International Socialists

Melissa H

International Women’s Day began in 1909 when a group of garment workers in New York city had been fighting long and hard for change and they demonstrated on March 8 for the end of sweatshop conditions, equal pay, the vote for women and childcare options for working mothers.

In 1911 March 8 was celebrated internationally for the first time. This was a time in Europe where “housewives’ uprisings” were becoming commonplace, women were starting to recognise that change would only come through overthrowing the political system. International Women’s Day 1911 is worth noting because of its huge success. Women met together, organised themselves collectively and fought the police who tried to subjugate them. While the women were at meetings and demonstrations men stayed at home and looked after the children for a change. This was so important because women began to join the socialist movement and trade unions, they gained experience in organising and raised political consciousness. All of these things are key for a better future for the working class.

The most important International Women’s Day was in 1917 when women in Russia took to the streets demanding bread and their husbands back from the trenches of WWI. This demonstration, this group of women was the spark that started the Russian Revolution. The Russian Revolution instantly gave women legal, civil, economic, social and political rights such as free access to contraception and abortion and decent support for pregnant women and working mothers.

So what about women’s oppression here and now in New Zealand? Many people say that women are no longer oppressed; women have gained positions of power in almost every sphere. Both our current and previous prime ministers are women, women are in every government department and even the CEO of Telecom who earns a million dollars a year is a woman. Feminists have fought long and hard for the vote and anti-sexist legislation such as equal pay legislation.

• Unfortunately equal pay legislation is a perfect example of reformism that just hasn’t worked. Women still only earn 85% of the average man’s wage. Women university students get more degrees and better grades, yet still when they graduate earn less than men and take on average twice as long to pay off their student loans, 28 years as compared with 14.

• Women in the workforce are more often part-time and casually employed than men, a legacy of the Employment Contracts Act, which has left these women with poor wages and little power to bargain for a better deal.

• There is still no real support for pregnant women and new mothers. If we want children we are offered a watered-down paid parental leave payment. It is worth noting, however, that to receive 12 weeks paid parental leave you have to go back to work after the 12 weeks is up. This means that you either have to have a job that allows you to take your baby to work or be able to afford childcare, neither of these options are available for women working in factories, retail or low paid work, therefore denying the women who are in most need of financial support paid parental leave.

• And when women do work the duties and responsibilities of the home such as cooking, cleaning and looking after children and the family’s health is still overwhelmingly our responsibility.

• In the workplace women are subjected to sexual harassment, in fact Service and Food Workers’ Union research shows that if you are a young woman it is probable that you will be sexually harassed at some time.

• As women we still have to struggle for control over our own bodies. If you are pregnant for example whether you will have a Caesarean section depends more on what hospital you are in than what you may need or want.

• Abortion rights are still tenuous. RU486 – sometimes referred to as the abortion pill – which offers another abortion option to women has been available in France and China for over 12 years yet it is still not available in NZ.

But, probably the figures most indicative of women’s position in NZ society are the ones about sexual and domestic violence. In 1997 11 women died as a result of domestic violence and another 400 women were hospitalised.

So it’s obvious that anti-sexist legislation, women leaders, women having the vote and women being in positions of power is just not working for us. However, working for women’s liberation is possible and necessary. Feminist thought tells us that all men oppress all women, and that all men are the enemy. But this is quite simply not true, it also doesn’t offer any hope for change. Sexism is a class issue. Working class men do not benefit from sexism – in fact they are disadvantaged by sexism. One simple illustration of this is if women earn less income, the income for the whole family is less.

It is important however to support changes in legislation and policy, to object to sexist jokes and language and educate ourselves, both men and women, about sexism. But we need to work for a bigger goal; we need to work for the emancipation of the entire working class. We cannot rely on politicians, employers or courts to institute change because they have different class interests and in fact have a vested interest in women’s oppression.

Under capitalism the small ruling class owns the means of production and therefore has control over those people who sell their labour for wages. It is this small group of people who benefit from keeping wages low and this group who exploit marginalised groups such as women, migrant workers and indigenous people to keep wages down and profits up. It is this group who deny women decent paid parental leave and childcare options because they are not profitable. It is also this group who make social policy, write curricula for school, make judgements in court and therefore have control over social ideology.

The bourgeoisie have placed women in passive and submissive roles. Some psychologists even argue women are naturally this way, however they have yet to find the submissive/passive gene! Socialism sees the potential power of women, and does not see them as passive victims.

Marx himself vehemently opposed women “belonging” in the home and appointed women to organising positions. This was significant, because this was a time where women were told of the dangers to their health of thinking too much. Marx did this because he recognised the importance of collective struggle and that women and men need to work together and that division of the working class through sexism is merely a tool of capitalism, which keeps the whole working class oppressed. This division oppresses women because if we are passive and subjugated we are not on the picket lines, organising, instigating or demanding change.

Conclusively women’s oppression is born from, perpetuated by and benefits the bourgeoisie in this capitalist system. The only way therefore to fight for women’s liberation is to overthrow this class system that has a vested interest in oppressing women.