India: Kerala’s Women Workers Have Won the ‘Right to Sit’, But Their Struggle Is Far From Over

by Muhammed Sabith

The WireThe Wire | January 14, 2019

Representative image. Credit: Reuters

Kannur: “We now have more stools in the shop than we really need,” a saleswoman at a prominent textile shop in Kannur said in response to how the new labour law passed by the Kerala assembly has changed her workplace environment.

The Kerala Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Act, 2018, which was passed in December, guarantees improved working conditions in commercial shops.

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620 KM Long Women’s Wall of Kerala Challenges Brahmanical Patriarchy

Countercurrents.org | January 01, 2019

About 3-5 million women formed a wall across Kerala to protect to protect Kerala’s renaissance values and for women empowerment. About three million women stood shoulder to shoulder across Kerala and formed 620 KM “wall” from Thiruvananthapuram to the northern district of Kasaragod. They also pledged to protec the renaissance values of Kerala. The wall was organised against the backdrop of the Supreme Court verdict on Sabarimala temple entry of menstruating women.

Climate Change Hurts Women More but They Don’t Get to Make Decisions About It

The Wire | December 20, 2018

People leave the venue on the final day of the COP24 U.N. Climate Change Conference 2018 in Katowice, Poland, December 14, 2018. Credit: Reuters/Kacper Pempel

New Delhi: Who gets to decide how governments across the world will tackle climate change? Surprise surprise: it’s not the section of people who will be most affected by it.

Numerous studies have shown that women are disproportionately affected by climate-related changes. But at COP24 – like previous United Nations’ conferences on climate change – women aren’t the ones calling the shots. According to a report in Earther, the average delegation was 63% male and 37% female. This is similar to last year’s COP, when delegations on average also had 37% women.

The Voices of Amazon Women and a Visionary Declaration to Protect Indigenous Lands

by Osprey Orielle Lake

Common Dreams | November 18, 2018

“We are connected to the spirit of the jungle through dreams,” says Narcisa Gualinga, pictured. “But when there is contamination, this connection is lost and the spirits die. Without them, we cannot be well, our children and future generations will no longer have this life. This was taught to us by our ancestors and we have passed this on to our children, who are now taking on this work through this proposal.” (Photo: Sophie Pinchetti)

As we face the daunting reality of the climate crisis unraveling all around us, including the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which warns that we only have a dozen years remaining to radically change our current trajectory to prevent disastrous ecological and social harms, there is a shimmer of light and hope radiating out from the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon sparked by the Kichwa People of Sarayaku.

South Korea: After 12 Years of Protests, Women Workers Get ‘Dream Jobs’ Back

Labor Notes | August 02, 2018

After 12 years of campaigning against unjust layoffs, 180 female attendants at South Korea’s premier train service are getting their jobs back, having defeated a ham-handed privatization effort and corrupt political collusion. Photo: Labor and the World

After 12 years of campaigns and protests against unjust layoffs, 180 female attendants at South Korea’s premier train service are getting their jobs back. These tenacious women workers defeated a ham-handed privatization effort and corrupt political collusion.

The KTX is South Korea’s answer to bullet trains. The country’s Railroad Administration launched it in 2004 and selected 351 female attendants, all in their twenties, from a pool of 4,600 applicants who dreamed of becoming “flight attendants on the ground.”

Football World Cup: Sexism in British Punditry Is More Visible Than Ever

by Kath Woodward

The Wire | June 30, 2018

Eniola Aluko )second from left) is a key player in the England national team. Credit: Wikimedia Commons CC BY 2.0

For the first time in UK football punditry, both the BBC and ITV have hired women to offer analyses and commentate at the men’s World Cup. It is also the World Cup that has given a clear glimpse into the reality of everyday sexism. Already, male pundits have been accused of patronising, being condescending and using sexist language on air. Meanwhile, a male ex-footballer has complained about women being employed for commentating because of the “pitch” of their voices.

Engels and women’s oppression

by Ariane Diaz

Left Voice  | April 23, 2018

Image by Lewis Wickes Hine

“The following chapters are, in a certain sense, the execution of a bequest” (1).

That is how Engels begins his book The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, published in 1884. After Marx’s death the previous year, Engels had taken up the task of developing and organizing part of Marx’s unfinished and unpublished work – much of which had been written in collaboration with Engels.