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March 8th - International Women's Day

(15 votes)

Written by Secrétariat International

Monday, 05 March 2007

"Young Women Workers demand further inclusion in a human and equal society for all"

For more than 75 years, the International Young Christian Workers (IYCW) has rganised and trained young women workers and has considered their situation as one priority of action. Women are still the victims in so many different ways of exclusion and marginalisation in our society. We are excluded as women and as workers.

«My name is Pattrisiya. I'm 22 years-old and I live in Rajagiriya, near Colombo, Sri Lanka. In our culture, it is very difficult for young women to access the world of labour as our mother and family do not want us to work outside. Therefore I feel bad as I cannot express all my skills and talents. I'm not allowed to study and can only do those jobs which are usually assigned to women, i.e. sewing, cooking and all those activities which men do not want to do. Why is it like that ? When shall the situation change?

My name is Nalini Peries. I'm 21 and live in Negombo, in Sri Lanka. I have two sisters. My mother is a housewife and my father works in the informal sector. I did some work which is generally considered "typical women's jobs" ,i.e, sewing or embroidering. I had to produce 50 pieces a day. I was paid 2 Rs a day, that is 0.01 US$. I was earning 100 Rs/day (0,50 US$), and worked without any social or legal protection.

Such situations can still be found in Free Trade Zones in Sri Lanka, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, etc.. Young women workers are locked up in their factory doing endless work to cope with the orders of multinational corporations, have limited access to toilets and are harrassed by foremen who make their best to prevent them from acting.

Domestic workers are living a painful situation as well. Many women who work as domestic servants are socially excluded and sexually and morally harassed by their employer. Those workers often do not wish to denounce this situation by fear of losing their job, all the more that most of them are not entitled to any social protection.

In Chile, some young female secretaries are obliged to do tasks which do not match their job description like cleaning the office or serving coffee. They are permanently harassed by their employer who threatens to dismiss them if they do not accept all their wishes and insinuations.

This is the way many young women workers around the world live out injustice of capitalism. The reason why the 8th of March was chosen for this celebration is not very clear but two important events were probably the basis for choosing this date. Both events took place in New York. The first one was a big rally by textile women workers in 1857. Thousands of women marched to the rich areas of the city to protest against their miserable conditions. The second event took place in 1908. That year, 40,000 women workers in the textile industry went on strike to demand the right to unionisation, higher salaries, less working hours, vocational training and banning of child labour. During those strikes, 129 women workers died in the fire of their factory, the Cotton Textile Factory, in Washington Square. The bosses had locked up their workers in the factory to oblige them work and prevent them from going on strike. These two events are said to have occurred around March 8th.

Now, in 21st century, young women workers demand equal opportunities and as human beings they want to contribute to building a society with more humanity and equity for all. To reach this goal, women and young women workers:

need to be given value and be respected as women and workers.
should have the same opportunities to access jobs as men, have a decent salary and be entitled to training.
should no longer be submitted to violence and abuse.
should have the right to decide freely upon their life and future.
should be able to participate and have greater impact in decision-making and representative bodies in society.
should have the right to social security.
should have the right to take whatever decision is convenient for them in relation to maternity.
should have a fair work contract.
should have the right to association and the right to paid holidays.
should receive specific bonuses if working in free trade zones.
should be able to enjoy equal and fair treatment in society, at work, in the family , etc.

The IYCW struggles for the implementation of just work for all. It takes action in all regions in the world to change this harsh reality and offers young workers prospects towards a decent and dignified life. The IYCW organises, trains and educates young women workers, it demands decent job creation and the payment of social benefits, it wants the young women workers to be included in the world of labour, a fundamental right which should appear in the Constitution of each country.