Thousands of Women March for Equal Pay

Louise Nousratpour
Saturday March 8, 2008
The Morning Star

TENS of thousands of women from across Britain will march on London on Saturday to mark International Women's Day.

The Million Women Rise event, which is expected to be the largest women-only march in British history, is a response to the gender pay gap and the devastating impact of violence against women.

Men are barred from joining the march and critics warned that this "sectarian" approach could disunite and weaken the progressive movement.

Communist Party of Britain women's officer Emily Mann, while welcoming any march for women's rights, said: "It is, however, perhaps a missed opportunity that men are excluded.

"Women cannot win equality and live free from violence without winning men to their side."

This year's International Women's Day falls on the centenary of the New York City women garment workers' march for shorter working hours, equal pay, voting rights and an end to child labour.

Some 100 years on, women have the vote and child labour has been stamped out in the rich countries.

But no nation has achieved equal pay and women form the largest majority of the poor in the world.

According to the UN Development Fund for Women, the value of women's unpaid work stands at £6 trillion a year - almost 50 per cent of world GDP.

ActionAid charity warned that ambitious targets for tackling global poverty are failing to deliver because women's basic rights are being "sidelined," while the International Trade Union Confederation revealed that the worldwide gender pay gap is stuck at 16 per cent.

In Britain, the pay gap hovers around 17 per cent and the average income of women in retirement is just 57 per cent of men's.

Private-sector union Unite equality officer Diane Holland called for "a target date" to close the pay gap, which she stressed would also help end child poverty.

Ms Holland reiterated Unite's demand for International Women's Day to be made a public holiday as a way of recognising women's achievements and highlighting the challenges ahead.

"In 2005, we delivered a 10,000-strong petition to Downing Street," Ms Holland said. "We now need to raise the profile of the campaign."

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber agreed, adding: "A bank holiday in March to celebrate International Women's Day would bring us closer to the EU average of 11 public holidays."

March 8 is a public holiday in 23 countries, including China, Cuba and Vietnam.
Trade unionist and Communist Party member Mary Davis welcomed the call for March 8 to be a bank holiday.

She said: "International Women's Day was born out of the socialist movement.

"We must not allow it to become divorced from the wider political struggle," Ms Davis warned.

"Gender equality will not be achieved without the struggle to end exploitation and to bring about socialism."

Saturday's Million Women Rise march will assemble in Hyde Park at 12 noon and culminates in a rally at Trafalgar Square around 3pm.