Indian, U.S. women: Solidarity in the struggle for better world

>Archive - PWW Print Edition Archive - 2002 Editions - May 18, 2002


 

The following is a statement of solidarity from the women's equality commission of the Communist Party USA sent to the National Federation of Indian Women in honor of their 16th conference just held in Chennai.


Warmest greetings and congratulations to the National Federation of Indian Women on the occasion of your 16th conference. We share your objectives in the fight for sustainable development and a peaceful world and against the negative impacts of globalization, liberalization and privatization. We know your discussions and deliberations were fruitful. Working-class women in the United States share your dreams and struggles.

We live in a country that is increasingly two countries, two Americas. One America, under the control of the multinationals, heaps riches and privilege on the few. The other America, where most of us live, is left out. In the one America, 20 percent of U.S. households own 84.6 percent of all the wealth in the country. In the other, where those who produce this wealth live, there is no money for education, healthcare and support of families and children.

More than 25 percent of all children in the U.S. live in poverty. They study in substandard schools. They have limited or no access to essential healthcare. In communities of color and among immigrants, the percentage is much higher and the conditions much worse. Women and their children comprise the vast majority of people living in poverty in this country of great wealth. Hunger and homelessness grow daily. The majority of the homeless now are families.

We dream of a world where the needs of our families for education, healthcare, housing, food and a decent life in a sustainable economy, where no child is left behind, and where women can reach their full political and social potential. We struggle against a system and a government controlled by the multinationals that gives tremendous tax cuts to the already wealthy, impoverishes workers worldwide, that constantly attacks and seeks to dismantle our hard-won gains, such as Social Security, Medicare and our legal right to organize in the work place.

Women comprised 46.6 percent of the U.S. workforce in the year 2001. It is estimated that 99 out of 100 women in the U.S. will work for wages at some time during her life. Women work long hours at low wages. Sixty-three percent of women currently work more than 40 hours a week. Twenty-eight percent of working mothers work nights and weekends. Forty percent work shifts that do not coincide with those of their spouse or partner. For women of color and immigrant women, the percentages are much higher.

These long hours and schedules are damaging to the women who must work them, their children, and their family life. There is no time for developing a full and satisfying life or for building healthy communities.

Women union members earn 30 percent more than non-union women and have more access to health and pension benefits. Forty-two percent of all union members now are women. Women are more likely to vote for a union if given the opportunity. More and more women are engaging in organizing unions, underlying our desire to live more productive and satisfying lives.

The current Bush administration, with support of the corporations and the fundamentalist Christian Right, is attempting to roll back not only our rights to organize and to belong to unions, but also is threatening our right to reproductive freedom and health. Although these forces would like to eliminate a woman's right to abortion, birth control and family planning, broad forces committed to maintaining these rights are mobilizing and are holding the line.

Sunday, May 12, is celebrated as Mothers' Day in the United States. We take our mothers to dinner and send them flowers. What is not well known is that a feminist, fighter against slavery, anti-war activist, and author named Julia Ward Howe, established this holiday. Howe established Mothers' Day just after the American War Between the States (Civil War) in 1870 as a message against war and violence. She wanted to inspire women, as mothers, to work for peace. As part of her proclamation she declared "Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice! Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession,"

We live in very dangerous times. The very survival of the planet is at risk. We live in a time of false patriotism and endless war. The tens of thousands who peacefully gathered in Washington, D.C., on April 20 were just a fraction of those in the United States who struggle to bring forward this message. A world without peace can never build sustainable and just communities that nurture our women and children and build a future for all our peoples.


Carolyn Dunne-Whalen is the chair of the Women's Equality Commission of the Communist Party USA. The author can be reached at pww@pww.org