WUNRN
http://www.efi-ife.org/news/1st-may
Initiative Féministe Euroméditerranéenne
Euromed Feminist Initiative IFE-EFI
Labour
Day – Women’s Lens
On the
1st of May, we celebrate the work force and the labour movements, to remind
ourselves of their importance in changing the working conditions around the
world. It is a day of solidarity, a day to recognise the struggles for workers
internationally.
This day
must triumph the women whose working conditions are among the worst. Whose
labour is more often than not unrecognised, uncelebrated, subjugated and
discredited.
The
normalised exploitation of women’s work is engrained within a neo liberal
system of oppression that seeks only to benefit those at the top. The
persistent stigmatization of industries in which women are the primary workers
have led to an increase in their mistreatment and regressive attitudes towards
a woman’s agency in the workplace. The rhetoric of empowerment has become
classist when we fail to acknowledge that a woman may find empowerment in
whatever manner of work.
It is
recorded that women tend to work longer hours than men and yet are far less
likely to receive promotions and additional training in their specific field of
work. Moreover, on average women’s hourly wages are 25% lower than that of
their male counterparts. What is more, while gender dynamics remain the same in
the home, more often than not women are working while simultaneously
undertaking the primary role when it comes to domestic tasks and
responsibilities.
In order
for matters to transform the relationships women have within their respective
industries of work, we must act towards enabling better access to workers organisations
whom can provide women with the provisions and facilities of a fair working
environment that can empower, facilitate and enable women to accomplish and
progress. By representing women’s rights within the workplace, this holds the
potential to ameliorate labour rights for society as a whole. Such a process
begins, by celebrating working movements, by commemorating those who are too
often forgotten!