International Women's Day - 8
March - commemorates the struggles of women workers worldwide against low pay
and exploitation.
It was in the USA in the latter part of the
19th century and the early 20th century that women workers, mainly engaged in
the clothing and textile industries, staged strikes and protests against their
working and living conditions under capitalism.
In 1910 an international women's conference
was hosted by the Socialist International (the 'Second International') which
agreed to mark international women's day on 8 March.
On
As Leon Trotsky comments in his History of
the Russian Revolution: "The slogan 'Bread!' is crowded out or obscured by
louder slogans: 'Down with autocracy!' 'Down with the war!' "
- the Russian revolution of 1917 had begun.
FOR THE first time ever, British women now
make up the majority of the workforce (51%). Apparently, we are breaking
through the 'glass ceiling' with more female politicians, newspaper editors and
judges, etc, than before. We live in a 'post-feminist' world. Or do we?
High profile 'career
women', like New Labour politicians, are praised by the media because
they can 'juggle it all' - career, family, love life, etc. What is hidden are
the (mainly female) paid cooks, nannies and cleaners that allow this new found
'equality' by doing the 'dirty work'.
A small layer of professional women may have
broken through but the reality for the majority of working-class women is that
over 30 years after the Equal Pay Act of 1974 the pay gap between women and men
is increasing.
In fact, even the breakthroughs for upper and
middle class women 'at the top' are limited. Women are still vastly
under-represented in parliament, as newspaper editors, company directors and
judges etc. For example, only 26% of the most senior civil service managers are
women. Yet the overwhelming majority in civil service clerical grades are
women.
However, the other side to this is that
female trade unionists in public sector unions like PCS and UNISON are
increasingly important to the developing class struggles in
Low pay is a major issue for everyone but
women are most vulnerable as they tend to be concentrated in low paid, often
part-time and 'gender segregated jobs' like catering, cleaning and caring.
Society devalues these jobs as they are still seen as 'women's work' and
reflect women's 'traditional' role in the household.
Social surveys show that most people now agree
that men and women should share childcare and cleaning chores equally. However,
this is often not what happens in practice. Women still tend to take on most
caring responsibilities (so are worst affected by NHS and social services
cuts). This is why so many women prefer to work part-time while at the same
time there are very limited opportunities for men who want to take paternity
leave, etc.
Changes in the British economy over the last
30 years mean that more women work than ever before. The decimation of
manufacturing has seen the erosion of well-paid industry jobs in traditionally
male dominated industries. One-fifth of full-time workers are now low paid
despite the introduction of the minimum wage. The greed and short-sightedness
of British capitalism has meant that it is no longer possible for most families
to survive on only one wage.
Meanwhile the part-time pay gaps remain high
at 38% while the EOC (Equal Opportunities Commission) shows that four out of
five part-time workers (many of whom are women) are working in jobs below their
potential. The EOC concludes that this is at least partly due to the lack of
flexible, high skill senior roles.
Ethnic minority women are even more
disadvantaged due to the racism of employers. The EOC reveals for example that
6% of Pakistani women and 9% of Black Caribbean women work as managers or
senior officials compared to 11% of white women.
In both the public and private sector, the
lack of career progression for women is a big issue due to both direct and
indirect discrimination. Research has also shown that having a university
degree is no guarantee against unequal pay. One survey showed that even when
they have the same degree, male graduates earn more than their female
counterparts.
Within the civil service unequal pay remains
a big issue as elsewhere. Recently the civil service gender pay gap decreased
but here is the catch: it was the result of thousands of low paid female civil
service workers losing their jobs as a result of the government's job cuts
programme!
This picture is depressing but there are
reasons to be optimistic. Female workers can be the most oppressed but this
gives them all the more reason to fight back. Recent industrial disputes like
Gate Gourmet and care staff in
Meanwhile, in the civil service trade union,
PCS, thousands upon thousands of female workers are linking up with their male
colleagues and taking part in a national campaign to defend jobs, pay and
services. PCS has a fighting left-wing national leadership that is prepared to
mobilise its members and stand up to a government that has no answers for
workers, regardless of gender.
And although at this stage most trade union
leaders are not prepared to lead a struggle, socialists can play an important
role in the struggle to transform the unions into campaigning unions.
However, an integral part of this task is to
ensure that socialists and trade unionists understand women's oppression and
why it's vital to counter it in order to strengthen class unity in the face of
the bosses' attacks.
THIS YEAR, the 90th anniversary of the
Russian revolution, on international women's day, we
can celebrate the critical and courageous role that women activists have played
internationally in the fight to liberate not just themselves but the working
class as a whole, a fight that continues today.
In more recent times - during the Miners'
strike of 1984/85 in Britain - women fought to defend jobs and their
communities, not only standing alongside the men on picket lines but organising
and speaking at the rallies and meetings which kept the strike going.
The summer of 2005 saw the brutal sacking of
670 airport catering workers, (many low-paid women) at Gate Gourmet. They were
sacked by a megaphone announcement and then contained in a room as 'prisoners',
as management brought in unorganised migrant labour to do their jobs.
The workers' willingness to fightback was shown in the magnificent solidarity action by
British Airways baggage handlers who walked out the next day but they were
disgracefully betrayed by a cowardly trade union leadership that bowed down to
anti-trade union laws.
On 23 March last year over one million local
government UNISON members, the majority low-paid women, showed their industrial
strength by taking strike action in defence of their pensions. Public services
were brought to a standstill only for the union leadership to call off further
strike action in favour of talks.
A full year later and the union has shown it is not prepared to stand up to New Labour and
union members are expected to accept what can be salvaged from a mishandled
dispute that they could have won.
The left-led civil service trade union PCS
union has called strike action on a number of occasions in the last year to
defend jobs, terms and conditions and has shown itself to be brave enough to
confront the government.
Currently, careworkers
- members of UNISON - are showing that low paid women workers are not prepared
to be the silent victims of cuts, privatisation, bullying and harassment and
are bravely fighting back.
In
There have now been four days of strike
action and Southampton UNISON is balloting for council-wide strike action
against pay cuts and privatisation.
In
They are entering the ninth week of their
dispute, demanding that Kirklees council take them back 'in house' and end the
contract with the profiteering private company and its 19th century employment
practices. Thy are still strong and united in their
fight for justice.
As socialists, we send greetings of
solidarity to women in every country where they are struggling against
capitalism, the system that oppresses women and the whole of the working class.
EVERYDAY WE are bombarded with media images
of female models and celebrities who are mainly valued for their appearance.
'Glamour models' like
Research shows that one in four women
experience domestic violence in their lives. The fact that so many women are
still economically dependent on men alongside the lack of social housing makes
it much harder for women to leave violent relationships.
IMAGINE YOU are in labour, contractions
coming every three minutes. You arrive at hospital panting and trying to
remember your birth plan, pay £2 to park, make your way to the right floor - to
be told that the maternity ward is shut due to staff shortages and you will
have to go to another hospital.
It sounds like a bad comedy - but it is not
so far-fetched as maternity units, particularly in London and eastern England,
were shut temporarily for a total of 4,000 hours (the equivalent of 165 days)
last year.
Maybe the government could train more taxi
drivers to deliver babies as women attempt to get to their next nearest
hospital, several miles away, through heavy traffic!
Thousands of women each year in the
The government claims there has been a 44%
increase in students entering midwifery. So what has caused the current
shortage? Money - or lack of it. NHS Trusts, desperate
to balance their books have frozen vacancies in maternity units, cut staff and
taken on cheaper maternity support workers.
The government denies that their current
'reconfiguration' of maternity services is driven by the need to cut costs.
They say that the proposal to centralise services into fewer regional
specialised hospitals and close many smaller maternity units across the country
will improve services for mothers and babies.
They say it will allow them to offer choice
and continuity of care throughout pregnancy. The trouble is,
nobody believes them!
The RCM's response was that there is 'no hope
of this unless midwifery services are expanded'. There are currently 25,000
midwives in the
The response from the public and health
service staff has been angry demonstrations against cuts and closure of
maternity wards. Clearly they are not convinced by the 'clinical case for change'
which the government's Children and Maternity Tsar, Dr Sheila Shribman, published last week to justify the cuts.
Labour MPs in constituencies where cuts are
most drastic are obviously feeling the heat. Never mind Tory MPs hi-jacking
anti-cuts demos, these days you could be rubbing shoulders with a Cabinet
minister!
But the main parties are responsible for the
current crisis in the NHS and maternity services in particular, and it is pure
hypocrisy for them to pretend otherwise. Whilst some of the protesters, health
workers and community activists opposing cuts still welcome support from
'rebel' MPs, others have a healthy disrespect for all the establishment
parties, and some of these are starting to draw the conclusion that they need
an independent political voice.
This could be an opportunity not only to
build the campaign for a new workers' party but to widen the debate from simply
opposing cuts to what we really need and want from NHS maternity services and
how we can get this.
Dr Shribman's
report is cloaked in progressive language about giving women 'choice' - more
home births, midwife-based birthing centres, reducing unnecessary caesarean
operations. Her words are a little ironic given that last year a quarter of
existing birthing centres in England alone closed or were under constant threat
of closure due to funding crises and a shortage of midwives (Guardian online).
'Choice' is meaningless in the hands of this
government, whether in relation to schools, housing or the NHS. Private
maternity services are a growth industry as those who can afford to, pay £4,000
or more for the one-to-one care and environment during childbirth that should
be available to all.
To give women genuine choice, to provide
services which are in the best interests of the mother and her baby would, as a
start, require the 40% increase in midwives which the RCM refers to. But in
addition we need to campaign for a massive increase in resources into an NHS
that is genuinely accountable to its users and the local community.
· Two-thirds
of Heads of Midwifery (HOM) said their units were understaffed.
· One-fifth
said their Trust operated an ongoing recruitment freeze.
· Two-thirds
of
· Trusts
employ fewer midwives now than a year ago - increasingly relying on lower paid
maternity support workers.
· Trusts
are slashing training budgets - in some cases altogether. A number of midwifery
units are now wholly dependant on charitable donations to fund midwifery
training.