We fight back for the world and our lives!
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The 8th March is International Women’s Day. For us, this is one of the most important days to draw attention to the situation of women* worldwide, and to the rights already won by feminist pioneers. On this day, we take to the streets to stand up for our rights, to demand an equal life and a change in society. There are more than enough reasons to take to the streets, to be angry and loud and to fight against oppression.
From the day they are born, women are conditioned for their future lives. While boys build sandcastles, girls learn how to use sand moulds to bake cakes in the sandpit. A gender-orientated upbringing shapes childhood, puberty, and adult life. The girl in need of protection and the male bully correspond to the patriarchal collective memory that women have been trained in since childhood.
An unsafe place – the home!
In marriage and through relationships, many women are led into financial dependence. 19 % of 30 to 50-year-old women do not earn their own salary. 63 % earn less than 1,000 euros net per month, as they often work part-time and in low-paid jobs. The financial dependency is enormous and has a significant impact on power structures within relationships and in society as a whole. To compensate for the man’s wage, women are expected to: take over household tasks, solve problems and empathise with family members, organise leisure time and remember to get grandmother’s birthday present. Men rely on their female partner to provide them with relaxation, a feeling of security, closeness, sex. Men and other family members consume and expect these skills.
The separation of house and care work from paid employment is deliberate in our patriarchal and capitalist system. Because that is the only way the system can work. It is built on the idea that women stay at home with the children – and do so free of charge. The resulting financial dependence on the husband means that the wife is discouraged from leaving him. Above all, it is the home that clearly shows the connection between these dangerous structures.
Because this supposedly safe place is characterised by power structures.
Out of an economic dominance and rusting role models, men develop a feeling of power that becomes clear in the way they treat and respect women. The place that is supposedly a safe haven is for many women one of the most dangerous places in their lives. The home becomes a place for violence against women. Statistically, every 1 in 4 women has experienced violence from her partner or ex-partner at some point in her life. The interconnectedness of patriarchal and capitalist oppression is the origin of this evil. Patriarchal ideas that cement women as victims, passive and weak go hand in hand with capitalist oppression. Lower paid, so-called women’s jobs, or financial dependency due to unpaid care work for children or relatives, perpetuate each other.
So, it is time to break up this collusion!
Whether as a mother or as a girl, whether as a black or white woman, as a migrant, trans-woman, whether in the caring profession or as a self-employed person: we have a right to integrity, and it is important to strengthen awareness of this. We must question the structures and conditions in which we live and get to the root of the problem.
Why and for what are we striking?
In order to counteract these conditions, we have to unite and resist being made to feel small or even invisible. We want to create spaces where there are no gender hierarchies, where women dare, and even are called upon, to speak up. We want to experience a safe environment, where women feel encouraged to leave their comfort zone and grow from it.
In order to fight back for our spaces, it is important to be visible – so we want to occupy public space on 8 March and strike together, because we will not accept the current situation for women anymore. We want to show solidarity with other women and stand together against the conditions that oppress us. We don’t want to worry about the household or the worries of others on this day – we are fed up with the conditions in which we live and want to change them.
If you are also angry about this, come and strike with us!
IF WOMEN SO DESIRE, EVERYTHING GOES ON THE FIRE!
*We use the word woman/women for people who identify as female, or who are read by society as female and therefore have had similar experiences.
Dates 8 March 2022:
12:00-16:00 Women’s strike pavilion in front of REWE at Ostendplatz (Jakob-Holzinger-Gasse) with information material, hands-on activities and speeches
12:00-13:00 Feminist-strike lunch break: Come by and spend your lunch break with us over good conversations, snacks and drinks.
15:30 Chair strike: Feel free to bring a seat and let’s get loud together. Bring a symbol of why you are striking today: a saucepan, a diary, a shopping list, laundry, etc.
2 April 2022 19:00
Women’s pub night with an introduction from the Women’s Collective Stuttgart (location: Gasparitsch centre)
