“We cannot stand by whilst a further round of austerity undermines our communities.”
By Ruth Hayes
International Women’s Day this year is a sobering time to take stock of what is happening to women in the UK and globally.
There are longstanding issues which we have not managed to resolve over the past decades, despite initial commitment – e.g. the gender pay gap, which is over 13% in the UK and worsening. The Living Wage Foundation has recently highlighted that women are 50% more likely to be low paid than men, with one million more women working in jobs paying below the real Living Wage (2.8 million) than men. This inequality doesn’t end on retirement – the UK gender pensions gap is even higher at a shocking 37.9% (figures from TUC).
Women still carry out a disproportionate amount of unpaid care and domestic work – Action Aid data shows that 75% of women perform 75% of unpaid work globally – averaging 4 hours and 25 minutes daily, often on top of paid work, representing a punishing double shift.
On top of these historic injustices, we are seeing many ways in which the clock is being turned back on women’s rights across the world – for example, on our rights to choose whether to give birth, on rights to go out (or to stay at home) without being subject to sexual harassment, assault or rape, and basic rights to housing, food and education eroded due to war and climate breakdown.
The rise of the far-right has been accompanied and fuelled by a rise in overt misogyny, as well as attacks on attempts to improve the representation of women and other groups who have faced barriers and discrimination. The situation in the USA is already affecting women across the world and we have yet to see the full extent of what will happen with Trump’s government.
It is easy to feel overwhelmed and despondent – the cost of living crisis continues to erode living standards, and public services are struggling with underinvestment and rising levels of need.
However, there will not be change without hope, and women have won historic victories in the past by working together, by sharing experiences and by demanding something better.
This International Women’s Day we need to build links across the trade union and labour movement and demand that our voices are heard.
This isn’t easy – there isn’t a magic wand to deliver change, and progress can be slow. However, across the movement there are inspiring women taking action, organising in their communities and refusing to give up.
We need the Labour Government to take real action to improve workplace rights for women, to invest in council homes and a social security system which provides a helping hand at difficult times in life, rather than setting traps such as the overpayments of carer’s allowance. It’s vital that we campaign against the new threats to disabled people’s benefits – the idea that a Labour Government would take resources away from people where it has been evidenced that they are not well enough to work is outrageous, and we cannot be divided on this.
We need to ensure that our Trade Unions have effective action plans to tackle low pay, and to improve women’s rights in the workplace, recognising how the world of work is changing and that women face new challenges.
We need to defend our right to choose, and not to be subject to male violence.
We need to build international solidarity with women affected by war, by climate change and by repressive governments.
Many of us will have benefited from other women who have encouraged and supported us at key points in our lives, and will know the value of our friendships and networks.
As the pressures against us grow, we cannot stand by whilst a further round of austerity undermines our communities – we must build on those links.
Resistance can take many forms and this year, more than ever, we need to set our faces to the future and to get active – write to your MP, get active in your Trade Union, participate in a demonstration. Work with other women and build our collective voice. As Sylvia Pankurst said “The fight for women’s rights is not limited to the sufferage movement; it is a continuous struggle”. The struggle continues.
- Ruth Hayes is a member of Unite’s Executive Committee and an organiser for Labour Women Leading. You can follow her on X here.
- Ruth Hayes will be speaking at the Socialism or Barbarism in-person day-school in London on Saturday March 29, alongside MPs Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne and John McDonnell, campaigner Jess Barnard, socialist economist Michael Roberts and campaigns such as PSC, CND and Stand up to Racism. Register and info here.
