Women

Little did Karen Teagarden and Desiree Jordan know when they issued a call on Facebook on Feb. 19 that they would be initiating a new grassroots phase of the ongoing movement for women’s equality and justice. ... Posted Apr 25, 2012

On April 28, women will march and rally in state capitals and major U.S. cities against the recent attacks on women and in defense of women’s rights. ... Posted Apr 18, 2012

From a talk by Martha Grevatt, a long-time autoworker and union militant, at a Workers World Party commemoration of International Working Women’s Day in Detroit.... Posted Mar 23, 2012



Women have had to struggle for their place in life. They have had to fight for inclusion, equality and rights, which were traditionally only accorded to men. Women have fought for liberation, freedom — and even for their lives. ... Posted Mar 23, 2012

With the war on women in full swing, women are fighting mad and fighting back. Threats to health care and reproductive rights, especially safe, legal abortion and birth control, and reactionary attitudes toward women have been met with strong anger and resistance by women and male allies across the United States. ... Posted Mar 14, 2012

International Women’s Day, commemorated on March 8, was founded in 1910 by European socialist women, to demonstrate solidarity with women worldwide. The special day honors struggles against inequality, oppression and war. ... Posted Mar 14, 2012

People all over the world are in motion in response to the global economic crisis. They are refusing to be ground down under the heel of the capitalist boot. ... Posted Feb 29, 2012

The shocking, untimely death of the extraordinarily talented Houston on Feb. 11 at the young age of 48 is a devastating blow to music lovers around the world. ... Posted Feb 27, 2012

Chanting “Temple University! Unions for All!” to the beat of Puerto Rican planera drums, construction workers and their supporters picketed a worksite at Temple University on Feb. 13 to demand fair hiring practices. ... Posted Feb 24, 2012

What do 271 U.S. Catholic bishops want to do to nearly 70 million women of childbearing age in the U.S.? Deny them the right to free contraception, which would enable them to control their reproductive capacity and health.... Posted Feb 15, 2012

Women scored a big victory in early February when they pushed back a right-wing attempt to defund a leading organization providing health care to low-income women. ... Posted Feb 8, 2012

Women do not particularly want to have abortions. They prefer other ways to control their bodies and plan their lives. For most women, an abortion is a last resort.... Posted Feb 8, 2012

If anybody was unconvinced that the Democratic and Republican parties are two sides of the same coin, the recent blockage of over-the-counter emergency contraception by the Obama administration should put such fantasies to rest. ... Posted Dec 14, 2011

The Occupy Wall Street movement at Zuccotti Park in New York City heard the powerful voices of women activists, the majority of them immigrants from Latin America, at a rally organized Nov. 20 by a broad coalition led by Women Workers for Peace and La Peña del Bronx. ... Posted Nov 23, 2011

Consider these horrific facts provided by the National Organization for Women: Every year approximately 132,000 women report they have been violently violated by rape or attempted rape. More than half of that number knew their attackers. It’s estimated that two to six times that many women are raped, but do not report it. Every year 1.2 million women are raped by their current or former male partners, some more than once. ... Posted Jun 1, 2011

The African-American population in Harlem, like so many other working-class communities, is in the throes of a deepening economic crisis, including massive unemployment, gentrification, police repression, and cuts in education and other social services.... Posted Mar 31, 2011

Public sector unions, not the banks, are being demonized for the current budget crisis. These unions are dominated by women and reflect the growth of the low-wage service sector within the capitalist economy.... Posted Mar 25, 2011

Women — mostly teenaged or very young — have been kidnapped, tortured, raped, mutilated and killed by the hundreds in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, sister city to El Paso, Texas.... Posted Mar 25, 2011

The “flying squadron” — a mobile group of strikers that would go from shop to shop to convince workers to walk out — was pioneered more than a century ago by female textile workers in New England.... Posted Mar 25, 2011

German socialist Clara Zetkin (1857-1933) is known as the 1910 founder of International Women’s Day... Posted Mar 25, 2011

The New York City branch of Workers World Party held an International Working Women’s Month public forum March 18 focused on “The global economic crisis: Women, growing fightback and socialism.”... Posted Mar 25, 2011

At Hunter College women make up 70 percent of the student body — a trend that is being reproduced throughout the country, with more and more women attending college. This makes any struggle for education a women’s issue.... Posted Mar 23, 2011

Struggle has been at the heart of International Women’s Day since 1 million women demanding equal rights first marked it in Europe in 1911.... Posted Mar 19, 2011

International Women’s Day was commemorated March 12 at a Workers World Party forum in Detroit.... Posted Mar 19, 2011

March 8 is International Women’s Day. It recognizes the global solidarity of working and oppressed women and hails their struggles.... Posted Mar 9, 2011

The New York chapter of the Women’s Fightback Network hosted a reportback meeting Dec. 4 on the Montreal International Women’s Conference that took place Aug. 13-16 in Canada.... Posted Dec 11, 2010

Recent WikiLeaks disclosures reveal just how low the U.S. government and its media mouthpieces will stoop to revive support for its occupation of Afghanistan.... Posted Sep 9, 2010

Uniting under the theme, “Moving forward the militant global women’s movement in the 21st century,” more than 350 women from 32 countries participated in the Montreal International Women’s Conference, held Aug. 13-16. The conference resulted in the formation of an International Women’s Alliance. The IWA will hold its first assembly in 2011 to adopt a constitution of principles of unity and an action proposal.... Posted Aug 29, 2010

The Aug. 9 Time magazine featured a shocking cover photo: a portrait of an Afghan woman named Aisha whose nose had been cut off, allegedly by the Taliban, for resisting abusive in-laws. Time used this picture to build support for U.S. troops as a “last line of defense” that will not “abandon” Afghan women against an advancing Taliban. None of this was true.... Posted Aug 26, 2010

To test the U.S. government’s “concern” for the women of Afghanistan, it is useful to examine Washington’s record on helping women in other Muslim countries. Take Saudi Arabia, for example.... Posted Aug 26, 2010

A historic women’s conference will take place in Montreal from Aug. 13 to 16. Called by the Committee of Women of Diverse Origins, the first Montreal International Women’s Conference will bring together an estimated 200 women and male supporters from at least 19 countries under the main theme of “Building a Global Militant Women’s Movement in the 21st Century.”... Posted Aug 13, 2010

Many articles have been written reflecting on five decades of historical experience — referred to as the 50th anniversary of the “Year of Africa” — since 17 African nations gained political independence. Yet few pay adequate attention to the indispensable role of women in the campaigns for national liberation and their continuing efforts in the present century.... Posted Aug 13, 2010

It is shocking and disturbing. Time magazine’s cover has a picture of a young Afghan woman whose nose has been cut off. The headline reads, “What happens if we leave Afghanistan.” Time’s goal? Answering WikiLeaks. The recent WikiLeaks publications showed that a U.S. special forces death squad killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents.... Posted Aug 13, 2010

While the capitalist economic crisis has severely hit millions of workers in the U.S., low-wage women workers, especially mothers, face an extra set of problems.... Posted Jun 7, 2010

The centennial anniversary of International Women’s Day was commemorated throughout the world by marches, rallies and meetings. Though themes differed, the activities showed women expressing their rights, protesting injustices and demonstrating solidarity with their sisters in struggle.... Posted Mar 17, 2010

A long-standing tactic that oppressors use to stop the struggle for liberation is repression. It mainly backfires on them. As the age-old but accurate slogan declares, “Repression breeds resistance.” This is exactly how to describe the case of Melissa Roxas.... Posted Mar 17, 2010

International Women’s Day was celebrated at a Workers World Party forum in Detroit on March 6.... Posted Mar 11, 2010

An excerpt from “Low-Wage Capitalism,” by Fred Goldstein, recalls the importance of a little-known eight-day sit-down strike by women workers that swept the country and organized the Wal-Mart of the 1930s and other service companies.... Posted Mar 11, 2010

Working mothers and their children, unionized day care workers and community supporters, outraged by slashed day care subsidies, marched and rallied in protest Feb. 9 in downtown Buffalo, mobilized by the religious group VOICE-Buffalo and an outspoken county government representative from the inner city, Betty Jean Grant.... Posted Feb 18, 2010

Anti-abortion zealot Scott Roeder was convicted in Wichita, Kan., on Jan. 29 of the cold-blooded murder of Dr. George R. Tiller, a fearless, caring physician who performed abortions for women in desperate circumstances, while enduring great personal risk and paying the ultimate sacrifice.... Posted Feb 6, 2010

Excerpts from a talk given by Ellen Catalinotto at the WWP National Conference, Nov. 14.... Posted Dec 13, 2009

Two recent conferences held on the African continent reaffirmed the determination of women to achieve genuine equality and political empowerment.... Posted Dec 6, 2009

Coalitions are forming in several Cleveland communities to address the murders of 11 Black women whose bodies were found in and around a house on Imperial Avenue in late October. Activists are holding rallies and vigils, meeting with public officials to present demands, developing better resources for women and the families of missing persons, and taking care of all the funeral arrangements for the 10 women whose remains have been identified.... Posted Dec 3, 2009

Excerpts from a talk by Phebe Eckfeldt from Boston at the WWP National Conference, Nov. 14.... Posted Nov 24, 2009

The National Women’s Fightback Network stands in solidarity with all of our Honduran sisters who are in the resistance movement in opposition to the illegal Micheletti government.... Posted Oct 7, 2009

Mokgadi Caster Semenya is a South African runner who won the women’s 800-meter gold medal at the 2009 World Championships. She was subsequently challenged by competitors to prove her gender and subjected to sex tests by the International Association of Athletics Federations. South African gender and political analyst Nomboniso Gasa responds.... Posted Sep 9, 2009

“When I was 15, my friends started going to jail,” says Victoria Law, a native New Yorker. “Chinatown’s gangs were recruiting in the high schools in Queens, and faced with the choice of stultifying days learning nothing in overcrowded classrooms or easy money, many of my friends dropped out to join a gang.”... Posted Aug 13, 2009

Over the last two years Africa has been severely affected by the downturn in the world economy, resulting in 53 million more people being thrust into poverty. As a result of the legacy of colonialism and neocolonialism, the prices of exports from the continent have gone down while the cost of food, fuel and other commodities imported into Africa has increased drastically.... Posted Jul 5, 2009

Holding a banner calling for “Jobs & Human Needs, Freedom, Equality, Peace,” a multinational group of women led a spirited march through downtown Providence, R.I., on June 12 to the site of the National Mayors Conference.... Posted Jun 19, 2009

When asked why he continued to provide midpregnancy abortions after decades of the most brutal attacks by the right wing, Dr. George Tiller replied, “Where else can women go?” Indeed, the loss of Dr. Tiller means there are less than a half-dozen doctors left in the U.S. who specialize in the vital, life-saving services he provided.... Posted Jun 11, 2009

The response of reproductive rights organizations was swift and unequivocal when women’s health care provider Dr. George R. Tiller was assassinated in Wichita, Kan., May 31. All the national women’s rights and women’s health care groups denounced the murder and hailed Dr. Tiller as a hero in the fight for reproductive justice. ... Posted Jun 3, 2009

On May 18, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a stunning blow to women workers, overturned lower courts’ decisions and ruled that AT&T, the seventh-largest corporation in the world, could exclude maternity leaves when calculating pension benefits.... Posted May 29, 2009

On May 9, three members of the Georgia Detention Watch made a second solidarity trip to the Etowah Detention Center in Gadsden, Ala., to deliver hundreds of pairs of cotton underwear to women immigrant detainees.... Posted May 17, 2009

Another success has been achieved in the campaign to make emergency contraceptive (EC) available to all women who need it... Posted Apr 30, 2009

Hundreds of angry Afghan women demonstrated in Kabul on April 15. Led by young activists, they marched to Parliament to demand the repeal of a new law denying women basic rights.... Posted Apr 23, 2009

Since 1996 mothers on public assistance have been subject to a five-year limit on benefits. In Ohio the state limit is only three years, during which time recipients must work 30 hours per week for a below-minimum wage. Prisscilla Cooper, CEO and President of Family Connection Center, is leading a fight for a moratorium on time limits.... Posted Apr 16, 2009

Women’s unemployment rate is rising quickly. ... Posted Apr 5, 2009

On International Women’s Day this year, we express our solidarity with our heroic sisters in Gaza who have endured the horrific U.S.-backed Israeli siege and who are standing up with courage and resilience. We hail our Palestinian sisters in the occupied West Bank who face the Israeli Defense Forces and hostile settlements daily. We hail our sisters in Iraq, Afghanistan and everywhere who face U.S. war and occupation.... Posted Mar 19, 2009

Celebrations, commemorations and protests were held worldwide on International Women’s Day (IWD) this year from Lima, Peru, to Lahore, Pakistan.... Posted Mar 19, 2009

International Women’s Day and International Working Women’s Month were celebrated in Detroit on March 14 at a forum hosted by Workers World Party.... Posted Mar 19, 2009

A thoroughly multinational crowd filled the cafeteria of Roxbury Community College on the afternoon of March 14 for an International Women’s Day “Sistah Summit—Women Rise Up” event organized by the Women’s Fightback Network (WFN).... Posted Mar 19, 2009

Hundreds of women, along with male supporters, rallied at New York’s Union Square and then marched together on March 8 to commemorate International Women’s Day. They called for “a bailout of women and our communities,” not the banks, in the U.S. and worldwide.... Posted Mar 11, 2009

The Solidarity Center hosted a meeting and reception on March 4 to welcome two revolutionary women who traveled to New York City from socialist Cuba to participate in International Working Women’s Month activities at the United Nations.... Posted Mar 11, 2009

The racist, sexist subprime mortgage industry and the crisis it created has especially affected women and their families, so it is no surprise that women are active in the forefront of struggles around the country to stop foreclosures and evictions.... Posted Mar 8, 2009

March 8, International Women’s Day, is not only an important time to reflect on women’s resistance to all forms of injustice and oppression from the past, but also to help inspire a fightback for the important struggles that lie ahead. And inspiration is needed now more than ever as women bear a significant burden with the deepening capitalist economic crisis.... Posted Mar 4, 2009

Kris Hamel, organizer with the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions and a co-founder of DANFORR, Detroit Area Network for Reproductive Rights.
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Posted Dec 6, 2008

Phebe Eckfeldt, a founder of the Women's Fightback Network and an organizer of the struggle against utility shutoffs.
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Posted Dec 6, 2008

Carlene Balderrama’s suicide epitomizes the extreme desperation that women in particular are feeling as a result of the capitalist economic crisis.... Posted Aug 11, 2008

International Women's Day has a long, proud history.... Posted Mar 27, 2008


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