A Woman's Place is in the Resistance
We are celebrating International Women’s Day in the midst of a deadly pandemic and major threats to human rights and freedom. For every one of these challenges, women have been at the forefront of the resistance.
From the ‘Wall of Moms’ in Portland, USA protesting against racial injustice and police brutality, to the ‘Women in White’ of Belarus demanding free and fair elections; from the demonstrations against the coup in Myanmar and for democratic reforms in Thailand to those to #EndSars in Nigeria; from the movements for a new constitution in Chile and for legal abortion in Argentina to those against the Citizenship Act and the Farmer’s Bill in India, women are showing that they will no longer put up with violence, injustice, oppression and despotism.
The original revolutionary goals of International Women’s Day – from over 100 years ago – remain relevant today. COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on low-wage workers, informal workers and health care workers, many of whom are women and migrants. Women have absorbed the economic and psychological cost of the pandemic through increased unpaid working hours and care work. Much of this labour is unrecognised. Women's full and effective participation and decision-making in public life is necessary to center these struggles and bring about social and economic justice.
Throughout the pandemic, women have shown that they can lead through empathic communication, anticipatory policy making and building resilience of communities. It is fitting then that this year’s IWD theme is “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world”. We salute our feminist sisters who lead in big and small ways: at home, in communities, at the national level and in the international arena. We are in solidarity with women who struggle to realise their fundamental rights to access to water, forest, land, food security, healthcare, education and decent work.
Twenty-seven members and partners of GAATW are celebrating IWD 2021 with the launch of a campaign entitled Women Workers for Change. The campaign starts with the premise that all women are workers, regardless of the work they do and whether or not they are paid for it. The broad frame of the campaign will include a number of specific local change agendas identified by women workers. As the campaigns progress, our colleagues from Asia, Africa and Latin America will share their strategies, challenges, and successes with each other. All through the year, we will bring you stories of this collective learning process.