CALL TO JOIN THE WOMEN'S GLOBAL STRIKE ON 8 MARCH 2000. Dear sisters, we invite you, your relatives, friends and colleagues to join the Global Women's Strike on International Women's Day, 8 March 2000. You may already be part of the World March organised by La Federation des Femmes de Quebec/The Federation of Women in Quebec, Canada. We are too. We have written to them, and they welcomed our proposal that we combine our events and support each other. The strike was called almost a year ago by the National Women's Council of Ireland, and was made global by the International Wages for Housework Campaign and the International Women Count Network which Wages for Housework co-ordinates. MOST OF THE WORK WOMEN DO IS UNWAGED, UNRECOGNISED AND UNVALUED. The Strike focusses on women's enormous contribution to every society and every economy. Women make the world go round, and raise and look after its entire population; but most of the work we do is unwaged, unrecognised and unvalued. This lack of economic and social recognition is a fundamental sexist injustice which devalues women and everything women do, including keeping our wages 25%-50% below men's. In fact, though a few women are now in highly paid managerial positions, the gap between women's and men's wages is growing. WE ARE CALLING FOR A MILLENNIUM WHICH VALUES ALL WOMEN'S WORK AND ALL WOMEN'S LIVES. Women and girls need and deserve a reduction of our workload, and financial recognition for our enormous contribution. Less work, more time, more resources. A strike is the best way to make visible women's contribution, needs and demands, because WHEN WOMEN STOP, EVERYTHING STOPS! Women have taken strike action before - from Iceland in 1975, to a decade of Time Off for Women in 24 countries (24 October 1985-1994), to Switzerland in 1991 and Mexico in 1999 . . . Such actions have won increased recognition for all the work women do, waged and unwaged, and more bargaining power for our demands - from pay equity to welfare benefits and childcare. WE ARE NOT STRIKING FOR A FEW WOMEN TO RISE IN THE HIERARCHY. We have had enough of pinning our hopes on women who urged us to support their rise in the economic and political hierarchy with the promise that when they had attained powerful positions our needs would be addressed. In fact, women who have climbed the power ladder have all too often been used against us, to disguise the attempt by governments to sacrifice our lives on the altar of the "global market". Just as people everywhere are accusing governments of not representing any of us against corporate greed, we are accusing women in governments of not representing women. We as a movement are learning not to confuse the personal ambitions of some women with the road to all women's liberation and the complete transformation of society. WE MUST CHANGE THE WORLD'S PRIORITIES As the year 2000 approaches, more and more people are aware that such a transformation is vital: the world cannot go on as it is. From war, famine and disease to global warming and other ecological devastation, racism and every other kind of exploitation - high tech has not increased happiness and well-being for the great majority of us, and has often had terrifying consequences, as protests against the arms trade, genetically modified foods, NAFTA and the World Trade Organisation have highlighted. It is not the money that's lacking but the political will to change the world's priorities. Global figures on military spending - $700 billion a year - compared to spending for essentials for living - $20 billion - demonstrate that for all to see. OUR DEMANDS There are many ways that women can get the money and resources we are owed. Add your own demands to this list. - The abolition of "Third World debt". The work women do - massively increased by structural adjustment programmes imposed by the International Monetary Fund - has more than repaid the debt. How can "loans" a few decades old compare with 500 years of colonial theft and genocide? - Accessible clean drinking water and ecologically sound technology for every household - we all deserve cookers, fridges, washing machines, computers . . . just because we're poor doesn't mean we have fewer needs. - Affordable and accessible housing and transportation. - Protection against all violence - at home, in the factory, in the office, on the farm, on the street . . . - Pay equity for all - equal pay for work of equal value internationally. - Wages for caring work, whether in the family or not. What work is more valuable than raising children and caring for others? - Paid maternity leave, breastfeeding breaks and other benefits that recognise women's biological work rather than penalising us for being women. - Women in Ireland are demanding that International Women's Day, 8 March, should be a paid public holiday every year starting in 2000. SUPPORT AND PUBLICITY To publicise the Global Women's Strike, women in the European and Latin American Network of Pirate Radios (Women Creating Communication Spaces) are broadcasting a jingle they have composed in Spanish and German, which you may want to translate for your own network and broadcast in your country. Some trade unions have started to take up the call for the Strike. Men and boys are being asked to support it too. HOW YOU CAN JOIN Please visit our WEBPAGE and send us your comments and suggestions on how you want to participate, and on how women should be remunerated for all their work, in time, money, land, housing, healthcare, childcare, education, technology... LANGUAGES AVAILABLE So far our Strike leaflet is in: Arabic, Basque, Bengali, Catalan, Chinese, French, Gaelic, German, Gujerati, Hindi, Italian and Spanish. We also have attractive Strike T-shirts, badges and postcards (with English logos) for sale. Power to the sisters to stop the world - and change it! SIGNED BY: Yolanda Benito Mujeres por el Salario para el Trabajo Sin Sueldo (Spain) Apartado 109, 08080 Barcelona Margaretta D'Arcy Women Count Network (Ireland), 10 St Bridget's Place Lower, Galway Selma James International Wages for Housework Campaign (England) Crossroads Women's Centre, 230a Kentish Town Rd, London NW5 2AB Margaret Prescod International Black Women for Wages for Housework (USA) PO Box 86681, Los Angeles, California 90086-0681 Webpage: http://womenstrike8m.server101.com E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
