Ambassador to raise the visibility for women's rights and put the spotlight in particular on the 'pandemic of violence against women'.
This year she plans to visit
sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Afghanistan and Cambodia - all countries where women have been devastated by war, genocide or violence of a most extreme and brutal nature.
But equal rights? How about equal pay? Trade union leaders in the UK have not exactly been jumping with enthusiasm to push the issue forward with New Labour, preferring to brush the historic £300 million pay-out for equality for women health workers in Cumbria last year under the proverbial carpet for fear of provoking a crisis should other workers follow suit and win big backdated claims.
In Women's Day will be 100 years old. We should aim now to bring together many more
united action around the world and make IWD's centenary year one where we mobilize, in all its diversity, a global sisterhood around some key demands.
Until then we will continue to support women's groups and projects that raise these and other demanes around the world.
Respect and other labour movement organizations need to show their full and consistent SUDDOTT for International Women's Day activities and events, now and in the future, for us to reclaim IWD as a celebration of how ordinary working women have the power and potential for extraordinary personal and social transforwel work together towards common goals for survival and for liberation.
"Women are born to be creative and innovative fighters; we do everything possible to achieve our place in society, despite the absence of democracy, equity and justice. Solidarity, my sisters, solidarity forever, because in unity is strength" World March of Women newsletter Nov-Dec 2005, Volume 8, Number 6). http://www.marchemondiale.org/en/bulletin/06_2005.h tml#art7)
Work Commission, I wondered if it could really be as bad as the articles suggested. Actually it is worse!
Blair set up the Commission in July 2004 with Baroness Margaret Prosser, formerly of the Transport and General Worker's Union at its head.
An interim report was produced on March 8 2005.
Now the full report "Shaping a fairer future" has been completed and was presented to the Prime Minister on February 27.
While the descriptive material informs or reminds us how little movement has been made since the introduction of the Equal Pay Act in 1970, the recommendations will lead to little or no improvement over the next twenty-five.
The report explains that full time women workers earn 13 per cent less than men, and part time women 40 per cent less. By 3 years after graduation the pay gap is already 15 per cent!
This latter statistic suggests that the report is wrong to concentrate as much as it does on the position of women with children. In fact women s position _in The labour market is initially determined by the assumption that we will all be mothers, whether or not we actually do so.
Essentially there are two areas that the 40 recommendations deal with; TOe access of wonder to tradipations and right to part time or flexible working women 40 per in a broader range of jobs - particularly better paid ones.
The first priority in the 12page Executive summary is to remove the barriers to women entering TracTiOnal male occupations - which is motivated on the basis of improving GDP rather than eliminating discrimination.
Of course both these aspitypes for both men and women is important, as are positive role models in the meola.
And certainly there is no basis other than prejudice for the hesitancy of many organisations to allow part time or flexible working all the way through from cleaners to chief executive. Actually even in terms or the business case. productivity improves if two part timers or a job share pair are employed
While there are a plethora of proposals dealing with these two issues, none of them are much more than polite suggestions.
Nor does the commission deal with the other issue that keeps some who would choose to work parttime when they have young Coloren - the astronomica cost of childcare, where it is available at all.
But even more importantly, wnlle ine report comments that women's traditional work especially in the "caring" professions is undervalued, there are no proposals at all to tackle this key area. Some media debate has suggested that the issue here is to persuade men to go into these roles - with the implicit suggestion that low pay should be shared around!
This touches on a strategic debate for the women's movement and for the left - are we going down the "why can't a
woman be Full time
like a man" road, or are we trying to do workers earn somelning else!
The anti-globali13 per cent sation movement, tionally male occu- less than men, place where debates which has been the and part time
about what sort of alternative society we are trying to cent less
fight for, has raised slogans "People before Profit" in response to the murderous, inhuman profit motive of global capital.
Fighting for jobs such as nursing, teaching and other "caring" jobs, mainly done by women, to be properly valued and therefore properly paid, needs to become a more central part of this struggle.
Trico strikers victorious in battle for equal pay in 1976 - after 21 weeks on the picket lines Mass action is