Statistics of the UN and other agencies show that 70% of the 1.2 billion people living in poverty the world over, are female. According to the UN, women do more than 67% of the hours of work done in the world, earn only 10% of the world’s income and own only 1% of the world’s property. The value of unremunerated work was estimated at about $16 billion, from which $11 billion represents the invisible contribution of women. Women are paid 30-40% less than men for comparable work, on an average.

The 2010 is the centenary of the declaration of International Women’s Day. It was in 1910 that the Second International Conference of Socialist Women, held in Copenhagen in August that year, decided to celebrate one day every year, all over the world, to focus on problems of women.

The origin of the women’s right movement is very closely linked with the working class movement. A democratic and egalitarian consciousness developed along with the advance of capitalism. In the late 19th and early 20th century, the working class in general and working women in particular were becoming more and more aware of the fact that the end of exploitation is linked with the capture of political power. Thus the universal suffragette movement and the working class movement, which are interlinked, gave birth to the women’s movement.

It was against the intolerable working conditions and 12 hour workday that women textile workers of New York City organized themselves to fight, as early as in 1857. They were attacked by the police. Within two years the first women’s labour union was formed.

On 28 February 1909, at the initiative of Socialist party of the US, socialist women organized demonstrations all over the country, demanding political rights for working women along with the slogan of better working conditions. Later in the year, the women shirtwaist workers of the International Ladies Garment workers union organized the first strike, ‘the uprising of the twenty thousand’, which lasted 13 weeks.

“The International Ladies Garment Workers Union had a mere 1000 members before the strike began, but in first five days of the strike, 19,000 workers swamped the union’s offices with requests to join. Striking women, many of them in their teens, formed picket lines outside their workplaces, trying to convince the scabs to join them. The strikers were beaten and bruised by police and hired thugs. Public opinion swung strongly in favour of the women strikers”. writes Sarah Stephan.

Thousands of women all over the world supported the strike. The strike was against the miserable working conditions, of course, but also for the recognition of their union. Rallies, demonstration and programmes highlighting the issues of women were held all over the world during that period. Womens’ suffrage was in the highlight.

In 1910 the Second Congress of socialist women, taking note of the situation, emphasizing the special problems of women and importance of taking these away from the so called intellectual discussion tables to the streets where the workers fight for their rights, resolved to observe a day for women. The observance was started by socialist women and other groups the world over, on the last Sunday in February and later on 8 March. Observance of 8 March in 1917 in Tsarist Russia, was the beginning of protests which resulted in the ‘Great October Revolution, setting up the first socialist society. Later in 1975 the UN also recognized the International Women’s Day, 8 March.

Thus International Women’s Day has a legacy of women’s struggle, for a decent life and decent work and to achieve this, their political rights. International Women’s Day had put the special problems of women and their right in development as well as the political process, onto the agenda. One hundred years ago the demands were for an 8 hour working day, equal wages and universal suffrage.

Now a century later, women have advanced in many spheres, but during these years, particularly after the advent of globalization, there is a concerted effort to strip the International Womens Day of its class and political content. Now it is highly commercialized and marketed to sell products ranging from kitchen utensils to ornaments and beauty products. There is also the propaganda that the class struggle is ‘non inclusive’ of the problems of women and other marginalised sections, therefore it needs to be separated from the class content.

Statistics of the UN and other agencies show that 70% of the 1.2 billion people living in poverty the world over, are female. According to the UN, women do more than 67% of the hours of work done in the world, earn only 10% of the world’s income and own only 1% of the world’s property. The value of unremunerated work was estimated at about $16 billion, from which $11 billion represents the invisible contribution of women. Women are paid 30-40% less than men for comparable work, on an average.

In the world of work in India, female share of non-agricultural wage employment is only 17%.Participation of women in the workforce is only 13.9% in the urban sector and 29.9% in the rural sector. Women’s wage rates are, on an average only 75 % of men’s wage rates and constitute only 25% of the family income. Although 60-80% of the food in most developing countries is produced by women, in no Indian State do women and men earn equal wages in agriculture.

The propaganda of women’s empowerment, feminisation of labour etc., as a result of ‘globalisation’ by its advocates, proved to be false and women’s work participation rate is stagnant, in recent years. The only increase of women’s work is in the service sector, that too in the very low paid, unskilled domestic work. New forms of exploitation such as ‘marriage bonds’ are also being tried to exploit women.

There are some other shocking statistics regarding the social status of women in India. The child sex ratio has dropped from 945 females per 1000 males in 1991 to 927 females per 1000 males in 2001. The United Nations Children’s Fund, estimated that up to 50 million girls and women are ‘missing’ from India’s population because of killing of the female foetus or high mortality of the girl child due to lack of proper care. Close to 245 million Indian women lack the basic capability to read and write. Adult literacy rates for ages 15 and above for female for the year 2000 were 46.4%. The average nutritional intake of women is 1400 calories daily. The necessary requirement is approximately 2200 calories. 92% of women in India suffer from gynecological problems. 300 women die every day due to childbirth and pregnancy related causes. The maternal mortality ratio per 100,000 live births in the year 1995 was 440.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) predicted that the growth rate of crimes against women would be higher than the population growth rate by 2010. NCRB ‘Crime in India, 2002’, states that every 3.5 minutes,

1 crime was committed against women in India. In 2002, 45 women were raped every day, one woman every 32 minutes. 121 women were sexually harassed every day, one woman every 12 minutes. 21 women were murdered every day due to dowry, one woman every 66 minutes. 135 women were tortured by their husbands and in-laws every day, one woman every 11 minutes. Between 1997 and 2002, incidents of rape increased by 6.7%, female foeticide increased by 49.2% and sexual harassment increased by 20.6%.

The universal women’s suffrage achieved by the struggles of our ancestors, gave women the right to vote, but an equal share in the decision making process and the bodies remains unfulfilled. Even now in some countries women do not have the right to vote and contest elections. There are other rights – to work, to study, to have equal marriage rights, the right to own and inherit property, right to drive, to have an abortion, so on which are yet to be to achieved legally, in many parts of the world. The whole question of housework is not addressed.

After 60 years of our Republic, women occupy only 10.82% of parliamentary seats, and less than 4% seats in High Courts and Supreme Court, in our country. This shows that universal voting rights are only a primary step towards women’s equality. It is necessary to have a share in decision making – for this we need other means such as reservation in elected bodies. The 73rd Constitutional amendment, which gave 33% reservation in posts in all elected Panchayati Raj institutions to women has proven to be a powerful instrument for empowerment of women in a socially backward country like India. It has resulted in over one million women participating in decision making at the local level.

The experience shows that although there was very strong opposition by feudal society to the very concept of women having political power, particularly dalit and downtrodden women, the experiment was very successful. In many states, the number of elected women is now more than 33%, with women winning in general, unreserved seats. This has been further advanced by the demand for 50% reservation in local bodies, which is now being implemented.

The first and foremost demand achieved by the world working class movement, for an 8 hour working day, is under severe attack in our country, in the name of ‘labour market flexibility’. Earlier, it was a problem of implementation of the existing laws. Now the government has declared a policy shift, through the Second National Commission on Labour and other policy recommending forums. The Economic Survey, before the last budget, clearly suggested the increase in working hours upto 12.

The observance of anniversaries and days should not be ritualistic. Whether it involves holding meetings and rallies, or distributing materials to the needy, it should always be an occasion to reassert the rights won through centuries of struggles and to advance them further. This occasion of the centenary of the declaration of International Women’s Day gives us this opportunity.