March 8, is not celebrated, a tragedy is commemorated where 129 women who did not ask for a flower or a chocolate bar, but who fought for better living conditions and against discrimination, were massacred.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the conditions of the working class in the United States were very similar to what we are suffering in Colombia: starvation wages, lack of employment and exhausting hours.
And for women the situation is even more difficult. Discriminated against for the sole fact of being women, many workers were paid a pitiful amount, were not allowed to breastfeed their children during the working day and were fined for being late, for taking a long time in the bathroom or for any minor error in homework. Leaving the factory, domestic work made the days even more exhausting.
Calling for equal pay, for the workday to be reduced to ten hours and for time to breastfeed, thousands of seamstresses from various New York companies went on strike from March 5, 1908.
The atmosphere immediately began to heat up due to the reluctance of the government and the capitalists. There were clashes, and https://www.pinterest.com/pin/902760687779321084/ on March 8, at the Sirtwoot Cotton factory, which had just been peacefully taken over by its workers, the owner, with criminal viciousness, padlocked the doors and then set fire to the premises. In the brutal massacre, which shocked the planet, 129 strikers perished.
The strike lasted for months and was supported by women workers in many other cities in the United States.
In the end, several improvements were achieved, but the uprising, above all, achieved a very weighty change: it filled the workers with pride and strength, since their struggle won the adherence not only of their class sisters in that country, but also of major women’s organizations around the world.
In 1910, during the Second International Conference of Working Women, held in Copenhagen, Denmark, the German Social Democratic leaders Clara Zetkin and Kate Dumker proposed that March 8 be declared International Women’s Day, in honor of the 129 seamstresses murdered in the Sirtwood Cotton factory in New York. Since then, women around the world, especially those from the oppressed classes, have turned that historic date into a great day of combat against wage exploitation and discrimination.
The bourgeoisie has wanted to appropriate March 8 to try to buy consciences with sweet propaganda, covering up the basic fact of the oppression of working women. The industrious classes, we intend to rescue the true character of this event and remember that it should be commemorated as part of our struggle, reaffirming that women will only achieve true emancipation if they join the detachments that are preparing to liberate the world from masters and slavers. .
In Colombia, women’s rights have gone through a real via crucis. It was only in 1932 that the husband’s tutelage over her wife was abolished, and she was able to appear freely in court and manage her property. She also stops appearing on the list of minors and incapable. In 1936 she is empowered to hold public https://www.instapaper.com/read/1517460250 office, but she continues to be denied citizenship. Only in 1938 does she provide any protection to her maternity. In 1945, although she is granted citizenship, she is prevented from voting and is also denied the right to be elected. In 1954 the feminine vote is approved. In 1974, parental authority was extended to women and she was also authorized to be a tutor and curator. And in 1976, divorce is opened only for civil marriages.
Capitalist development ended up linking women closely to productive activities, their https://www.pearltrees.com/regwanzszc#item452144762 true place, and taking them out of the four walls of the home and creating favorable conditions for their participation in social and political struggles.
During the 20th century, the participation of women stands out in the most important social transformations, such as the Russian Revolution and the subsequent construction of socialism, the resistance to defeat Nazism, the revolution and creation of the People’s Republic of China and in all those that buried colonialism in the world, important contributors to the achievements in terms of labor and democratic rights in Europe and the https://www.netvibes.com/subscribe.php?preconfig=3ab898a0-f6b2-11ec-843f-a0369fec9884&preconfigtype=module United States.
In the current situation in Colombia, it is essential that women increase their participation in the struggle to reject the government’s anti-national plans that lead the country to higher levels of backwardness and poverty. And in the midst of it, summon society to support the definitive cessation of discrimination and the denial of their labor, economic and social rights.
