Centenary Celebrations of the International Women’s Day- March 2010

The year 2009-2010 is being celebrated as the Centenary year for the International Women’s Day. Several women’s organisations in Delhi have come together and formed a Centenary Committee to do programmes through till 8 March 2010. The introductory note on this – ‘Let us celebrate the Centenary of International Women’s Day’ – is attached below. NTUI was invited to participate in this process. NTUI had attended the Women’s Day programme in Delhi on 8 March 09.

Within the Centenary Committee several thematic sub-groups have been formed. These sub-group are in the process of giving proposals for the year long programmes.
These sub-groups include: A Conceptual framework about the Women’s Question, The New Economic Policy and Women, Women and Socialism, Women and Sexuality, Violence on Women, Political Process and Women, Women and Caste Oppression and Women and Work.

The centenary celebration apart, the issue of gender equality remains a matter of concern within the NTUI including such differences as were expressed at the (extended) Executive Council meeting on 30 March 2009.

Hence, discussions within the NTUI secretariat have resulted in the following suggestions:

  1. The Centenary Celebrations of the International Women’s Day would be a good way to take forward NTUI’s programme on women and would be a continuation of the Women’s workshop held during the Assembly of Working People; hence the extent of NTUI affiliate participation in this platform needs to be decided and accordingly ensured.
  2. NTUI affiliates should plan their own year long programme. This programme could include large meetings for consolidation on the question of gender equality and workshops / meetings / conferences on specific themes to be planned and conducted in different parts of the country.

Let us celebrate the Centenary of International Women’s Day 1910 to 2010!

Concept Note

It is about a hundred years since the declaration of International Women’s Day. March 8, commemorated throughout the world as Women’s Day is part of the history of the working class women’s struggle. The memorable event took place on 8th March, 1908 when about 15,000 women marched the streets of New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. They were the women workers of the garment companies, in the needle trade, working in appalling conditions in sweatshops. They also demanded an end to child labour. As the struggle intensified all over Europe and America, in 1910, at a Socialist International meeting in Copenhagen, an International Women’s Day of no fixed date was proposed to honour the women’s rights movement. In 1911, Clara Zetkin, a leader of the working class women’s movement, organized the first IWD in Germany and it was also celebrated in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on 19 March. More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination. In 1913, IWD was transferred to 8th March. Since then the women’s movement has made this day so well known that it is widely and popularly celebrated throughout the world. Seeing its popularity, the day is also being co-opted by the establishment to make women believe that the governments, capitalist, feudal and imperialist forces are much concerned about the welfare of women and to try and silence their struggles.

It is time for us in the Women’s Movement to make a reckoning of where we stand, what have been the gains and losses for working women in this century. While there has been a significant change in the status of women, due to the struggles, the socio-economic conditions are such that women continue to be highly exploited, marginalized, and deprived of political power, victims of patriarchy, violence and repression. In the developing countries, whether urban or rural, women form the bulk of the poor, the unemployed, and the uneducated; without any means of livelihood. Imperialist globalization, which has already affected women in various ways, is now further affected by the current financial crisis which will mean more pay cuts and retrenchment of women, contract labour, sexual exploitation and deprivation of labour laws will continue to trouble our lives. The agrarian crisis in India, will further increase food shortages, landlessness, indebtedness and trafficking in women and girls. To add to this struggling women face repression, or right wing fascist forces unleash the wrath of religious fundamentalism controlling and warping the lives of women.

Let us resolve to come together, women activists, trade unionists, working women and others, to commemorate the Centenary of the International Women’s Day from 2009 to 2010 March in a meaningful way. To analyze the present situation, to come out in support of working class women’s struggles, to raise our voices against this pro-imperialist model of development that is causing displacement and deprivation to millions of women, to expose the politics of the campaign against terror and communalism, to try and combat violence against women.

We could commemorate this important event by:

  1. Forming IWD Centenary committees in various cities or states and holding demonstrations, rallies, seminars or workshops.
  2. Conducting a campaign by having poster exhibitions, distributing leaflets doing cultural programmes etc.
  3. Publish literature on the history of the women’s movement, the working class movement and women’s participation in it.
  4. Culminating the year long events in a bigger All India Conference and rally in March 2010 at a central place.
  5. Sharing experiences of various women’s group.
  6. Charting out future struggles on women’s issues.
  7. Any other suggestions are welcome!