March, 2004

STOP THE WAR AGAINST WOMEN!
An IWD 2004 message from the Central Committee, Communist Party of Canada.

International Women's Day 2004 is a time to salute those who have
struggled for decades to win: equality advances for women: the vote,
reproductive choice, trade unions, some legal protections against
violence, homophobia and racism, social programs to provide a measure of equality. Today all these gains are threatened by profit-hungry
corporations, fundamentalist groups, and right-wing governments. Working
women need a united fightback to defend our rights, and a strategy to
achieve a world truly liberated from exploitation, oppression, poverty,
war and environmental catastrophe.

The war against women

On a global scale, women face rising unemployment, ecological crises and
regional conflicts. Many of the political and economic leaders who
impose neoliberal policies also seek to strengthen the institutions of
patriarchy, widen social inequalities and divide working people.
US imperialism and its allies are the worst enemies of women's rights,
under the guise of their phony "war on terrorism." Hundreds of Afghan women were killed by US bombs when the Taliban was overthrown; more than two years later, Afghan women often face the threat of rape and murder. The illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq have killed thousands, and life has become much more difficult for Iraqi women. Women and Children in Palestine are the main victims of Israel's illegal and brutal occupation of their territories, while the US funnels billions in aid and arms to Israel.
The Bush White House has lined up with patriarchal religious forces in a
global offensive against women's rights. President Bush has reinstated
the "Global Gag Rule," which condemns hundreds of thousands of women and girls to unsafe abortions and even death by denying funding to health
care providers which provide information on abortion to their patients.
In the former socialist countries of Eastern Europe, all progress towards women's equality has been rolled back, as part of the brutal restoration of capitalism.
Here in Canada, the corporate agenda includes attacks on childcare and
parental leave, and vicious cuts to social services. The shift towards
"home care" for the sick and elderly aims to force women to leave their
jobs to care for relatives. The BC government's attempt to eliminate
access to welfare, and the Charest government's attack on Quebec's
$5/day child care system, are among the latest assaults on social rights.
Violence against women remains widespread, yet funding is being
eliminated for women's shelters and rape crisis centres. Women's
organizations have been virtually destroyed by funding cuts. The very
concept of feminism is ridiculed by right-wing forces, and the self-confidence and achievements of many young women are twisted by the
mass media to spread the lie that "male inequality" is the "new reality."

Behind the backlash

What's behind the backlash against women's rights? Most immediately,
this attack comes from neo-liberal governments and corporations, backed
by right-wing media outlets and fundamentalist bigots. But the underlying problem is the economic system based on private ownership of most wealth: capitalism.
Human societies were originally based on a non-hierarchical division of
labour. When private ownership of resources arose, societies became
divided, with wealthy (mostly male) rulers exploiting the rest of the
people. Women were restricted to domestic labour,in a position of
economic, social, political and cultural inferiority.
Only capitalists benefit from the systematic oppression of women and
minority groups. The transnational corporations super-exploit women as
workers, reaping extra profits by paying them lower wages. Women of
colour and Aboriginal women face even higher unemployment rates and
lower incomes. Millions of women are caught in part-time and temporary
jobs, low?wage ghettos, or home-based jobs difficult to organize into
unions.
As well as forming almost half the paid workforce in Canada,women still
do the bulk of domestic labour. While such unpaid labour is not directly
part of the cycle of capitalist exploitation, it is essential in the process of raising each new generation of workers. This double burden is a key form of oppression of women under capitalism.

What's the answer?

The Communist Party of Canada believes that the entire working class
movement must step up the struggle to defend and expand women's rights.
We must all combat the sexist, racist, homophobic, anti-immigrant and
militarist views promoted by the corporate media and culture.
Above all, the trade union movement must build on its historic record of
defending the social and workplace rights of women. That means more
efforts to organize part?time, temporary and contract workers,and the
unemployed, so that these workers can raise their living standards and
expand their political and economic action.
Despite recent setbacks caused largely by government cutbacks, women's
organizations remain a vital force in the battles for pay equity, affirmative action, fully paid parental leave, reproductive choice, universally accessible child care, social assistance, and housing for all.
The Communist Party believes that our daily struggles must be integrated
into a long?term strategy. We call for stronger unity of all progressive
forces, during elections and in our streets, schools and workplaces, to
help build a People's Coalition, with full women's equality a crucial
element of its alternative policIes.
Ultimately, the struggle to win a comprehensive alternative to
neoliberalism must contend with the logic and structure of capitalism
itself. That systemic alternative is a socialist Canada, where the
principal means of producing and distributing wealth will the common
property of all, and the exploitation of labour will be abolished.Ecological degradation will be replaced by measures to reduce the impact of human life on the natural environment. Poverty, insecurity and discrimination will be ended. Socialism will finally realize a new society based on solidarity, equality and emancipation.

Communists demand equality!

The Communist Party of Canada demands:

* end Canadian participation in the phony "war on terrorism."

* solidarity with the women of Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Colombia,
Venezuela, Cuba, the Philippines, Korea and other countries facing
imperialist violence and threats.

* reject privatization, deregulation and the "free trade" agenda of
capitalist globalization.

* full funding for quality, public healthcare, education and social
welfare systems.

* a universal, affordable non-profit childcare system.

* a shorter work week with no loss in pay and no reduction in public
services; full benefits for part-time workers.

* intensify efforts to organize part-time workers and female dominated
workplaces.

* restore and extend employment and pay equity legislation;expand job
creation programs, especially for disadvantaged young women; enhance
parental leave benefits, to eliminate barriers which disqualify
thousands of women.

* reinstate and expand core funding for women's equality seeking
organizations, including NAC; full funding for grassroots, feminist
services to deal with violence against women.

* enshrine within the constitution the rights of Quebec, Aboriginal
peoples, and Acadians to self-determination and self-government, and
guarantee the full economic, social and political equality of Aboriginal
women.

* safe, public, accessible abortion clinics in all parts of Canada.
* establish a fair and just immigration and refugee policy.

* extend all public benefits, including marriage rights, to same-sex
couples in all provinces and territories; end discrimination against
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people.

© 2002 Communist Party of Canada