WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE - news journal UPDATE - (en) France, UCL AL #358 - Antipatriarchy - March 8, 2025: A feminist, anti-capitalist and anti-fascist strike (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 This year, March 8 is a Saturday. The question of an effective strike by

employees will probably arise less acutely than in recent years.
However, weekend work is above all a matter of gendered distribution of
work, as is still the domestic burden. This March 8 is also part of an
ideological context marked by reactionary explosions, the promotion of
enslavement, imperialism, hatred and war. This year, our strike will be
feminist, anti-capitalist, anti-fascist and united! ---- Demanding
salary increases for predominantly female professions or the repeal of
the latest pension law remains relevant. But this year, March 8 falls on
a Saturday and it seems important to focus on the issue of women working
on weekends and their health.

Low-skilled women are among those who suffer the most from the
development of atypical working hours, particularly Saturday and Sunday
work (services, shops, care, etc.)[1]. The Uberization of the economy
and the deregulation of working hours make women one of the main
variables for adjusting to changes in capitalism.

In addition, atypical working hours are often combined with other time
constraints such as irregular working hours (which vary from day to
day), discontinuous days (work periods separated by at least 3 hours)
and unpredictable working hours (known a day in advance or less).

These working conditions are particularly detrimental to the health and
quality of life of the women concerned (heightened fatigue, daytime
sleepiness, metabolic disorders, weight gain, lower back pain, tendency
to addictive practices, cancers).

In 2023, a Senate information report took stock of the invisible ills of
women's health at work, the repercussions of which are still largely
unknown and minimized. Similarly, the difficulties associated with
sexual and reproductive health are still underestimated or even ignored
in the world of work. However, this is a major issue (endometriosis and
disabling menstrual pathologies, pregnancies, medically assisted
procreation, menopause).

Gendered inequalities from work to home
Gender inequality is often coupled with social inequality, with a
vicious circle between job insecurity, living conditions and poor health.

In the care professions, described as essential during the Covid 19
health crisis, we find the salaried sectors where women mainly work. In
these economically and identity-wise disqualified sectors, with low
levels of qualification and low wages, we take care of others and we
make ourselves available for this. These jobs would ultimately be the
so-called natural extension of the social role where women are assigned
to the home.

Because if capitalism benefits from this wage and social devaluation,
men benefit directly from the domestic tasks carried out mainly by
women, but also from the cultural, emotional, sexual and reproductive
work (children and care) associated with it. The mental load linked to
the private sphere is not simply added to professional activity, it
conditions choices. Like paid work, domestic work affects our health,
eats up our spaces, our time and consequently our ability to resist[2].

Demonstration on March 8, 2024 in Strasbourg.
Martin Noda/Hans Lucas
Find time, resist, organize and create something in common
The strike is an important moment because we stop. We stop to discuss,
understand the world around us, meet, organize our collective spaces,
reconnect with common struggles.

In many parts of the world, the extreme right and ultra-liberalism are
advancing, everywhere the effects of climate change are accelerating,
wars are multiplying, the rights of LGBTI people and women are
declining. Trump's United States is one of the most terrifying current
examples. In this context, feminists call for fighting the enslavement,
rejection and hatred that are taking hold because their trivialization
directly threatens our lives[3].

The creation of collective spaces for struggle, self-organization and
international solidarity are our best weapons.

Anne (UCL Montpellier)

PATRIARCHY IN FIGURES
* Women represent 49% of the working population.

* 11% of employed women are affected by a work-related illness.

* Work-related psychological suffering is twice as high among women as
among men.

* 3 out of 5 women report pain related to musculoskeletal disorders.

* 20% of women have suffered at least one act of violence (assault,
harassment, VSS) in the workplace.

* 50% of female workers are confined to 10 underpaid professions known
as feminized.

* They have 40% fewer pensions than men.

* 82% of people working part-time are women.

* The average salary of women is 22% lower than that of men.

*  2/3  of domestic work is done by women.

* 80% of women (mostly over 50, most often racialized and in precarious
situations) work in cleaning professions and are exposed daily to at
least 7 carcinogenic products.

* More than 80% of women work as nurses, care assistants, home helps,
etc. This involves repeatedly carrying loads exceeding the authorized
standard of 25 kg, atypical hours and night work, and high emotional and
organizational demands.

Validate

[1]Lambert, A. and Langlois, L., "Atypical work schedules: low-skilled
women increasingly exposed", Population et sociétés, No. 599, April 2022.

[2]The mental load is "management, organization and planning work that
is intangible, unavoidable and constant, and whose objective is to meet
the needs of each individual and ensure the smooth running of the
residence" (Nicole Brais, Université Laval, Québec).

[3]Refer to the calls of the Grève féministe and the Coordination féministe.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?8-mars-2025-Une-greve-feministe-anticapitaliste-et-antifasciste
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