationing in Rome, Italy with my wife. The Romans are celebrating International Women’s Day by giving women Mimosas’
free — throughout the Eternal City. It always amazed me that the home of Women’s Liberation doesn’t celebrate it to any extent.
I have a sense the younger generation of women today, especially in Manhattan are to busy shopping. They can’t get past their past their own little circle. Michael Z, Upper Eastside, Manhattan
It’s important to remember that International Women’s Day grew out of a proposal for an International Women’s Day made to the Women’s Congress of the Socialist International held in Copenhagen in 1910. While wikipedia and mainstream websites have censored out the Socialist roots of Day, Labor should honor and remember that many of the rights we enjoy today and gains that have been made for women and the working class came about as a result of agitation and militant action organized by Socialists.
And in remembering that history, it would be good to see Labor move back to a Socialist economic program and break with the twin parties of Capitalism. It’s worth noting that our strongest supporter in the US Senate now is the independent socialist from Vermont, Bernie Sanders.
Yesterday in Rome, where my wife and I are vacationing, you see street vendors giving bunches of yellow mimosa blossoms. It was exciting to watch women smiling, talking and laughing as they received their flowers.
I didn’t mention in a previous comment to this article that the minosa blossoms are intended as gifts to honor the women in your life and just as important to everyone, especially union members, men and women should remember that Monday, March 8 was International Women’s Day, commemorating the “Triangle Shirtwaist Fire” of 1910, at 23 Washington Place, lower Eastside just one block from Washington Square Park, Manhattan, which killed more than 140 women, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants, who were locked into the New York City shirt factory where they worked. Michael Z, Upper Eastside, Manhattan.