March 8, 2000

WOMEN OF THE WORLD, UNITE!

International Women's Day 2000 Statement,
Central Women's Commission,
Communist Party of Canada

WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD are taking action this International Women's Day, demanding an end to poverty and the elimination of violence against women. The launch of the World March of Women on March 8th marks the beginning of an intensive period of organizing to counter the havoc wreaked by capitalism around the world. Women can take inspiration from the tens of thousands of labour and social activists who derailed the World Trade Organization talks in Seattle. We need to keep up the pressure against the engine of the capitalist system globally, and work in our local communities to expose the oppression and exploitation that fuels the corporate "need for greed."

On IWD, we send solidarity greetings to our sisters around the world who shoulder the burden of capitalist globalization. From the sweatshops of Indonesia to workfare placements in Ontario, from the fundamentalist repression in Afghanistan to the desperate farms of our prairies, from violence-ridden maquiladoras in Mexico to Vancouver's east side, and in coastal communities fighting to save their food fisheries across the planet and in Atlantic Canada and the west coast, women are organizing against the corporate offensive.

In Canada, we are determined to stop the privatization of our social safety net, the ultimate goal of big business and their governments in the next phase of the WTO talks. Not content with opening new markets and cheap labour pools in the south, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) offers up our very own healthcare, education, and social welfare system to private interests. Women must not only shoulder the burden of layoffs through public sector restructuring and downsizing, we must also scramble to deliver those social services that we once provided as decently waged, almost always unionized, workers.

The Nurses Unions, especially in Saskatchewan, are saluted for their stand on the picket lines to save our healthcare system.

We salute also our sisters in Quebec, for their progress towards a universal, accessible child care system. The CPC Women's Commission demands full funding for quality, public social welfare, education and healthcare systems, universally accessible across the country, and a universal, affordable non-profit childcare system, NOW! In addition, we call on a full mobilization of labour and democratic movements to continue to build the resistance against capitalist globalization. Women need to educate, organize and build resistance to the upcoming Organization of American States meeting in Windsor, Ontario in June and next year's Summit of the Americas in Quebec City.

Women are over-represented in low wage, part-time and service sector jobs. As a result, our wages continue to decline in real terms. Women of colour, aboriginal and disabled women are greatly over-represented in unemployment rates across the country. Meager improvements to maternity and parental benefits (extended leave provisions) do not compensate for the reduction in benefit levels or the increase in number of weeks needed that disqualify thousands of seasonal and part-time workers from even collecting benefits.

We salute the women in the Public Service Alliance of Canada, who stared down the Chrétien government, and after years of waiting finally received what was rightfully theirs – $5 billion in pay equity settlements. Let's not forget though, that in many public sector workplaces, pay equity victories have been marginalized by massive downsizing, or are yet to be realized. Farm women are shouldering the burden associated with the decimation of the family farm, another victim of global trade deals which pressure governments to withhold needed subsidies. Women are also among the leaders of this fightback, through the National Farmers Union and other organizations, and their constant pressure on the doorsteps of provincial and federal legislatures.

The CPC Women's Commission demands a shorter work week with no loss in pay, a ban on compulsory overtime, and full benefits for part-time workers.

We call on the labour movement to step up the efforts to organize part-time workers and female dominated workplaces.

We demand comprehensive employment equity legislation, the extension of pay equity legislation, and expanded job creation programs, especially for disadvantaged young women.

We demand the extension and enhancement of parental leave benefits, to eliminate barriers which disqualify thousands of women. We demand Ottawa immediately allocate sufficient funds for subsidies to save the family farm.

We salute lesbian women, who fought for years for same-sex benefits and we recognize their work that forced the federal government to introduce a bill to provide same sex benefits for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered persons. We also recognize that this is not enough, that all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, must have equal rights enshrined in the constitution.

There has been a tragic increase in homelessness across the country. The cancellation of national housing programs combined with the growing poverty of working and poor people affects thousands of women and children. Women are at the forefront of the fightback for affordable housing.

The reduction of federal transfer payments, and neoliberal provincial policies, have resulted in many cuts to women's shelters, and to counseling programs which have assisted countless women to find a safe haven from domestic violence. Hundreds of women's organizations have ceased to exist over the past two years as a result of drastic funding cuts. This, at a time when women can ill afford to lose such valuable programs and services.

The CPC Women's Commission demands reinstatement and expansion of core funding for women's equality seeking organizations, including NAC, full funding for grassroots, feminist services to deal with violence against women. We demand that Ottawa immediately allocate 1% of the federal budget to the creation of social, affordable and subsidized housing.

We demand the abolishment of the $975 head tax, full funding for settlement programs and the commitment to a fair and just immigration and refugee policy, including family reunification programs.

We demand the extension of all public benefits, including marriage, to gay and lesbian couples.

We demand that student loans program be replaced by student grants, and that the federal government immediately set aside money to phase out tuition fees at colleges and universities.

We demand full funding for safe, public, accessible abortion clinics.

We must also salute our sisters in Quebec, in their struggle against big nation chauvinism most recently incarnated in the so-called "Clarity" legislation. We reiterate our support for the right of Quebec to self-determination up to and including secession.

We also salute our aboriginal sisters, who fight obscene rates of poverty, violence, and imprisonment in their struggle for justice and self-determination. We support their demands for improvements to Bill C-31, so that aboriginal women's rights are fully respected.

The CPC Women's Commission demand that the "clarity" legislation be withdrawn. We call on the labour and democratic movements to launch a comprehensive campaign in support of our brothers and sisters in Quebec. We demand a new constitution based on the full equality of Quebec and the rest of Canada, and guarantees of full aboriginal rights.

On this IWD, we salute our companeras in Cuba, who struggle against the cruel embargo, yet enjoy many benefits found nowhere else in the world. We also salute the courage and determination of the women of FARC-EP, in their struggle for peace and social justice for the people of Colombia. And around the world we salute the women who have responded to NATO's immoral and illegal aggression by reinvigorating the peace movement.

The CPC Women's Commission is dedicated to working with others to achieve these demands. We believe in a Canada whose wealth is devoted to the social needs of its people. Join us... we have a world to win!

© 2000 Communist Party of Canada