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