arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

3rd Global Womens Strike, Friday March 8: Invest in Caring Not Killing!
Women sweep the world clean for a world which values all womens work & every life and to end Americas new war and all wars.

COUNTRIES INVOLVED SO FAR: Aotearoa (New Zealand); Argentina; Austria; Belarus; Bolivia; Brazil; Canada; Colombia; Czech Republic; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Ecuador; El Salvador; France; Germany; Ghana; Guyana; India; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Korea; Kuwait; Macedonia; Mexico; Nigeria; Pakistan; Peru, Poland; Scotland; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Tanzania; Trinidad & Tobago; Uganda; United States; Uruguay . . .

International Womens Day, March 8, 2002 marks the third Global Womens Strike (GWS) with the theme Invest in Caring Not Killing. Women charge that "never before has there been so much wealth; yet so many of us with so little." With the Strike women the global carers give their collective No! to globalization and militarization. Prioritizing the production of things over caring for people threatens human life and the life of the planet. The Strike calls for a total change of social and economic priorities for the whole society beginning with women. According to the UN, women do 2/3 of the worlds work, and 2/3 of this work is unwaged.

The Strike is bringing together Arab women mobilising in EGYPT, JORDAN and YEMEN, with peace women in ISRAEL opposing all fundamentalism; in ARGENTINA the Housewives Union of Santa Fe is co-ordinating The Sweep-up involving Neighbourhood assemblies, the Cross-Neighbourhood Womens Network, the Mothers of the Disappeared and the Multi-Sector Coalition of Women for Action, among others who will Sweep out the dirt at the bottom and at the top.
PERU: Domestic workers centre working with soup kitchens, lesbian women, trade unions, Indigenous women. SPAIN: Strike opens a week of activities protesting against the Europe of Capital and War prior to EU heads of state meeting in Barcelona (15-16 March). USA: hugely popular political rock band Rage Against the Machine running GWS as lead item on their Website. "Democracy Now", the well-known public radio programme hosted by distinguished progressive journalist Amy Goodman on the Pacifica Network, will once again feature the Global Womens Strike on 8 March. The programme broadcasts to 50 cities across the US, and internationally on RFPI (Radio for Peace International), and now is also a television program that reaches 7 million households.

International Strike demands begin with payment for all caring work: in wages, pensions, land and other resources. Based on that entitlement, we also demand: pay equity internationally * paid maternity leave, breastfeeding breaks and other benefits * accessible clean water, healthcare, housing, transport, literacy and information * non-polluting energy and technology to shorten our hours and burden of work * protection and asylum from all violence & persecution * freedom of movement (immigration and asylum rights). Our demand that so-called "Third World debt" not be paid: We owe nothing, they owe us! is based on acknowledging how hard women work, and for how little reward, around the globe.

Women (and men who support us) are invited to join actions wherever you are. See our website for what you can do and to read more about the Strike and our demands, and to read Striking statements from women of different sectors. You can also read statements from men who support the Strike and download leaflets. http://womenstrike8m.server101.com

This year the Strike leaflet is available in Albanian, Amharic, Basque, Bengali, Catalan, Croatian, Dutch, English, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Gujerati, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Macedonian, Magyar (Hungarian), Portuguese, Russian, Shona, Spanish, Swedish, Tigrinya, Turkish and Urdu, and the translations are on our website. If you can help with any translating, please get in touch!

The Global Womens Strike is coordinated by the International Wages for Housework Campaign.

Contact us!
Crossroads Womens Centre,
PO Box 287, London NW6 5QU, England.
Tel: +44 (0)20 7482 2496 minicom/voice
Fax: +44 (0)20 7209 4761
E-mail: womenstrike8m@server101.com

Payday, a global network of men, is coordinating mens increasingly widespread support. payday@paydaynet.org
+44 (0)20 7209 4751