Global Women's Strike Set for March 8, 2000 Tue, 8 Feb 2000 04:27:35 -0500 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Thursday, February 03, 2000 3:00 AM PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT THE INTERNATIONAL WAGES FOR HOUSEWORK CAMPAIGN STOP THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT! GLOBAL WOMEN'S STRIKE - 8 MARCH 2000 On 8 March 2000, International Women's Day, women in the UK, Ireland and all over the world will be taking part in a GLOBAL WOMEN'S STRIKE. For a millennium which values all women's work and all women's lives. Tel: 0171-482 2496 Fax: 0171-209 4761 E-mail: womenstrike8m@server101.com WHO IS ORGANISING THE STRIKE? The National Women's Council of Ireland is calling for women in Ireland to mark 8 March by "Striking for a Change" at 11 am, in any way they think appropriate. The Strike was made Global by the International Wages for Housework Campaign and the International Women Count Network. Women in many countries are taking part: Albania, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Burkina Fasso, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guyana, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Iran, Korea, Kurdistan, Malawi, Mexico, The Netherlands, Pakistan, Peru, The Philippines, Puerto Rico, Rumania, Rwanda, Senegal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Trinidad & Tobago, USA . . . WHY ARE WOMEN STRIKING? To demand a total change of priorities. $700 billion a year is spent on military budgets worldwide, less than $20 billion is spent on all the essentials of life - accessible clean water, health, sanitation, basic education. Women make the world go round, and raise and look after its entire population; but most of the work we do is unwaged and unvalued. This lack of economic and social recognition is the most basic sexist injustice which devalues women and everything women do. It keeps our wages 25%-50% below men's. In fact, though a few women are now highly paid, the gap between women's and men's wages is growing. We demand: * Abolition of "Third World debt". Women in the South are owed billions for centuries of work. * Accessible clean drinking water and ecologically sound technology for every household. * Affordable, and accessible, housing and transport. * Protection against violence - at home, in factory or office, on the farm, on the street . . . * Pay equity for all - equal pay for work of equal value - internationally. * Decent wages for caring work, whether in the family or outside. * Paid maternity leave and breastfeeding breaks. * Increased pensions, child benefit and other benefits paid to mothers and other carers. * Implementation of the UN decision (Beijing 1995) to measure and value the unwaged work done by women and men in national economic statistics. WHAT ACTIONS ARE BEING PLANNED? Various actions are planned in different countries - from music and street theatre to speakouts and walkouts. STOP PRESS: Dublin, 1 February 2000: The National Women's Council of Ireland is launching a campaign for "A DAY OFF - because we're worth it!" - a National Paid Holiday to Value Women's Work. The campaign demands the recognition of the value to Irish society of women's paid and unpaid work. As Margaretta D'Arcy of the Women Count Network (Ireland) points out, "Women's unwaged work is the largest industry in Ireland, worth at least A314 billion per year. It's about time we got something for it." Senator David Norris will open a debate in Seanad Eireann to demand: 1) an annual National Paid Holiday on 1 February (St Brigid's Day) to Value Women's Work, commencing 2001. 2) devise and implement statistical means to fully measure unpaid household, caring and community work. * Spanish trade unions are considering a five-minutes walkout at noon. Mothers, daughters, sisters, wives who are not in waged employment would join their loved ones in front of their workplaces. * US women in trade unions are considering a one-hour strike from coast to coast. Are men supporting us? Payday men's network is gathering statements from 2000 men all over the world about why they will support women who go on strike. Distinguished playwright and novelist John Arden, who lives in Ireland, writes: "When I was a child I was constantly aware that my mother was occupied day in day out with what she called her 'voluntary work'...Not only did she not get paid for all this, I don't think she even got thanks . ..if it hadn't been for millions and millions of women, the likes of my mother, the war effort would have totally collapsed - to say nothing of the peace effort in subsequent years ..." Why are women in Britain joining the Strike? Because we need less work, more time and more resources Unwaged work: * Recent estimates show unwaged work contributes as much as #739 bn to the British economy (Office of National Statistics (ONS), October 1997). * Two-thirds of women working full-time do most of the housework. (Red magazine, Jan 2000) 45% of women doing waged jobs work over 40 hours a week. 10% work over 50 hours. (Guardian 4 Jan 1999) * Women in waged work with young children do 46 hours a week of housework (childcare, cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping, gardening/DIY) compared to 25 hours by men. (Omnibus Survey, ONS, 1995) Wages/incomes: * Women's average full-time weekly earnings are 72% of men's (New Earnings Surveys 1978 & 1998, ONS). * Black women get only 75% of white women's pay. (Equal Opportunities Commission, 1994) * Pakistani and Bangladeshi women earned 68% of white women's hourly rate. (Ethnic Minority Women, Commission for Racial Equality Factsheets, 1997) * The average weekly income from all sources (benefits, wages, pensions etc) of women aged 30 to 70 was less than half that of men in the same age range. (Women's Individual Income 1996/97, Women's Unit, prepared by DSS Analytical Services Division 1999) * There are 1.7 million single parents (one in five of all families) caring for 2.9 million children (Times, 11 Feb 1999), the majority of whom are on benefit and living on an average income of #106 a week. (Women's Individual Income 1996/97, Women's Unit, prepared by DSS Analytical Services Division 1999) * 1.2 million people hold down two jobs, two thirds of them women. (Guardian , 4 January 99) * Women with two waged jobs work 30-60 hours a week for an average of #100. Some do three waged jobs for little more than #100 a week. (Guardian, 24 October, 1994) * 2.45 million people mostly women earn below #64 a week. (The New Review, Low Pay Unit, March/April 1999) Carers: * 14% of women over 16 in Britain are carers for people with disabilities. A third of women carers spend over 20 hours a week in unwaged caring work. (Social Focus on Women and Men, ONS 1998) This caring work has been valued at #39.1bn a year. (British Medical Association report Taking Care of the Carers, 1995) * Formal and informal voluntary work is estimated to be worth at least #68 bn a year. (National Centre for Volunteering, 1997). Pensioners: * 66% of pensioners claim Income Support because they have no or a very low pension in their own right as women. They live on #75 a week. (Government paper Partnership in Pensions Dec 98) Health: * More women than men are suffering depression due to inequality in social conditions, relationships and employment. (Observer 7 Nov 1999) Publicity Materials Strike leaflets are available in: Arabic, Basque, Bengali, Catalan, Chinese, Finnish, French, Gaelic, German, Gujerati, Hebrew, Italian, Norwegian, Persian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Urdu . . . other languages to follow. Women entertainers have produced a unique track Strike 2000 and jingles to publicise the Strike on radio and elsewhere. Strike T-shirts, badges, postcards are available. For more information: International Wages for Housework Campaign Crossroads Women's Centre, 230A Kentish Town Rd, London NW5 2AB Tel 0171 482 2496; Fax 0171 209 4761; E-mail: womenstrike8m@server101.com Strike Webpage: http://womenstrike8m.server101.com source - Women's Strike ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytfem-02.08.00-04:27:39-12796