argia.eus
INPRIMATU
Long and hard struggle of women
  • Women’s struggle for an egalitarian society with the same rights as men is not the current one.
Juan Mari Arregi 2018ko martxoaren 06a

Since the Middle Ages, women have tried to be free from exploitation of men. We can mention the fourteenth century European agricultural riots, or the textile strikes that have spread since the seventeenth century XIX.era in North America and England – workers died at 20 years of age due to poor working conditions. We cannot forget the French communal women, or cigarreras, postpologists, circuses and spartars, in Euskal Herria, in Catalonia or in Andalusia. And we have recently had an exemplary strike in the residences of Bizkaia. Women have been fighting long and hard. Hundreds of years later, despite some minor interim improvements, exploitation and imbalance persist.

The wage gap is huge: men earn on average EUR 5,982 more than women – EUR 25,727 per year, compared to EUR 19,744. The gap is widening in the case of retirement pensions: women receive an average of EUR 742 per month compared to 1.197 for men. A political fact: In the Congress of Deputies, only 138 of the 350 Members are women.

On 8 March, strikes and demonstrations will make this unjust situation visible throughout the world. We need policies that break discrimination, we need to put an end to dependence and sexual exploitation. To this end, it is essential that in governments militant women and those who defend their rights, and not the temporary Thatcher or Lagarde at the service of patriarchal capitalism, have a broader representation. And for men, whether they're political or not, let's be activists and activists for women's rights.