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March 8, 2017
March 8 -- International Women's Day
Victory to the Struggle of Women for
Their Emancipation!
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March
8
--
International
Women's
Day
• Victory to the Struggle of Women for Their
Emancipation!
• Women's Struggle to Affirm Their Rights
Confronts Obsolescent
Institutions -
Christine Dandenault
• Women's Rights Are Not Defended in the
Boardrooms of the
Rich - Peggy Morton
• On the Condition of Women and Girls
• Photo Review: 27th Annual Women's Memorial
March
March 8 -- International Women's Day
Victory to the Struggle of Women for
Their Emancipation!
International Women's Day celebrated in Edmonton, March 5, 2017.
CPC(M-L) hails the fighting women of Canada and the
world on the occasion of International Women's Day 2017, one of the
most important occasions for humankind to remind itself of all that
needs to be achieved in the immediate future.
 One hundred and six years ago in
1911, the first
International Women's Day was celebrated to express the demands of
women for their emancipation. At the time, working women were already
conscious of the need to coordinate their struggle and express unity
for their cause worldwide. On February 28, 1909, women textile workers
had already issued a call for an international day of action of women
workers. A meeting of the Socialist International held in December 1910
reiterated this demand. In a short time, March 8 became the day when
women of all countries would express their unity with one another in
their struggle for emancipation. Soon after, on the eve of World War I,
International Women's Day highlighted the call for peace issued by
women in Europe, alerting to the dangers which lay ahead.
Today on a world scale women are in the front ranks of
the people's
efforts to open a path for the progress of society and oppose the
growing war crimes and crimes against humanity of the imperialists and
dangers of another worldwide conflagration. Women are involved in
finding solutions to the most important problems facing society and
their consequences, including poverty and unemployment, privatization
of education and health care and, most importantly, the need for
people's empowerment. The demand for justice for the families of
Indigenous women and girls who have been murdered or are missing is one
of the most significant in Canada today to advance the cause of the
people against the continuation of colonial relations and the misery
this causes. The involvement of women in the vanguard of the struggle
for empowerment which must give rise to new forms to hold the rulers to
account is one of the most important positive developments in the
effort to open the door for the progress of society.
 The more that the rich and
powerful step up their anti-social offensive the more conscious the
people become of the need for new arrangements so as to fulfill the
promise that women and children must be provided with all that they
require to flourish. The old arrangements continue to target women and
children and divide the polity on every conceivable basis which the
government then has the effrontery to call "strength in diversity" and
"Canadian values." The government has even given itself the reputation
of having a "feminist Prime Minister." While the material conditions of
women and children in this country worsen, this translates into the
government promoting the role of women business leaders. The
shamelessness of the Liberals is seen in the Prime Minister's attempts
to rescue U.S. President Donald Trump's reputation by giving him the
opportunity to jump on the same bandwagon and also present himself as a
champion of women.
 As the conditions in Canada
worsen and working women bear the brunt
of social responsibilities, they are the most militant fighters who can
be relied on to demand concrete results.
More than ever, the slogan given rise to by the women's movement, No
Means
No!, is taken up by the workers' movement, the anti-war
movement and the movement against the
criminalization of conscience and state-organized racism and war.
On this March 8 let us strengthen support for the
affirmation of
the rights of women which belong to them by virtue of the important
roles they play in society. Women's rights must
be recognized by providing them with constitutional guarantees so that
women have the conditions they require to flourish. Unless this is
done, the emancipation of women will not become
a fact of life. Only once women's rights are guaranteed will the world
be able to celebrate the emancipation of the whole of humanity.
Let Us Stand as One in Defence of Women
and the Rights of All!
Victory
to the Struggle of Women for Their Emancipation!
  
 
 
 
Women's Struggle to Affirm Their Rights
Confronts Obsolescent Institutions
- Christine Dandenault -
The theme given for International Women's Day 2017 by
Status of Women Canada is Equality Matters. The logic advanced
to explain the theme is that "Gender stereotypes hold us all back."
Changing this "starts with changing attitudes and behaviours" and among
the proposed activities to change behaviours are to tweet as much as
possible with the hashtag #EqualityMatters, or to "plan a fundraising
event at your workplace or school for a charity that works with women
or works to advance women's rights."
 International Women's Day has been celebrated
for 106
years. It
represents the struggle of the women of all countries to free
themselves from the old world of exploitation of persons
by persons and to create a new world.
The distortion of
International Women's Day by the Trudeau
government and Status of Women Canada is another illustration of how
the so-called democratic institutions they represent
are an obstacle to the affirmation of women's demands. Women and their
collectives are putting forward concrete proposals to make equality for
women a fact of life -- investing in health
care, education and other social programs and guaranteeing wages and
working conditions that allow women and families to live and work in
dignity. They call for a profound change in the
direction of the economy so that it serves, first and foremost, the
needs of human beings and is no longer under the control of the rich
and the oligopolies.
The federal government and Status of Women Canada call
for women to
embrace the current orientation of the economy towards paying the rich
because "[companies] with 30 per cent
female leaders could add up to 6 percentage points to its net profit
margin." Status of Women adds that "having a more diverse corporate
board of directors may lead to stronger financial
performance for companies." This echoes Prime Minister Trudeau's
emphasis, along with U.S. President Trump, on encouraging women to
become members of corporate Boards of
Governors and take up other elite leadership positions.
In Quebec, the Council for the Status of Women
announced via its
website that it held a dinner-exchange on March 7 with the U.S. Consul
General. It informs that girls aged 14 to 17
were chosen to meet influential women from various backgrounds
(artistic, political, scientific, etc.) and ask these women questions
about their lives and passions and be inspired by their
success. This is a provocative message from the Quebec government to
the millions of women who participated in the actions of women in the
United States against the swearing-in of
President Trump and the thousands who did so in Quebec and Canada.
 The demands of women today
are to humanize society.
Institutions of
the society are responsible for creating the arrangements to facilitate
this. The so-called democratic institutions in
Canada and Quebec fail to do so and serve an agenda at odds with the
needs of women who struggle for a society organized to provide for the
needs of all its members.
For example, the government of Quebec could have
decided to meet with the Consul General of Cuba in order to learn about
the role of Cuban women in bringing about the victories of the Cuban
people and their political and economic system against the U.S.
blockade, as well as the experience of Cuban women and their
achievements in the fight to eliminate illiteracy and guarantee health
care and education for all. Instead, giving credence to the Trump
presidency's attitude towards women demonstrates that the Quebec
government, like the federal government, has a different agenda for
women and girls. They are following the U.S. lead to promote Trump
"Power Women" to mobilize them for the financial oligarchy and U.S.
imperialist war.
The struggle for the affirmation of women's rights
remains one of
the most important problems confronting society. It is intimately
linked to the emancipation of the working class.
The so-called democratic institutions and the anachronistic political
process marginalize women from decision-making on all the issues that
concern them, and an issue second to none is for
women to stand in the front ranks of the leadership of society.
Renewing these institutions and the political process to achieve this
is the problem put forward for solution.
Women's Rights Are Not Defended in the
Boardrooms of the Rich
- Peggy Morton -
Women's march on Washington, January 21, 2017, one of many across the
U.S., Canada and worldwide,
as women take action to defend their rights.
Women's rights are not defended in the boardrooms of the
rich but in their fight to defend their rights and for a society
that provides for its members. Despite this fact, Donald Trump in
his speech to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on February 28
used a joint Canada-U.S. initiative to suggest once again that he
is a great supporter of women. "With the help of Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau, we have formed a Council with our neighbors in
Canada to help ensure that women entrepreneurs have access to the
networks, markets and capital they need to start a business and
live out their financial dreams," Trump said.
 The "Canada-United States
Council
for Advancement of Women
Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders" was announced and had its
first meeting on February 13 during Trudeau's official trip to
Washington. According to reports, the council was the brainchild
of Katie Telford, Justin Trudeau's Chief of Staff. The word
"entrepreneur" is used to conjure the image of an enterprising
risk-taker, who through self-sacrifice provides for the
well-being of themselves and others. In fact, the members of the
Council are all CEOs of big, mostly U.S., monopoly and oligopoly
interests controlling large parts of the economy and exploiting
thousands of workers including women.[1]
The Council members and their preoccupations are alien
to the lives and struggles of women workers in the U.S., Canada and
around the world who bear, often alone, the burden of caring for
themselves and their families under brutal conditions. The problems
Council members face are not those of women workers who have suffered
the most as a result of the anti-social offensive of the rich and who
are fighting to exercise control over their lives, the economy and
society to guarantee everything they require to affirm their humanity.
It is the struggle of women workers in defence of the rights of women
and all working people that is decisive. To capitalize on the plight of
women in this way, particularly that of women workers, is despicable
indeed.
Using the dire situation of women to advance the
interests of the rich has long been part of the playbook of Canada's
ruling elite. Under the Harper government, the Status of Women Ministry
was virtually turned into a business. On the occasion of International
Women's Day 2015, then-Minister of Status of Women Kellie Leitch called
on women to join her "along with key business experts and innovators"
in a forum on "providing Canadian women entrepreneurs with the
practical tools, networks and connections they need to reach their full
growth potential." In turn, the Conservatives picked up the theme
"10,000 Women" from Goldman Sachs investment bankers.
 Telford and Trudeau earned
accolades from Canadian ruling
circles for devising, in the Council, an idea that allegedly
pleased President Trump and now allows him to present himself as
defending the interests of women. Trump expressed his enthusiasm,
stating, "We need policies that help to keep women in the
workforce and to address the unique barriers faced by female
entrepreneurs -- and they are unique. We need to make it easier
for women to manage the demands of having both a job and a
family, and we also need to make it easier for women
entrepreneurs to get access to capital. And I guess pretty much
all entrepreneurs, we have to help them out, because the system
is not working so well for entrepreneurs getting capital..."
Justin Trudeau added, "One of the things that I've been
lucky
enough to do over the past year in New York and Beijing and
across Canada is sit down with women CEOs, women executives to
talk about both their successes and the challenges they're facing
that are particular, but also how, of course, we create more
paths to success for women across our community and across our
society."
What have these CEOs and members of corporate boards
contributed to the fight of women to affirm their rights? The message
from Trump and Trudeau is that women contribute to "growing the
economy." Women in the ranks of the working class may assist the
oligopolies to seize an ever-increasing amount of the added-value
created by workers or a small minority of women joining the ranks of
the financial oligarchy may be good for business. But neither of these
developments resolve the problems facing women or the society.
The approval with which the Trump-Trudeau women's
council was
greeted by the rich is proof positive that the boardrooms of the
oligopolies are not where women's rights are defended or
affirmed. It is not the composition of these boardrooms, old
boy's clubs or think-tanks which need to be changed, but the
disempowerment of women as decision-makers and an economy
dominated by private ownership that denies women the material,
cultural and social requirements to provide their rights with a
guarantee.
The CEOs on the Council in fact embody the recent
experience of attacks against working people, including women. General
Motors, which has actively forced down the standard of living of auto
workers, recently announced it is moving auto production out of
Ingersoll, Ontario, eliminating over 600 jobs. T&T Supermarkets,
now owned by Loblaw Companies, is both infamous for its part in the
elimination of full-time work in favour of part-time jobs without
benefits or secure hours and for blocking T&T workers from forming
unions in Ontario. Transalta, an energy monopoly, is notable for
imposing concessions on its mostly women clerical staff. The President
and CEO of Schnitzer Steel Industries, a U.S. company, is also on the
board of directors of the Parsons Corporation, an engineering and
construction firm active in promoting public-private partnerships in
Canada to privatize infrastructure and public services. The Trump
family themselves are infamous for denying women at Trump hotels
maternity leave and obstructing their attempts to form defence
organizations.
 Furthermore, Trudeau's
claims of concern for women's rights
and even that he is a "feminist" ring hollow in the face of the
Liberals' program for Canada. The Liberal government has
callously dismissed demands for a national child care program or
any program for modern and humane seniors' care which allows
seniors to live with dignity and social love. Even its electoral
promise to spend $500 million per year (the same amount being
spent on Canada 150 events) on disparate and privatized child
care funding did not pan out. It put forward funding for seniors'
home care which amounted to one hour of care per day for 25,000
people, while Statistics Canada reports that nearly 461,000
Canadians 15 years of age and older are not receiving the help
they require for chronic health conditions.
The cynical attempt to paint one more forum for the
rich to
meet, contend and collude and to politicize their private
interests as benefitting women will not divert Canadian women
from the fight they are waging day in and day out for a society
that provides their rights with a guarantee.
Women have the right by virtue of their being to
everything
they need to affirm themselves as human beings and to ensure a
bright future for the next generation. Women have the right to
live free of violence and to see an end to all discrimination they
face,
including racist and paternalist abuse. Women are fighting for a
society organized to care for its members. They are fighting to
increase funding for social programs, and against the anti-social
offensive which has the greatest impact on women. Women know that
it is not in the boardrooms of the rich, but by putting
themselves in the front ranks of the struggle for democratic
renewal and a new direction for the economy, against
state-organized racism and attacks against the people, against
environmental destruction, imperialist war and occupation that
their rights and the rights of all will be defended.
Note
1. Participants in the Council
include:
Canada
- Annette Verschuren, Chair and CEO, NRStor, an energy storage firm
- Dawn Farrell, President and CEO, TransAlta, an energy monopoly
- Tina Lee, CEO, T&T Supermarkets
- Monique Leroux, Chair, Invest Quebec
- Elyse Allan, President and CEO, GE Canada
- Linda Hasenfratz, CEO, Linamar, an auto parts manufacturer
- Chrystia Freeland, Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs
U.S.
- Tamara Lundgren, President and CEO, Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc
- Julie Sweet, CEO, Accenture North America, a consulting monopoly
- Carol Stephenson, Board of Directors, General Motors
- Mary Barra, Chair and CEO, General Motors
- Beth Comstock, Vice Chair, GE
- Deborah Gillis, President and CEO, Catalyst, an NGO
- Dina Powell, assistant to President Trump
- Ivanka Trump, Executive Vice President of Development and
Acquisitions at the Trump Organization
On the Condition of Women and Girls
Women have always been at the forefront of the struggle
for rights
and to open society's path to progress. This struggle is inextricably
linked to the people's fight to exercise control
over their lives and take up society's problems for solution. Below are
some recent data on the conditions of women and girls.
Education and Work
Even in 2017, women's wages are on average 30 per cent
lower than
men's. This disparity is reflected on several levels. According to the
Statistical Report of the Council for the
Status of Women published in May 2016, women without a high school
diploma working full time earn 69.8 per cent of the median salary of
men in the same situation.
 For all levels of education, while
women are now slightly more
likely than men to have a high school diploma -- 78.1 per cent of women
versus 77.5 per cent of men -- their salary is
lower. When they have a diploma, they earn up to 80 per cent of that of
male graduates.
With a university degree, women's employment rate is
81.5 per cent,
compared to 83.4 per cent for men. With a college diploma, this rate is
78.3 per cent for women versus 81.0 per
cent for men. The employment rate for women without a college diploma
is only 38.3 per cent, compared to 52.3 per cent for men in the same
situation.
For immigrant women, higher education does not improve
their
participation in the labour market as much. The employment rate for
immigrant women with a university degree is 69.1
per cent, compared to 78.5 per cent for men in the same situation.
Food Insecurity
Food insecurity is a serious problem across the
country. Too many
people suffer from food insecurity and no one is immune. Take the
example of Quebec.
According to 2016-2017 data, Quebec food banks receive
more
than 1,800,000 requests for food. Quebec has a population of 8.215
million people.
More than 400,000 people in Quebec, including 150,000
children do
not eat enough. Quebec's food aid agencies have recorded a 34.5 per
cent increase since the last recession in
2008.
- A total of 372,064 food baskets and 1,426,546 meals
and snacks
are served per month to hungry Quebeckers. Twelve per cent of monthly
applicants first-time users.
- Nearly half of the households receiving assistance in
the past year were families with children.
- Due to a lack of food, 5.6 per cent of food
assistance
organizations had to close early or not open some days between 2015 and
2016.
- Of those receiving food bank assistance, 10.8 per
cent have incomes below their cost of living.
According to HungerCount 2016, 137,000 people,
including 47,000
children between the ages of 0 and 17 (23 per cent of beneficiaries),
receive food aid every month through aid
agencies.
Quebec Sexual Assault Help Centres Data and Aid Requests
Similarly, sexual assault against women and girls is
also a serious
problem that society must solve. Again, looking at the situation in
Quebe as an example, acccording to statistics
compiled by Quebec's Sexual Assault Help Centres (CALACS) for the year
2014-2015:
 - 76.3 per cent of requests
for help at the centres are related to incest or sexual assault in
childhood or adolescence;
- almost 42 per cent of women wait 13 years and more
before seeking
help -- shame, guilt and fear associated with sexual violence can keep
victims silent for a very long time;
- more than 47.5 per cent of women who come to the
centres are 30 years of age and older;
- 96.8 per cent of aggressors are known to victims;
- 87 per cent of sexual assaults are committed in a
private home;
- 39 per cent of sexual assaults are committed in a
home that the
victim shares with the perpetrator; 16 per cent in the victim's home;
22 per cent in the abuser's home; 6.3 per cent
in a public place or school; 4 per cent at work; and 1.4 per cent on
the transit system;
- more than 27 per cent of women and adolescent girls
seek help from a CALACS within one year of being assaulted.
In 2014-2015, the centres received 1,850 requests for
assistance.
Eighty per cent of these requests came from women and adolescent girls
who were calling for the first time. Individual
meetings represent 80 per cent of the hours of service and group
meetings 20 per cent. Interventions include individual follow-ups,
group follow-ups, legal or medical support, support for
relatives and referrals.
Photo
Review
27th Annual Women's Memorial March
Vancouver
While on February 13 Canada's Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau and Ivanka Trump played at being the greatest champions of
women's rights, and Trudeau and Canadian media did everything possible
in Washington to divert the attention of Canadians from what real life
requires, on February 14 Canadians from coast to coast reaffirmed the
demand for justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls
and denounced the paternalism of the Trudeau government's treatment of
Indigenous peoples' hereditary, treaty and constitutional rights.
The Annual Women's Memorial Marches began in 1991 in
Vancouver, in response to the murder of a Coast Salish woman
whose death was viewed with disinterest by the authorities and
media. Since that time, as more and more such deaths have come to
light, the outrage has grown along with the demand that the
Canadian state be held to account for the violence it continues
to commit against Indigenous peoples. This year, thousands
participated again in the march through Vancouver's downtown
eastside. In Prince George, hundreds gathered to remember and
demand justice for those who disappeared from Highway 16 between
Prince George and Prince Rupert, known as the Highway of Tears.
Toronto held its 12th Annual Strawberry Ceremony for Missing and
Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls outside of Toronto Police
Headquarters. Other cities held marches, vigils and other
gatherings to express the demand for justice.
 This year's actions come
just over one year after the Trudeau
government announced that the "design phase" of its National
Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women came to an end
on February 15, 2016. It comes one week after the commissioners
tasked by the government with overseeing the Inquiry held their
first news conference on February 7, 2017, during which they
announced that no date has been set to begin hearings. The Native
Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) released its first quarterly
report card on the National Inquiry on January 5. NWAC noted that
it has "been very vocal in our concerns regarding the lack of
specific guidelines in the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the
Inquiry. The report card gives us a an opportunity to outline the
ways in which the Inquiry is successfully implementing their
broader ToRs in the areas we've found to be potentially
problematic. These include the identification of and actions to
remove systemic causes of violence against Indigenous women and
girls at a national and provincial level as well as the ability
of participants to pursue or reopen individual cases through the
justice system."[1]
In the weeks before the march, information came to
light
about the continued surveillance of Indigenous peoples fighting
for their rights by state agencies. On January 30, in response to
questions tabled by Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus, the
federal government admitted that it continues to monitor protests
demanding justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women and
girls (among other protests) through its Government Operations
Centre (GOC). According to the Government of Canada, the GOC
"continuously monitors events of national significance (24/7) and
shares information with senior officials and
provincial/territorial (P/T) governments, as well as NGOs and the
private sector" and "is connected to multiple information and
intelligence sources -- media, law enforcement, intelligence
organizations, emergency management organizations, private sector
bodies—at international, federal government, P/T and NGO
levels."[2]
TML Daily is publishing below a photo review
of the
February 14 actions and calls on everyone to continue to support
the demand for justice for missing and murdered women and
girls.
Canada-Wide February 14 Marches and
Vigils
Vancouver
 
 
Prince George
Edmonton
University of Alberta, Edmonton
Calgary
Winnipeg
Thunder Bay
#RedDress Campaign, Laurentian
University, Sudbury
Toronto
Montreal
Notes
1. To read the full NWAC Report
Card, click
here.
2. To read the government's response to
the request of MP Charlie Angus, click
here.
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