International Woman’s Day serves as an excellent opportunity to celebrate the continuing and historic contributions of outstanding women in every field of human life. It also offers an opportunity to consider the roles played by women in general within society. This day is heavily politicized and calls forth attention to women’s role in revolution. However, no analysis would be complete without acknowledging the injustice of women’s historic economic and social inequality that calls for such a day.
In every society organized around private property male supremacy in one form or another has reigned. Under the exploitive conditions demanded by various forms of property both men and women have been forced into roles independent and outside of their wills. These positions were class positions. Because of women’s subjugated position in the revolutionary class, they play a leading role in the revolutionary process.
At no point in time in any given society has each and every woman individually accepted the subordinate role demanded of her. Many women throughout history have rejected the notion that their contribution to society should be constrained or limited simply because they were born women.
Women played leading roles in every revolution of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Women as women had a particular stake in leaving the bondage of agrarian life and moving towards industrial society. Women today are at the forefront of every struggle. Whether it is the fight against foreclosure, the struggle to save education, or resisting the growing police State, women are leading the fight. The demand for the basic equality of half our population is inextricably bound to the emancipation of our class as a whole. A new day is on the horizon; new victories are possible. Women continue to lead the way.
March.April Vol24.Ed2
This article originated in Rally, Comrades!
P.O. Box 477113 Chicago, IL 60647 rally@lrna.org
Free to reproduce unless otherwise marked.
Please include this message with any reproduction.
