SP Newsletter No.394

Last month Federal Minister for Youth, Peter Garrett, announced a government initiative to address ”negative body image” amongst young women.

Over the last number of years there has been growing awareness and concern about the impact the beauty and fashion industries have on the body expectations of women. The overwhelming response to this has been to demand more ‘healthy’, ‘positive’ and ‘real’ representations of women in the fashion world and beauty advertising.

This new initiative follows this trend by promoting a voluntary industry code and an awards competition for those who include “healthy body image” in their products and marketing. Those who decide to participate may receive a certificate. The assessment panel will be headed by the editor of Australian Women’s Weekly, a beauty and lifestyle magazine.

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Remembering the struggles & victories of women workers

For more than a century, 8 March has been the day to commemorate and celebrate the fight of working class and revolutionary women for a better deal and a socialist society. Its origins are in the struggles for equal pay and decent conditions amongst women in the USA in the 19th century.

On 8 March, 1857, garment workers in New York City marched and picketed, demanding improved working conditions, a ten hour day, and equal rights for women. Their ranks were broken up by the police. Fifty-one years later, 8 March, 1908, their sisters in the needle trades in New York marched again, honouring the 1857 march, demanding the vote, and an end to sweatshops and child labour. The police were present on this occasion too.

By Clare Doyle, CWI

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July fast news

The Australian Services Union called a day of action on June 8 as part of its Equal Work, Equal Pay campaign. Thousands attended rallies that took place in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and elsewhere.

Almost 100 years after women textile workers in Russia took to the streets on this very issue and sparked the great events of the 1917 Revolution, pay inequality has remained a serious issue impacting on the lives of female workers.

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SP Newsletter No.358

On January 24, a Toronto police officer told a campus safety information session at Osgoode Hall Law School that one way women can limit the chance of being raped is to “avoid dressing like sluts”.

Immediately staff and students demanded a written apology. A ‘Slutwalk’ demonstration of a thousand people was then organised in Toronto against rape and against the false idea that victims bring it upon themselves.

Since then, a dozen other demonstrations have taken place across Canada and the US, and around a hundred have been organised across the world. One is planned for this weekend in Melbourne.

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CWI International Women’s Day statement

In recent months, millions of women worldwide have risen up to resist the devastating effect that the economic crisis is having on their lives. Hundreds of thousands of super-exploited textile and other workers in Bangladesh, China, Cambodia and elsewhere have participated in a wave of strikes for higher wages which spread rapidly from one Asian country to another. Millions of women workers have taken part in general strikes in France, Spain, Greece and Portugal, and in the huge protests against public sector attacks which have swept across Europe. Young women have been in the front-line of a new generation of fighters in significant student movements against cuts and fee rises - in Britain, Italy and elsewhere. And, of course, tens of thousands of women have participated in the marvellous movements in Egypt and Tunisia for democratic and social rights and an end to dictatorial regimes.

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Every day, we’re all bombarded with images soliciting us to buy products. Companies often spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for a 30-second ad alone. Cars, beer, beauty products, or electronics, if you can name it, you need to buy it. Big business wouldn’t spend money on these ads if they couldn’t affect our world-view. This has created shocking consequences for women of all age groups.

By Genevieve Morse

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By Jacinta Chavulak, Socialist Party

In her book Living Dolls, Natasha Walter paints a horrifying picture of Britain’s sex culture. The book explores the modern reality of sex in our everyday lives and explains that sexism is worse now than ever before.

Walter begins her book by examining children’s toys. She looks at the difference between girls and boys toys and explains how toys sexualise people from a young age. Bratz, Barbie dolls and make up sets are all examined in detail.

In the first chapter ‘Dolls’, Walter briefly explores the 1970’s feminist movement and the aims behind it. She looks at the difference between the women’s free love movement of then and the hypersexual culture which exists today. Women’s liberation was a key issue in the 1970s, now the focus is on how women appear to men.

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SP Newsletter No.322

On June 24th Australia inherited its first ever female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. Some have hailed this as a great achievement in the struggle for women’s rights, regardless of the fact that Australian voters had no participation in the event.

While her ascension can be attributed to male factional leaders within the Labor Party, Gillard is undoubtedly a beneficiary of the movements of women around the world that have fought long and hard for equal rights.

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Hundredth anniversary of International Women’s Day

At its very beginning, in the early 20th century, International Women’s Day – the 8th of March - was a day of struggle for working women. Nowadays it has largely been hijacked by the capitalist establishment as a ceremonial and sometimes highly commercial affair. Much has happened over time, providing welcome proof that women’s oppression can be fought and pushed back, but despite this, the oppression rooted in society continues. Indeed, in the past years many earlier conquests for women have been lost as a result of the crisis of capitalism.

By Elin Gauffin, CWI Sweden

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The headlines have been blaring with news that pop star Chris Brown (19) beat his girlfriend and fellow pop star, Rihanna (21) during a violent quarrel.

By Margaret Collins, Socialist Alternative (CWI – United States)

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