PEOPLE BEFORE PROFIT HOSTS IS SOCIALIST FEMINISM NECESSARY TODAY?
Published: Wednesday, June 02, 2010
While some on the Left believe that the overthrow of capitalism will automatically bring equality for women, others of us are not so complacent. Many socialist feminists believe women must organise and challenge their organisations from within so that sexism is taken seriously and policies are gender-proofed to make sure they advance our fight for our rights.
Sandra Beyer and Barbel Lange of Die Linke, Germany's anti-capitalist Left party, say: "Our party has the highest percentage of women representatives in German political life at 37.1 per cent. By organising as social feminists and insisting on a quota system, we have helped to make this happen. If we had not organised, this goal would not have been achieved and our party would be worse off."
Sandra and Barbel are members of LISA, Die Linke's socialist action group for women. They will be joined on Thursday, May 27th in the Central Hotel, Dublin, by Ailbhe Smyth of Feminist Open Forum / People Before Profit and Councillors Joan Collins and Brid Smith of PBP to discuss the merits of women on the Left organising within political parties.
It's clear that the strategy of the FF/Green coalition government is to make ordinary workers pay for the current crisis. This means that the most exploited in our society, including women - especially working women - will be hardest hit. Even though we make up half the workforce, we still earn only 80 per cent of a man's wage. Nor does that figure acknowledge the domestic and caring responsibilities that are taken for granted as part of a woman's everyday chores. Equal pay for equal work was a founding demand of the Women's Liberation Movement. Thirty years on that struggle continues.
We need to make our voices heard. But our representation in the Dail, Seanad and judiciary remains at a steady 15 per cent or lower. On urban and city councils we do a little better. The fact remains: we are far too absent from all public debates on how to resolve the economic mess we're in.
Why is that? How can it be rectified? Are quotas helpful in encouraging women to participate more fully in public life? People Before Profit hopes that a look at how women operate within Germany's fourth largest party might provide some insights.
LISA offers Die Linke women members the opportunity to develop, discuss and decide policies autonomously. LISA aims to contribute to the development of socialist alternatives to patriarchal society; to work to abolish discrimination against women; to implement a minimum 50% quota in all party committees and among members of parliament and, finally, to intervene in all political areas of Die Linke. Die Linke, which has about 76,000 members and rising, took 12% of the vote in the 2009 federal elections and in Europe has eight MEPs.
Bärbel Lange has been a spokeswoman for LISA since 2006. She is women's representative for teachers and nursery teachers in Reinickendorf/Berlin and responsible for 2,000 female employees. An active member of the Union of Education and Science (GEW), she represents Berlin on the union's executive board.
Sandra Beyer has been a spokeswomen for LISA from 2008-10. She is currently a member of the joint federal board of Die Linke.
Further inquiries: Therese Caherty 0860704036