The ideas of Feminism have traditionally found support in universities, and these ideas are currently enjoying a surge in popularity amongst students. Continuing our series of articles to celebrate International Women’s Day – 8th March – we publish an article from the Marxist Student Federation, which looks at the ideas of Marxism and Feminism in relation to the student movement.
Continuing our series of articles on the fight against women’s oppression as part of International Working Women’s Day, we republish this 2001 article by Alan Woods which provides a Marxist analysis on the oppression of women, the fight for liberation, and the struggle for socialism.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the First World War and the media is dedicating much time and attention to it. However, one aspect which so far has not received sufficient consideration is the role played by women during those dramatic and bloody years. To continue our celebration of International Women’s Day – 8th March – Ana Muñoz analyses the important role of women workers in WWI.
The apologists of capitalism use 8th March, International Women’s Day, as a time to give their annual vague reminder about the need to ‘address’ gender inequality worldwide. Jo Pickard, President of the Sussex Marxist Society, asks: regardless of the number of power-dressing female CEOs gracing the boardrooms of capitalism, what tangible gains have actually been felt by working women internationally?
Women’s oppression is one of many forms of oppression that is created out of a society based upon the exploitation of the many for the profits of the few. We continue to see this women’s oppression today, but how do we struggle against it? We publish here an article from Amy Dean and Claire Martin of the Glasgow Marxists who ask: what are the origins of women’s oppression and how do we fight it?
The times leading up to the Paris Commune were difficult for all
workers, but especially for women. It was typical for a woman to work 13
hours a day, six days a week. Even still, the wages she received for
that work were woefully shy of the cost of living at the time, even if
her wages were added to her husband’s. This contradiction drove many
working women to prostitution
According to the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), the Government has only implemented 6% of its planned cuts to date. This is an austerity programme that is £10 billion behind schedule and which is set to last well beyond the next parliament. Although 6% is but a small step on a long road of enforced privation, already we can see the devastating effects this is having on millions of people.
Russian
working class women gained much from the October revolution of 1917 and
the subsequent planned economy that was put in place. Later under Stalin
many of the gains were destroyed, although as the economy developed the
conditions of women also improved. The return of capitalism in Russia
dramatically worsened the conditions of women. How does all this compare
to the current situation working class women are facing in the UK?
The recession has hit the working class hard as big business seeks to make ordinary people pay the price for the greed of the banksters and the City of London. For working class women, things are looking very grim already – here Rachel Gibbs reveals some of the facts and what they mean.
To mark the hundreth anniversary of International Women’s Day this week, we are publishing an article which forms the centre pages of this month’s edition of Socialist Appeal. The author is a contributor to a recent book on women’s rights and class struggle published by the Danish Marxists around ‘Socialistick Standpunk’.
The life of Sylvia Pankhurst is rich in experience for all activists in
the labour movement. The names of the Pankhurst family are synonymous
with the struggle to win the vote for women, but what distinguished
Sylvia Pankhurst’s approach from that of her mother Emmeline and her
sister Christabel were class issues.
The present economic crisis, through its sheer scale and reach, is bringing about a wholesale change in the consciousness of working people the world over. It is the poor, the oppressed, and the workers who shoulder this weight in order to hold up the privileges of the rich. There is no portion of the working class that has so greatly and extensively borne this affliction than working women.