El Dia De La Mujer/International Woman’s Day
By Yolanda
Miranda
When the United Nations
proclaimed International Women’s Day on March 8, 1975, to honor women
internationally for their contributions to society. It had been celebrated by
women around the world for many years before the United Nations proclamation was
signed. A special day honoring women has been observed since the early 1900s, as
women have fought for shorter work weeks, better pay, and struggled for
universal suffrage.
Women have proven to be the first to fight
against injustice, the right to vote in this country, to speak and take action
against war, and have led fights against hunger, lack of education, quality
medical care, inadequate, unaffordable housing, equal pay for equal work,
affordable day care for minimum wage workers, union representation and better
conditions in the workplace.
A
historic moment in this fight took place in 1911 when fire killed 140 Jewish and
Italian immigrant garment workers who were trapped in the Triangle Shirtwaist
factory in New York City because the owner locked the doors while they worked.
Bread, not Roses, became a women’s campaign theme to bring attention and
focus on their horrendous working conditions.
From 1910 to the present the socialist
movement has been in the forefront, holding international women conferences in
Europe, organizing rallies, and campaigning for International Womens Day to be
recognize as a global event. In earlier years, Women’s Day was celebrated
in February in socialist countries, but as it became a worldwide celebration it
was move to March 8. This special day is celebrated by most countries with
special events and is more important than Mother’s day in many places.
In the U.S., women’s
organizations, along with some universities, plan events which are growing in
size every year. We are active in marching against the occupation of Iraq,
fighting against violence against women, for gay rights, against homelessness
and for affordable housing, to end hunger in America, for quality medical care
and insurance for the working poor, and for drug treatment not prison for so
many women incarcerated due to Meth addiction (meth addiction in this country is
well over 1,000,000).
We still need
to keep fighting AIDS in the forefront since women are at a high risk for HIV
infection in this country with more than 1,500 teenagers are being infected
yearly, according to Central of Disease Control. There is still no cure for this
virus. In this country due to improved medication, AIDS victims are living
longer in contrast to many other countries.
The rising racism, with fascist
overtones, against the Mexican immigrants has incited violence and even murders
by vigilante groups.
However you
can’t walk down a street in Venice without seeing immigrants building
these new McMansions for cheap labor or nannies pushing baby carriages for white
working mothers. You can bet they are not paying union wages for these immigrant
builders who work hard, doing an excellent job, comparable to a union journeymen
who is paid $25 per hour.
Immigrant
women who work as nannies receive whatever hourly pay their employer decides to
give them, without any protection from the law and no where to complain to if
paid unfairly? These women need to work to survive and support their families.
The alternative is to stay and work in
the Maquiladoras (sweatshops) in Tijuana for $67 per week for ten hours work
day while the product they make is shipped to our country where it is sold for a
huge profit.
I ask you as a woman
would you be willing to work 10 hours a day for $67 per week? Or would you seek
an opportunity to make a better living across the border. A human being becomes
hungry, with stomach pain and cramps. If starvation continues your stomach
starts to bloat, and weakness and fatigue set in. Millions of children are
starving and dying daily worldwide. Hunger in America is rampant also. Single
mothers with children who work for the minimum wage often have to decide whether
to pay the rent or feed their children. The highest poverty and homeless rates
are single mothers with
children.
Another great concern of
women are the pedophiles that take advantage of young children or take vacations
to Thailand where they can get away with exploiting girls as young as five years
old. There is now an organization that is headed by a man who is attempting to
stop this exploitation of children that is due to extreme poverty.
In 2007, there are still many issues,
here and globally, that are still face women and their families. Women’s
work is never done! It will not get done until women continue to hold the banner
high for human rights, to end poverty, exploitation, war and help each other
here in this country and stretch our solidarity to women worldwide. It’s
not women who decide to start wars and occupy other countries. Most women seek,
world peace and to save the children regardless of gender or color.
Posted: Thu - March 1, 2007 at 07:04 PM