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Dismantling the Capitalist Patriarchy and Honouring the Roots of IWD

International Women’s Day (IWD) is fast approaching … Are you ready?

Image credit: WILPF
WILPF International Secretariat
3 March 2020

International Women’s Day (IWD) is fast approaching … Are you ready? 

The day has become widely celebrated, yet what we see in the mainstream is a commodification of the day into catchy slogans printed on tote bags, vague calls for women’s empowerment and an encouragement to treat yourself with goods and beauty services because “you’re worth it”. 

The dominant narrative simplifies this day to become a celebration of individual women’s well-being and achievements, as opposed to a celebration of women’s collective struggle for emancipation and equality. Rather than being told we are “worth it”, should this day not be about our inherent right to enjoy fundamental rights and freedoms? 

Even more telling is the change of name from its original form — the International Working Women’s Day. The day was founded from working class and migrant women’s struggles for fairer wages and safer working conditions. This history seems increasingly forgotten in favour of an “easily digestible” neoliberal co-optation of feminism.

Geographically, there were multiple points of origin for the day. In New York City in 1908, more than 15,000 women workers launched a strike for better wages, shorter work hours and the right to vote. This was a major outcome from the critical debates and unrest growing among working women. In 1910, the second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. Here, Clara Zetkin proposed an internationally recognised day to press demands for women’s rights. This proposition was met with unanimous approval from over 100 women representatives from various socialist movements, unions and working women’s clubs.  

The first International Women’s Day was then held on 19 March, 1911. A million women across the world participated in rallies to demand their rights. Tragically, only a week after the marches, young immigrant women working behind locked doors were trapped in a factory fire in New York. In the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, 146 women lost their lives due to abhorrent safety standards and a failure of the factory to recognise their rights. The fire brought debates about women’s working conditions to the fore, and subsequently established a working class ethos to the International Women’s Day celebrations.

The Triangle Shirtwaist fire was not without precedents nor was it the last of its kind. Now, over a century later, women are still not guaranteed basic labour rights and decently paid jobs. Unpaid care work falls unfairly on the shoulders of women and yet, is invisible in the broad view of economists. Globally, austerity policies often in the form of budget cuts to the public sector are harming most ‘single mothers, young women, women with disabilities, older women, refugee and migrant women’ and LGBTIQ+ women. Women in conflict zones such as Amani Ballour, a doctor in an underground hospital amidst Syria’s civil war, are working in precarious conditions at extreme risk to their lives.

All of these inequalities play into the marginalisation of women and come at a detriment to sustainable and just peace. 

Sustainable peace cannot be achieved without socio-economic justice as inequalities readily feed into existing conflicts as well as creating new ones. Uneven distribution of resources and opportunities have huge implications for women’s abilities to participate in peacebuilding. If one is ‘focused on surviving, putting food on the table, finding means to educate your children, not being able to take care of one’s health because there is no affordable health care’ among other struggles, participation in public spaces in general becomes ever the more difficult.

It is these issues we must not lose sight of on International Women’s Day. While there are definitely a number of reasons to feel discouraged, let’s not lose sight of our collective strength. What we need is system change, and we can reclaim this day for that purpose!

For this reason and for those with the ability to do so, we call on you to strike for change. The Women’s Global Strike on 8 March 2020 is an opportunity to honour the activists whom we can thank for the existence of this day and your participation is welcome in all its forms — whether that means withdrawing from formal and/or care work, slowing down your work, or organising a meeting of feminists in your living room. 

What is key in our efforts is a self-reflective approach, making our movement for women’s rights and peace beneficial to women from all backgrounds. We must not forget that not everyone has the privilege to strike, and any advocacy efforts must place the needs and voices of marginalised women in the frontlines.

Together we are stronger and can keep pushing for our demands to be met so that each and every woman is guaranteed her human, economic, social and cultural rights. Naming oppressive structures – including capitalism, patriarchy, racism, neoliberal globalisation and militarism – and shaming those that uphold them is already a start. 

We are a force to be reckoned with… let’s keep on going! 

We would like to thank Edith Ballantyne who provided the historical context and focus for this blog post. You can find out more about how to participate in the strike on the Women’s Global Strike website

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WILPF International Secretariat

WILPF International Secretariat, with offices in Geneva and New York, liaises with the International Board and the National Sections and Groups for the implementation of WILPF International Programme, resolutions and policies as adopted by the International Congress. Under the direction of the Secretary-General, the Secretariat also provides support in areas of advocacy, communications, and financial operations.

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Melissa Torres

VICE-PRESIDENT

Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Melissa joined WILPF in 2011 when she was selected as a Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women as part of the WILPF US’ Practicum in Advocacy Programme at the United Nations, which she later led. She holds a PhD in Social Work and is a professor and Global Health Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and research lead at BCM Anti-Human Trafficking Program. Of Mexican descent and a native of the US/Mexico border, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. Her work includes training, research, and service provision with the American Red Cross, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Centre, and refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.

Jamila Afghani

VICE-PRESIDENT

Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. She is also an active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organisation (NECDO). Elected in 2018 as South Asia Regional Representative to WILPF’s International Board, WILPF benefits from Jamila’s work experience in education, migration, gender, including gender-based violence and democratic governance in post-conflict and transitional countries.

Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo

PRESIDENT

Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO is a human rights and peace leader with over 27 years experience including ten within WILPF. She has a multi-disciplinary background with a track record of multiple socio-economic development projects implemented to improve policies, practices and peace-oriented actions. Sylvie is the founder of WILPF Cameroon and was the Section’s president until 2022. She co-coordinated the African Working Group before her election as Africa Representative to WILPF’s International Board in 2018. A teacher by profession and an African Union Trainer in peace support operations, Sylvie has extensive experience advocating for the political and social rights of women in Africa and worldwide.

WILPF Afghanistan

In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region. 

IPB Congress Barcelona

WILPF Germany (+Young WILPF network), WILPF Spain and MENA Regional Representative

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Demilitarisation

WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide.

Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Taliban’s arsenal. WILPF is calling for better oversight on arms movement, for compensating affected Afghan people and for an end to all militarised systems.

Militarised masculinity

Mobilising men and boys around feminist peace has been one way of deconstructing and redefining masculinities. WILPF shares a feminist analysis on the links between militarism, masculinities, peace and security. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists’ action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality.

WILPF has been working on challenging the prevailing notion of masculinity based on men’s physical and social superiority to, and dominance of, women in Afghanistan. It recognizes that these notions are not representative of all Afghan men, contrary to the publicly prevailing notion.

Feminist peace​

In WILPF’s view, any process towards establishing peace that has not been partly designed by women remains deficient. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, women’s true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve.

In Afghanistan, WILPF has been demanding that women occupy the front seats at the negotiating tables. The experience of the past 20 has shown that women’s presence produces more sustainable solutions when they are empowered and enabled to play a role.

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