Wednesday
8 March was International Women’s day. In 1857 in New York, on
this day, female textile workers came to the streets protesting for
a working wage and union rights.
Two years later, they formed a union to protect their rights. Socialist
Youth in Belfast held a stall calling for the end to discrimination
against women, a right to choose when and whether to have children,
free childcare and equal, fair pay for all.
After the stall we held a meeting on the topic “Have women achieved
equality?” At this meeting we talked about the conditions in which
women live across the world. In Britain for example, full-time working
women earn on average 17% less than men, and those working part-time,
an average 42% less. 70% of the 1.2 billion people in the world living
in poverty are women and children.
Women suffer sexual discrimination daily and from an early age are taught
that this is natural. They are constantly bombarded with images to make
themselves “perfect” by the media.
The jobs typically performed by women are low paid and though working,
women still tend to carry the main burden of housework and childcare.
These are just some of the reasons why women should get active and unionised
and fight for their rights alongside working men.
