The 25th November is an important date for IWW members to take action as it marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
Women and young girls, especially those from working class backgrounds and those women who are trans and those who are racialised, those who are of a non-normative sexual orientation are subjected to all kinds of patriarchal violence in all forms. More often that not the women in our lives will have faced some form of harassment, sexual violence, sexual assault, rape, forced marriage and / or mutilation. For no other reason than they are women.
Today, a fellow worker told me about a young woman, Amber Czech, a welder from the United States, who was brutally murdered at her workplace by a male colleague. Just one example of the estimate 137 femicides that take place every day.
It can feel like the news is now always filled with stories about violence towards women and our seemingly most trusted institutions in the UK are quick to point the finger at other minorities, such as migrants, race or religion, but never at the root causes of violence and discrimination.
The fascists and the race-baiters pretend that they are protecting women by sticking up St. George crosses and hurling abuse at migrant women and children in hotels. However, they won’t say anything about rape culture, femicide and domestic abuse that is rife in the communities they claim to care about.
That would require coming to terms with the fact that the greatest threat of violence to women isn’t a refugee that they don’t know but a man that they do know. The UN reports that 60 percent of all intentional killings of women and girls are by someone in their own family. In her home. At her workplace.
There are numerous reasons and complex layers as to why in the structure of our society women are seen as expendable and made more vulnerable while trying to live their lives.
Those systems can be defined as the patriarchy, a rulership of males. Its not as if it’s literally placing a crown on men’s heads, though a lot of men would like that. It’s a word used to explain the myriad of systems that keep women down, that keep women from expressing themselves, that keep women isolated from each other and most importantly doing something about this.
There are issues with patriarchal believes in all spaces of society. Most of us within progressive spaces don’t talk about it that much either.
Today is an invitation to start asking yourself how do I recognise these patterns in my life, such as burdening women with housework at home, or expecting them to work in a ‘woman’s job’ or not listening to her when she’s expressing what’s going on for her.
Although today my heart is full of sadness for Amber Czech I am also inspired by the memory or Ivana Hoffmann, a nineteen year old Black communist fighter from Germany who sacrificed her life in 2015 fighting against ISIS to defend the women’s revolution in Rojava.
It’s essential for women to stand up and be counted, to be actively involved in this union and to take on the challenge of organising workplace. It’s only through this that the systems of self-defence can be built.
When your boss is leering oven you, don’t reach towards HR who are on his payroll. Go to the union and organise a response with your colleague. When a collective of workers sees or hears sexist remarks or behaviour, call it out and challenge it.
The emancipation of the working class is the task of the workers alone and so too the answer to femicide can never be silence but action, self defence, a women’s revolution.
Within the IWW we must take action collectively to build women’s self-defence in the workplace and throughout society. We must hold both individuals and systems to account and learn to have challenging conversations with the men around us.
In particular men in the union need to be prepared to listen to what women have to say and have these conversations with each other, to hold each other accountable for undoing the domination they unconsciously seek in our culture that’s put in our heads and make the elimination of violence against women as much of a priority as abolishing the wage system.
*Note we use women to mean an inclusive term of anyone who self-identifies as such. Trans women are women.