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Written by MAP
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Monday, 07 March 2011 05:37 |
For the past one hundred years, March 8th has been a special day for the world. It has been the one day in the year, when women's voices are truly heard and when women's actions have been celebrated. One hundred years later, we say, one day is not enough. We want to be heard every day, we want our actions celebrated every day and we want equality for all women every day of every year. For that to be achieved, we believe that it is time for women to take a more vocal and visual lead in politics, in labour movements, in democracy movements and in peace movements.
These are the very movements which are at the heart of International Women's Day. The day was started by women workers, most of them migrant workers, marching for shorter working hours, better pay and the right to vote in New York, USA. The day was started by millions of women and others rallying end discrimination against women and to support women's right to work, to be trained and to hold public office and to vote in Europe. The day was started by hundreds of thousands of Russian women striking for food, peace and land.
International Women's Day today celebrates women's leadership in these movements for social justice throughout the last one hundred years. A leadership which is often silenced and written out of the history books. A leadership which is only talked about as women leading women's issues, is only recorded as women working on women's rights. Women have led movements for workers rights, for universal suffrage, for peace, for democracy. We demand that our past leadership is recognized and we demand space in today's world for more women leaders.
In the last two years, we have seen women workers in garment factories in Burma, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China and Thailand take the lead in daring to protest against the global economic systems which make their working conditions unbearable. We need more women in trade union leadership positions. An Australian woman is President of the International Trade Union Confederation is an Australian woman, Sharon Burrows. We need more women representing us!
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is one of the leading democratic leaders of Burma. But has no position in the government. We need recognition of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all women political leaders!
Our sisters risk their lives for freedom on the streets of Libya, Bahrain, Tunisia, Oman and Iran. Follow them... follow us...the world needs women leaders... it's our turn to lead! |
