FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 9, 2012
Jollene Levid, AF3IRM National Chairperson
323-356-4748
AF3IRM International Workers’ Day Statement 2012
WOMEN WORKERS: ORGANIZE, FIGHT BACK, END THE WAR ON WOMEN & LABOR
Adrienne Rich said that, “When a woman tells the truth she is creating the possibility for more truth around her.”
It is in honor of our late sister and in the spirit of International Workers Day that we share this truth.
And that truth is the reality of a war now raging – a war constantly denied and ignored.
It is a war against 70% of the world’s population in poverty - a war on women, launched and fortified by a capitalist and imperialist system that attacks their livelihood and survival.
On International Worker’s Day, we want to recognize the unconscionable burden imposed on women, the backbone of society and center of the home.
This is our truth: women’s work is vital to society: from the home to the office to the factory and field, she does it all. Inside the home, she does the work that makes all work possible: the daily care and provisioning needed to renew tired bodies as well as raising the next generation of workers.
And yet the truth also is that an economic war against women exploits their work - continually devaluing and undercompensating women, especially women of color. The economic recovery plan has only given 32% of the jobs created to women in the United States.
The continuing discrimination against women, especially women of color, in the job market is exacerbated by the gender-wage gap and under-employment for women, forcing some 1.5 million single mothers and millions of children in the US to poverty.
And the war against women penetrates and permeates throughout their lives. The effects of this war are not temporary – this systemic economic inequality stalks them even as they reach retirement age. Women’s lifetime earnings are lower and are less likely to have income from pensions or other benefits. 60% of older American women do not have enough money for basic day-to-day expenses.
And the truth is that these women are somehow luckier than the migrant women, who have crossed borders in a call to continue living. As multinational corporations invade and rob local women of adequate jobs and funds, these women are forced to become transnational, relocating to places like the United States where they can find a job so that they and their families can survive.
This global war on women forces them to take jobs in sweatshops and as domestic workers, often under illegal conditions, with no security and few benefits. These transnational women workers are often discriminated against in the processing of visas and have unequal access to state and city social service. These women have been demonized as taking an unfair share of the state support for healthcare, childcare, and other vital services.
The truth is women need to and continue to work at jobs and at home for less money, less benefits, and less recognition because they, their families, and their children need to survive.
And the truth is that they deserve more – they deserve to be rightfully compensated for their work. They deserve just and safe labor conditions, protected by unions, with job security and benefits. We call for an end to labor trafficking as embedded in the Guest Worker Program, whose provisions render transnational workers vulnerable to slave-like working conditions and debt indenture. If you’re good enough to work here, then you’re good enough to stay – with full citizenship rights.
This International Workers’ Day, AF3IRM calls on all women to organize, fight, and rally until we dismantle the imperialist system that subjugates womankind globally!
END THE ECONOMIC WAR ON WOMEN!
VALUE WOMEN’S WORK: FROM THE HOME TO THE OFFICE TO FACTORY AND FIELD!
WOMEN, WOMEN WORKERS – RISE UP AND ORGANIZE!
PERSEVERE IN THE WOMEN’S STRUGGLE FOR A JUST AND EQUITABLE WORLD!
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