On the occasion of International Women's Day 2008, the Communist Party of Canada sends greetings of solidarity to all who resist exploitation, oppression, violence and war.

     For almost a century, IWD has been a day to unite and mobilize for the right to vote, reproductive choice, labour rights, protections against violence, improved social programs, and opposition to homophobia, racism and xenophobia. But today, decades of hard-won gains are under fire from profit-hungry corporations, fundamentalist groups, and right-wing governments. The defence of women's equality rights is an essential part of the struggle to stop the Tory/corporate attack on working people and to defeat the Harper government at the polls.

The war against equality

     Across the planet, women face rising unemployment, ecological crises, imperialist bombs, and regional conflicts. Women work an estimated two‑thirds of the world's working hours and produce half of its food, but earn only 10 percent of global income and own less than one percent of property. 70% of people living in abject poverty in the world are women. Yet today we see a global war against equality, led by Harper's closest ally, the Bush Administration.

     The "biggest lie" of the Harper Conservatives is their claim that our military is in Afghanistan to defend women. The truth is that seven years after the defeat of the Taliban, "liberated" Afghan women still face threats and violence for working outside the home, and female MP Malalai Joya has been expelled from Parliament for challenging the warlord-dominated Karzai regime. 87 percent of Afghan women are illiterate, and just 30 percent of girls have access to education.

     An estimated one million Iraqi civilians, mainly women and children, have died under the illegal US-led occupation. The Harper Tories cut off humanitarian aid to Palestine, deepening the economic and social crisis which imposes a terrible daily burden on Palestinian women and families.

     The Bush White House and patriarchal religious forces continue their offensive against women's reproductive rights. After the restoration of capitalism in the former European socialist countries, women face a stark choice between ghettoized low-wage jobs, or entry into the global capitalist sex trade.

The Tory attack

     Here in Canada, the corporate media spreads the myth that women have achieved full equality. But the reality is very different.

     Official data show that 8.3 million women are in the lowest income groups ($0-30,000), compared to 5.6 million men. Among the wealthy (over $100,000 annual income) there are 660,000 men and just 196,000 women.     Almost one in five Canadian women (2.8 million) live in poverty; 56% of lone parent families headed by women are poor, compared with 24% of those headed by men; 49% of single, widowed and divorced women over 65 are poor; the median employment income for a disabled woman is $8,360, compared to $19,250 for disabled men; for every $100 earned by men, women earn $30 less; even women with post‑secondary degrees are paid less than 70% of what their male counterparts earn for full‑time, full‑year work.

     Yet the Harper Tories slashed the operating budget of Status of Women Canada by forty percent, and changed the funding criteria for women's groups, barring them from "equality advocacy". Harper's government scrapped progress towards a Canada-wide child care system; the $100/month tax credit does nothing to help families desperate for child care. The ongoing shift towards "home care" for the sick and elderly is forcing women to leave their jobs to care for relatives.

     Violence against women remains widespread. Women make up over 80% all victims of spousal homicide, and there are 500 missing or murdered aboriginal women across Canada. Yet funding for women's shelters, rape crisis centres, and women's organizations has been virtually wiped out.

The double burden of capitalism

     It was no coincidence that International Women's Day was begun by socialist women's organizations, since the attack on equality rights comes from an economic system based on private ownership: capitalism.

     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, as well as racist discrimination by the legal system and police. Millions of women are caught in part-time and temporary jobs in the service industry, or home‑based jobs difficult to organize into unions. Some male workers think they benefit from this pattern, but their wages and working conditions are also dragged down by the oppression of female co-workers.

     Women still also 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.

The struggle for equality

     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. By consistently combating scape-goating, the labour movement can help unite all sections of the working class.

     The women's movement remains 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 in our communities, schools and workplaces, between and during elections, to help build a People's Coalition. Full women's equality must be a crucial element of the policies which unite such a coalition.

     This strategy could open the way towards 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 protect the natural environment. Poverty, insecurity and discrimination will be ended. Socialism will finally realize a new society based on solidarity, equality and emancipation.

On IWD 2008, the Communist Party of Canada demands:

* reverse the federal attacks on equality rights.

* end all Canadian participation in the U.S.-led "war on terror."

* solidarity with the women of Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Haiti, Palestine, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, the Philippines, Korea and other countries resisting imperialist occupation and threats.

* reject capitalist globalization "treaties"; cancel the external debts of the Third World.

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

* a universal minimum liveable income.

* a universal, affordable, non‑profit childcare system with Canada-wide standards.

* 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; remove barriers to EI coverage; expand parental leave benefits to 52 weeks.

* emergency federal action to save working farm families.

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

* enshrine within the constitution the rights of Aboriginal peoples, Quebec, 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.

* allocate 1% of the federal budget to the creation of social, affordable and subsidized housing.

* establish a fair and just immigration and refugee policy.

* protect and expand equality gains by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people.

* replace the student loans program by student grants; phase out post-secondary tuition fees.