We commemorate International Women's Day, in memory of the momentous event that marked the history of labour and trade union struggle around the world on March 8, 1908. On this date 129 women died in a fire in the Cotton factory in New York, USA, after they went on strike and stayed at their workplace. The reason: a reduction of the working day to 10 hours, equal pay for the same work as men, and to overcome the poor working conditions they suffered.
From our own journey and our own perspectives as women activists and members of the WMCW, we take on the dedication of the year 2021 at the global level with the slogan: "Women leaders: For an egalitarian future in the world of Covid-19". Our daily contribution to the construction of relations of equality and the enjoyment of the Integral Well-being of our families, communities and peoples is still undervalued and made invisible by a society of consumption and discarding..
From our diverse national and continental realities, the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed us to see and appreciate the contribution of WOMEN in the family and community economy and in the attention to the pandemic. We have contributed as technicians and health professionals, being in the front line and in related services. As leaders, spiritual guides and promoters of integral family and community health, we have contributed our knowledge and experience from different fields: the Economy of Care, in professional work, in the work of our vegetable gardens and family farms, reducing the fatal prognoses that were predicted given our socio-economic and political vulnerability..
We recognise that the pandemic has tripled our working condition: in addition to being mothers and workers, we have taken on the role of being teachers of our children in the fulfilment of their study tasks, in the face of an education system that has moved into our homes with virtual platforms. This new condition has implied more expenses to our already precarious family economy: high internet costs to private companies. Many women mothers are illiterate and/or have limited schooling, which has limited their use of technology (tablets, mobile phones and computers), which has meant that they have had to withdraw their children from school. In many of our countries, the policy of confinement in our homes has led to an increase in domestic violence and abuse of children by their own family members.
Women continue to struggle against an unequal, patriarchal and discriminatory society. We suffer policies of segregation, criminalisation of our struggles and femicide on a daily basis. We continue to be the object of the sex trade. Organised crime (cartels, paramilitaries, gangs, coyotes...) immersed in the very structures of our States, have taken advantage of the pandemic to innovate their mechanisms of illicit enrichment, with a growth in the kidnapping industry, trafficking in people, drugs and arms.
Despite and in spite of this reality, we, together with our movements, are committed to the constitution of a New World, based on a social and solidarity-based economy, and the care of our families and our Mother Earth.
we promote intergenerational relations, equity and new practices of masculinities free of violence. We carry out tasks of social auditing and social and political advocacy, so that our local, regional and national governments promote and guarantee Integral Human Development, taking the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs / UN) as a reference.
As we commemorate this new international anniversary of Women's Day 2021, we demand and commit ourselves to our movements, enlightened and animated by our Christian principles and values and ecumenically articulated with other collectives and movements, to watch over our Big House, for the enjoyment of a Full Life, expressed in tenderness, love and solidarity. FRATERNAL EMBRACES.
Message written by the Women's Council of the San Marcos Peasant Workers Movement, Guatemala
