Volume IV, Number 5. 15 March 2022.

One hundred and eleven years ago, on 19 March 1911, women from Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland marched on the streets to celebrate the first International Working Women's Day. A year before that, during the Second International Conference of Working Women held in Copenhagen, Clara Zetkin, the leader of the Women's Office for the Social Democratic Party of Germany proposed that every year, in every country, Women’s Day should be celebrated as an occasion to press for the aspirations of women all over the world, marking the fight against poverty, illness, exploitation and imperialist wars.

The conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing trade unions, socialist parties, working women’s clubs and women parliamentarians, unanimously approved the proposal. International Working Women’s Day was born.

Filipino women, whether living in the Philippines or elsewhere, join in celebrating International Working Women’s Day on 8 March. In the Philippines, marches and other activities are organized where the problems and achievements of women are brought out.

This year, the marches and statements spoke of the worsening economic crisis, skyrocketing price of basic necessities, unemployment and the lack of healthcare affecting women and the rest of the working people. They also brought out that women and children are the greatest victims of the armed conflict in Ukraine.

The Communist Party of the Philippines took the occasion to extend its revolutionary greetings to women in the Philippines and across the world. It praised the “heroism of women from the ranks of workers, peasants and other progressive classes and sectors who broke through imposed gender, cultural and economic barriers and took their place as cadres and fighters of the Philippine revolution.”

The CPP also praised the revolutionary women’s organization Makibaka for being in the vanguard of the Filipino women’s struggle for over five decades. “The militancy and courage of Makibaka continues to inspire women to shoulder ever important tasks in rousing the people and in waging revolutionary armed struggle. From among the ranks of Makibaka have emerged Red fighters and commanders of the New People’s Army.”

Given the worsening conditions of Philippine society, Filipino women are bound to rise up in greater numbers. Their contributions will redouble in building and strengthening labor unions and women’s committees in factories, community and campus organizations, marching on the streets and waging all forms of mass struggle. More women will join the revolutionary armed struggle to strengthen even more the fight for national and social liberation.

Echoing the call of women around the world, we say, “Let us hold high the banner and reaffirm that the women’s place is in the struggle against wars of aggression, class and gender exploitation and oppression and the struggle for a bright future.”