Women and girls do two thirds of the world‘s work, for only 5% of the world‘s income, women’s average full time weekly earnings are 72% of men’s (Office of National Stats 1998), and a report in Red magazine (Jan 2000) stated that two thirds of women working full time do most of the housework.

March 8th is International Women‘s Day and women all over the world are hanging up their pinnies, turning off their disk drives and taking to the streets. Since March 8th 1907, when the women garment makers of New York went on strike for a living wage and a 10-hour day, the date has been earmarked to inspire women worldwide in their fight for their rights.

The National Women‘s Council of Ireland have called this year’s strike, and it‘s gone global. Anne Neale from Crossroads Women’s Centre reckons that the strike "could be very disruptive. When a similar action took place in Iceland in 1975, factories would not function and everything shut down". Cynthia Enloe in her book "Bananas, Beaches and Bases" argues that "if secretaries went out on strike, foreign affairs might grind to a standstill". Without women’s work the world economy would fall to its knees. Kingston Raging Grannies ask "Can you imagine what would happen if all the women stopped work…at Wal-Mart or McDonalds?".

Women are striking to demand a change in the priorities of the global economy. According to the United Nations $9billion of the world‘s budget goes on health and nutrition, $6bn on water and sanitation, $4bn on education and $538bn on military budgets. This spending reflects the attitudes of the people who pull the purse strings, attitudes that consider arms to be more important than welfare. As the floodgates open for multinational corporations to enter developing countries women are forced into low paid work with poor conditions.

And for the boys... Men are supporting the women’s strike. Payday Men’s Network said, "Like women, we want to work less and have more money. We too want our unwaged work recognised and paid with money, time, resources, land, peace and rights. And we know that as long as women work too much, even more than men, their pay and conditions are the standard for men". The network have men ready to strike on the day, other are making donations to the strike fund, or committing themselves to do all the domestic chores and childcare for the day.

"At the beginning was the deed."
Rosa Luxemburg, Revolutionary Socialist, 1871-1919.

Women have a strong tradition of resistance; from taking up arms in the Zapatista struggle, to the Chipko women in India hugging trees, from the Greenham Common women, to the mum who asks for childcare provision in her workplace, from the suffragettes on hunger strike, to the 1917 Russian women factory worker’s strike that started the revolution. In the UK women have made their presence felt actively enough to worry Detective Chief Inspector Kieron Sharp, the copper leading the inquiry into City of London protests on June 18, who panicked that "women are playing a greater role in this kind of subversive activity than you would normally find in criminal activity".

Black women, mothers, lesbians, asylum seekers, sex workers, pensioners, students, women with disabilities, waged and non-waged women, and loads more are holding actions from demos to a day’s strike around the globe. So if you fancy making a stand why not make a partner take over household or childcare duties for the day, walkout with your colleagues at work or at college. Undercurrents are keen to film yer fun, contact them on 01865 203662 or underc@gn.apc.org

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