IWD Melbourne Collective organising meetings

Get involved in the IWD Melbourne Collective!

Come along to our weekly meetings and help make the 2015 Melbourne rally one to remember.

EVERY MONDAY 6PM
ROOM 3, LEVEL 2, NEW BUILDING, TRADES HALL.

The Call-Out
The first IWD marches were held in Sydney and Melbourne in 1931. The Melbourne rally in 1934 was marked for its concern about Aboriginal rights, and Aboriginal activist, Anna Morgan, speaking at the rally, denounced the "black flag of the Aboriginal Protection Board" and called for legal changes and access to social welfare.

In cities across the world on 8 March 2015 women and men will be marching to advance the fight for women’s rights.

In Melbourne, women activists and unionists will be organising a rally and march to mark International Women’s Day.

The first organising meeting will be held on Monday 10 November at Trades Hall.

IWD’s proud history
IWD originated in the USA in 1908, when women garment workers held demonstrations protesting against their appalling and dangerous working conditions. Then, in August 1910 at the 2nd International Women's Conference at Copenhagen, Clara Zetkin proposed that a Socialist Women's Day be held annually, organised chiefly around women's suffrage, and with an international character.

On IWD in 1917, Russian women textile workers went on strike. They gained wide public support and initiated the revolution - the Tsar abdicated 4 days later.

Women in the textile and ready-made garment industries remain at the forefront of campaigns for health and safety, for decent wages and conditions, and against state repression and tyranny. We need only look to women workers in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Thailand to see these struggles.

The struggle continues
The value of women's unpaid housework and community work is estimated to be up to one third of GDP worldwide, or about US$11 trillion. Nearly 70 per cent of the world's 1.3 billion people living in poverty are women. 80 per cent of the world's 27 million refugees are women and children. An estimated 20 million unsafe abortions are performed worldwide every year, resulting in the deaths of 70,000 women. Women still face domestic violence and rape in all countries. Basic rights including free and safe abortion are still illegal in many countries. Women's rights at school and at work are very restricted in many countries. Equal pay for work of equal value still has not been achieved anywhere.

We have to fight back, together
All around the world as the economy crashes, women workers lose their jobs, wages & conditions, pensions & houses. Women throughout the region are suffering the same. It is not in our interest to compete with women workers from around the world.

We have to learn from the women at the turn of the 20th century who initiated International Women’s Day. Women workers must come together to initiate change - sometimes in spite of demands from family, religion, race, nationality, ideology or tradition.

For more information, contact Jiselle Hanna on 0411054859.

Australia Asia Worker Links
PO Box 45 Carlton South Victoria 3053 Australia
Tel: + 61 3 9663 7277 Email: aawl@aawl.org.au Web: aawl.org.au
ABN: 82 920 590 967 Inc Assn No: A1318