The emancipation of women cannot
be achieved without a firm struggle against capitalism and imperialism.
March 8 is the international day
to honour women in all countries who strive to achieve full equality.
Yet the capitalist system still
discriminates against women by paying lower salaries, imposing longer working hours and unsecured jobs. Women workers, both
blue collar and white collar, face the threat of dismissal when they decide to be mothers. Domestic work, which is so critical
for the reproduction of the labour, is seen as the natural responsibility of women and is not regarded as a valuable economic
activity. Capitalism as a system rests on gender inequalities and thus discrimination against women is a structural component
of capitalist exploitation.
In countries where the working
classes and the poor strata bear the burden of the capitalist crisis, women suffer from poverty and the consequences of the
anti-labour austerity measures. Nowadays women have to struggle even more in order to access basic services such as education
and health, which have been subordinated to the market rules. In countries targeted by imperialist aggression, women experience
all forms of violence. They face deportation and are forced to survive as refugees. In almost all countries today, even those
boasting about the level of their political development, women’s political participation is restricted by formal or
informal impediments or obstacles. In the meantime, we are witnessing a rise in sectarianism and reactionary politics. In
particular, the rising influence of religion, which is a global phenomenon, threatens the rights of women. The attempts to
ban abortion, which recently occurred in Turkey and Spain, exemplify how the rights of women to take decisions about their
own lives can be violated by the authorities under the influence of sectarian and religious taboos.
In today’s world, capitalism
does not provide any prospect of a better life for humanity. The capitalist class abandoned even the false premises it used
to disseminate. This means that capitalism will further rest on ruthless exploitation and cruel wars, which will cause dramatic
changes in women’s life conditions.
It has been proved once again by
recent developments that the injustice against women cannot be abolished under capitalism. A system based on private property
is the main reason for women’s second-class position. In the capitalist system, independent from the level of development,
women cannot become partners of a free and equal society. Therefore, it is demonstrably clear that women’s emancipation
cannot be achieved without a struggle for socialism. All other options which aim at reforming capitalism to improve the conditions
of women will not be able to end the second class status of women which is a structural result of capitalist inequality.
We celebrate International Women’s
Day for all women. Once again we reiterate our belief in the possibility and the necessity of a better and equal world. This
can be achieved only by the participation of women themselves in the joint struggle for gender equality against capitalism
and imperialism.
Therefore, we salute the working
class women, who ignited this struggle almost a century ago and revolutionary women figures, such as Clara Zetkin and Rosa
Luxemburg, who continue to inspire our struggle against injustice today.
07/03/2014
Note:
The “INITIATIVE of communist and workers’ parties in order to study and
elaborate European issues and to coordinate their activity” is
a form of cooperation between Communist and Workers' parties from member states of the EU, associated related states and other
European countries. The Workers' Party of Ireland is one of the founding members of the Initiative.
It is based on a Founding Declaration, which outlines its principles and objectives and can be read on the Initiative's website at http://www.initiative-cwpe.org/. It is not a unified political party, nor a “European party", as those set up by the EU. On this basis all parties
involved in the "INITIATIVE" have the same rights and obligations, while political decisions are taken via the principle of
unanimity. (For more details see “Operating Framework” on the website).
The "INITIATIVE" currently involves 30 Communist and Workers'
parties from European countries.
The headquarters of the Secretariat of the "INITIATIVE", for
which the Communist Part of Greece (KKE) has the responsibility, are located in Athens.