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 [...]

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)

Australia has one of the worst rates of childcare provision in the OECD. Australia and the US are also the only two OECD nations without a nationally funded paid maternity leave scheme. Despite this the Labor Party has been quick to back track on implementing a scheme.
By Kylie McGregor Socialist Party

The fight for equal pay continues!
In the 1920s women workers were only paid about half of what male workers earned. In some workplaces they were paid even less. Sometimes only between 30 - 40 % of men’s wages. It was through organising women in unions that the struggle for equal pay rights was won. Today [...]

A study by Griffith Business School reported that the new workplace laws have cut wages, stripped overtime penalties and removed award protections for workers. Professor David Peetz analysed workplace data following the introduction of the new laws and found real wages for full-time adults fell by 1.1 per cent in the six months to August.
By [...]

Reviewed by Sarah Mayo, Socialist Party
FEMALE CHAUVINIST PIGS is a witty and fresh book that is frankly long overdue. It examines ‘female chauvinist pigs’ (FCPs) – US women who have embraced ‘raunch culture’. According to Levy, FCPs are women who love porn, see Paris Hilton as a role model, and will wear a Playboy bunny [...]

On the 8th of March CWI supporters in Auckland helped organise an event for International Women’s Day (IWD). A public forum was held and it focused on making the women’s movement relevant for working class women. In particular the meeting discussed the conditions for women working as cleaners, laundry workers, kitchen workers and [...]

On China’s highly automated assembly lines, the capitalists prefer to use female labour and even child labour. This way they get around the soaring price of the male worker, who is mainly used to perform technical tasks.
By Huang Xin, CWI correspondent in China

To mark International Women?s Day (8 March) this year, the Committee for a Workers’ International is publishing a collection of nine articles contributed by members of our sections across the globe.
By Clare Doyle, CWI

Alexandra Kollantai is probably the best-known woman among Russian revolutionaries, the first woman elected as a full member of the Bolshevik central committee and the first female commissar (minister) elected after the October 1917 revolution.
By Christine Thomas, 2003