March 8, 2001

Statement by the Women's Commission
Central Committee
Communist Party of Canada

The most enduring accomplishment of the World March of Women 2000 is the revitalization of the international women's movement. Millions of women, in over 161 countries, actively participated in local, national and regional education and mobilization events to demand the elimination of poverty and violence against women. Almost 5 million signatures in support of the March demands have been collected. The strength and coordination of the international women's movement is a key pillar in the growing mobilization against capitalist globalization.

On International Women's Day, the Women's Commission of the Communist Party of Canada salutes all the women's, social justice and labour organizations and individuals who in their own unique ways, stood up in communities around the world to demand an end to poverty and violence against women. We salute the FŽdŽration des femmes du QuŽbec, who provided the international impetus and inspiration to the World March of Women 2000 and the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, for providing leadership to the Canadian Campaign.

Last year, women's representatives from around the world demanded, in face to face meetings with the President of the World Bank, and the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, an end to the capitalist, neoliberal and sexist foundations of their policies. It's not surprising that both refused to admit that their institutions had in any way contributed to the 'impoverishment of broad sectors of humanity.' On International Women's Day, we send solidarity greetings to our sisters around the world whose day to day struggle against capitalist globalization is an inspiration to us all. We pledge to take our message to the streets - women will be a major force in the upcoming mobilization against the Free Trade Area of the Americas in Quebec City in April.

In Canada, women have renewed their determination to fight against the privatization of our social safety net, the main focus of the neo-liberal agenda. Healthcare, education, social welfare, municipal services, childcare, water and hydro are being offered up to private interests. Faced with the ever fragmenting social safety net, women shoulder the burden of layoffs through public sector restructuring and downsizing, Women are forced to pick up the pieces to provide support services for family members once provided by a healthy public sector.

Women are also over-represented in low wage, part-time and service sector jobs. As a result, women's wages continue to decline in real terms. Women of colour, aboriginal and disabled women are disproportionately over-represented in unemployment rates across the country. In Canada's large urban centres there is a disproportionate percentage of women and children of colour living in poverty.

Pay equity settlements, many yet to be paid out, are threatened by massive downsizing in the public sector, including recent municipal amalgamation in Ontario. For example, the City of Toronto has told its library workers who are predominantly women, that in order to fund their pay equity settlement they are going to close 17 libraries in the City.

We salute our aboriginal sisters, who fight obscene rates of poverty, violence and imprisonment in their struggle for justice and self-determination. We support full constitutional rights of aboriginal women.

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.

We salute lesbian women, who fought for years for same-sex benefits and we recognize their work that forced the government to introduce a bill that will 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.

One of the most telling signs of the rampant advance of global capital is the dramatic increase in the number of people who are homeless 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 to provinces and the implementation of 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.

We also salute our sisters in Quebec, in their continued struggle against big nation chauvinism. We reiterate our support for the right of Quebec to self-determination up to and including secession. We pledge to work diligently for a democratic solution to the National Question, which respects these rights. The clarity legislation must be opposed vehemently by all in the labour and democratic movements.

On this international day, we salute our compañeras 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 against Plan Colombia and American intervention and for peace and social justice for the people of Colombia.

We salute the women of Palestine, who risk their lives daily against zionist imperialism. We support the women of Iraq who are being used and abused by the military industrial complex led by the United States and Great Britain to save the flagging economies of capitalism.

To the women of Afghanistan, both those who are locked in their home prisons by the Taliban and those freezing to death with their children in refugee camps, we offer our support in their struggle to win basic human rights and freedoms.

The Women's Commission of the Communist Party of Canada encourages all forces fighting for social and economic justice to keep the demands of the World March of Women 2000 at the forefront of the struggle against capitalist globalization. The eradication of poverty and violence against women is the first step towards a building a new society. We believe in a Canada whose wealth is devoted to the social needs of its people. Join us . . . we have a world to win!

The CPC Women's Commission demands:

• full funding for quality, public social welfare, education and healthcare systems, universally accessible across the country and the establishment of a universal, affordable non-profit childcare system, NOW!
• full mobilization of labour and democratic movements to continue to build the resistance against capitalist globalization in general and specifically against the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in April.
• a shorter work week with no loss in pay, a ban on compulsory overtime and full benefits for part-time workers
• intensification of the labour movement efforts to organize part-time workers and female dominated workplaces.
• employment equity legislation, the extension of pay equity legislation, and expanded job creation programs, especially for disadvantaged young women. We demand the enhancement of parental leave benefits, to eliminate barriers which disqualify thousands of women.
• the immediate allocation by the federal government of sufficient funds for subsidies to save the family farm.
• 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.
• a democratic solution to the national question, in which the rights of all nations to self-determination and self-government within Canada, Quebec, aboriginal peoples, and Acadians are enshrined in the constitution. We also demand the full economic, social and political equality of aboriginal women.
• full funding for safe, public, accessible abortion clinics.
• the immediate allocation 1% of the federal budget to the creation of social, affordable and subsidized housing.
• the abolishment of the $975 head tax, full funding for settlement programs and the commitment to a fair and just immigration and refugee policy.
• the extension of all public benefits, including marriage, to gay and lesbian couples.
• the replacement of the student loans program by student grants, and that the federal government immediately set aside money to phase out tuition fees at colleges and universities across the country.

© 2001 Communist Party of Canada