Solidarity Center Report: International Women’s Day

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Working women contribute 66 percent of the world’s work and produce 50 percent of the food, they earn 10 percent of global income and own 1 percent of property, a 2011 United National Development Program report finds. But as we celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, a Solidarity Center series shows that working women are on the forefront of transformation. Tunisian women, many working through their unions, were a crucial part of the uprising that led to what is known as the Arab Spring—and continue to be a major force in fighting for the rights of women in the nation’s ongoing political crises. Honduran maquila workers and banana packers, most of whom are women, are self-organizing for greater workplace strength. And in South Africa, working women are challenging a culture of violence against women.
Read more at the Solidarity Center.