March 8

From: Sharon Hushka (sharynh@earthlink.net)
Date: Mon Jan 31 2000 - 12:47:49 EST


Here's something to think about. March 8th is a call for an
international women's strike.

"Stop the world and change it. Join the GLOBAL WOMEN'S STRIKE 8 March
2000

Women and girls do 2/3 of the world's work for 5% of the income. So when
women stop everything stops.

The Strike focuses on women's enormous contribution to every society and
every economy. Women make the world go round, and raise and look after
its entire population; but most of the work we do is unwaged,
unrecognised and unvalued. This lack of economic and social recognition
is a fundamental sexist injustice which devalues women and everything
women do, including keeping our wages 25%-50% below men's. In fact,
though a few women are now in highly paid managerial positions, the gap
between women's and men's wages is growing. For example, in Mexico since
the introduction of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta),
women's wages have dropped from over 70% of men's to just over 50%, a
levelling-down policy which governments are trying to extend to the whole
of Central and South America. While in the South welfare benefits and other
social programmes are largely non-existent, in the North they are being
cut, ignoring women's right to such benefits as payment for the caring and
other unwaged work we do.

A strike is the best way to make visible women's contribution, needs
and demands, because When women stop, everything stops! No one can
avoid seeing that."

For more information go to:

http://womenstrike8m.server101.com/english.htm

Sharon
sharynh@earthlink.net



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