The Struggle for Women's Rights and the Trade Union Movement
The largest International Women's Day demonstration in stage of feminist radicalisation among working women and
Europe took place in Belgium on March 6, 1982. It brought to- stimulated far-reaching debates on tactics and strategy within gether women from the women's movement with wide layers of the women's movement, particularly on the question of what the trade union movement around a common set of demands. alliances to forge in the struggle for women's rights.
This marks an important new stage in the development of the Under the impact of the initiatives of the women's movestruggle for women's rights and their eventual liberation we look ment the labour movement was forced to adopt policies and then to take action for women's rights. Some notable successes
The effects of the economic crisis in Europe have fallen
The attempt by the bosses to in calling a demonstration against proposed anti-abortion legislamake the working class pay with its jobs and living standards for tion, became the first national trade union federation in the the capitalist crisis has threatened to reverse the gains won by world to call a mass national demonstration in defence of
From the late 1960s a new wave of feminist radicalisation The fightback of the workers movement against the ausdeveloped throughout the advanced capitalist countries which terity measures of the bosses has been forced to take up the permeated every layer of society. Increasingly the demands and specific defence of women's rights as workers. Increasingly it is actions of this new women's movement became intertwined becoming obvious that the workers movement cannot defend itwith those of the labour movement as feminist activists became self unless it defends the interests of all the most vulnerable militants of the trade unions and mass parties of the working
These three articles look at how this process is developing
This process had important effects. It engendered a new to a greater or lesser extent in Belgium, France, and Britain.
was ended by a cross- sectoral agreement motes family life'.
to see carried forward elsewhere.
particularly heavily on women.
women over the last twelve years.
by Ida DEQUEECKER groups within it.
For example, in 1979 the British TUC,
Twelve thousand women demons- emerged from the elections of November strated for International Women's Day on Saturday March 6 in Brussels. The demonstration was organised by the co-ordinating committee Women against the group brings together groups from the autonomous women's nist groups known as 'Fem-Soc' cafes, women's centres, battered women's refuges, etc.) with women's organisations from the two main trade-union federasocialist General Federation of Belgium (FGTB-ABVV) and the Christian Democrat trade-union federation (CSC-ACV). Also involved are women's sections of the Socialist Parties, the LRT-RAL and JGS-SJW(Belgian section of the Fourth International
The two demonstrations 'Women against the Crisis' for International Women's Day in 1981 and 1982 took place in the context of increasing opposition to the austerity policies of the government and the employers. These austerity policies have been significantly stepped up since Autumn 1981. They combine a general attack on wages and social security with measures that particularly more vulnerable social groups such women, youth, and immigrants. Democrat government wanted to impose a freeze on all wages. Two measures particularly affected women. change in the rules of unemployment in February 1981 in which the two main trades unions agreed to accept a partial wage freeze for two years.
The first 'Women against the Crisis' demonstration on March 7, 1981, mobilised 7,000 people. Even though it was the product of the struggle of the whole labour movement, it was unable to win any broader support for the specific demands of women. to the fact that the Catholic trade-union federation, the CSC-ACV, did not parbecause demands on abortion were included in the platform. But the underlying reason was that the reformist trade-union movement does not in practice take up women's demands, and the trade-union bureaucracy looks askance at autonomous women's mobilisations. The and its youth organisation) and the Bel- benefit to create a new category of 'cogian Communist Party and the Workers Party which is Mao-Stalinist. In addition are the women's sections of the two trade-union mutual benefit societies.
The platform for the demonstration demanded the right to work, the right to unemployment benefit, the maintenance of buying power, and women's economic independence. It was openly opposed to the Liberal-Christian Democrat government's policy of cutting social spending; taking up such slogans as 'Keep the index' (the automatic linking of wages to the price index), 'No to discrimination against women', 'Down with the Martens government'.
The weight of the labour movement within the demonstration was striking compared with the previous year when the women's groups had been the dominant element. Thus, the demonstration was clearly within the framework of the mobilisation against habitants' (someone living with someone else who has a job). Such 'cohabitants' have a reduced right to unemployment
Secondly, there was an adjustment in the procedures relating to longterm unemployed aimed at depriving them of their right to unemployment
The majority of unemployed women are of course 'cohabitants'. the majority of the long-term unemployed just happen to be women as well.
Today 78,151 women have been unemployed for more than three years, compared to 28,397 men. change in the rules regarding benefits for the long-term unemployed 9,000 women and 400 men were deprived of their unemployment benefits in 1981.
Only women put up any real resistance to these measures. The opposition of the workers movement to wage cuts (the FGTB organised a rally of 100,000 in Brussels on January 24, 1981)
Social-Democratic leadership FTB fought to the last minute against the participation of the FGTB women's commissions in this demonstration. Their case was helped by the fact that the CSC did not participate.
The Liberal-Christian Democrat government, which came to power in November 1981, took 'special powers' to lower wages through attacking the automatic indexing of wages to prices and devaluing the Belgian franc. Another of its targets was social security. These measures hit women twice. ther reduction of unemployment benefit for 'cohabitants', and social security was cut down on the basis of the composition household--which strongly resembles the introduction of a "means-test'. In addition, they encouraged the extension of part-time work in both the public service and the private
The justification of these measures is that they are 'a policy that pro
1,004,720. Today women are 36% of the only just begun to rise faster than that
The governmental measures, combined with the attacks of the bosses against wages and jobs, met once more with resistance from the workers movement. However this resistance has been fragmentary, developing unevenly in Flanders and the Walloon country. This fragmentation is a product of the divisive policies of the Flemish Catholic labour federation, which is linked to the governmental Christian Democrat party. It has rejected common action with the FGTB. union struggle that the bureaucracy has only organised action to get into negotiations and it is ready to accept austerity alongside the government and bosses. But it has not offered any perspective to the workers struggles that have erupted since the beginning of 1981 and which have already involved conflicts with the line of the bureaucracy.
workforce. More and more women base their expectations on getting jobs, being independent, and running their own lives.
This deep-seated women have a right to economic independence was shown notably by the fact that the women of the Christian Democrat
CSC, who are traditionally by the notion that 'women's place is in the home', stated at press conference for the March 6 demonstration: Women will no longer accept being pushed into a position of deon their husbands....Economic independence is a precondition for the equal treatment of
In Belgium, as in all advanced capitalist countries, a new wave of radicalisation among women developed during the
This was part of the worldwide social crisis that opened up in 1968. This new autonomous women's movement detor women. Today the total unemployed stands at 450,000. Women are much more likely to have their right to unemployment benefit removed. There are now five job vacancies for every 100 unemployed. From June 1980 to June 1981 the number of job vacancies went down by 80,000. There is no hiring, and even the Minister of Labour cannot pretend
'One cannot be very optimistic about the creation of jobs in the classical sense. There will always be a greater demand for work than can be met. This is because, among other factors, women are increasingly presenting themselves in the labour market?
Thus, radicalisation is developing in a new layer of working and trade union
They see their gains being attacked, and that the response of the trade unions is inadequate. In some instances, for example in the big shops, the unions even share responsibility for the discrim-
This division in the trade unions gives the government ample room to pur- movement through women's centres, sue its policies. Therefore unity in action remains a central question which is decisive for the outcome for all struggles and veloped outside the organised workers women's cafes, battered women's refuges,
But a socialist feminist current also developed, "Fem-Soc'.
Although today inatory measures against women, like part-time work.
The trade-union bureaucracy, with the limited actions that they organise, do these groups lack perspectives they con- not offer even the shadow of a perspecdemands.
AVERTEMENT HORS DU CONE PENAL
HANS LIT HET STRAFREEHT
KENEBIL
The demand for abortion remains a major debate in Belgium (DR)
The Women against the Crisis' mobilisation this year reflected this complex the crisis they will stagnate without the sation for women is as high as that for character of the workers resistance to support of women from the workers men-around 80 per cent.
austerity. There is a growing radicalisation of women, and a desire to struggle.
This led to the formation of a united front of women from the FTB and CSC, which was completely supported by the national leaderships of the two unions.
Indeed, the General Secretary of the
FGTB-ABVV, Debunne, attended the demonstration. The declaration for the demonstration clearly stated that women's demands are an integral part of the workers
But despite this struggles.
women's struggles remain relatively isolated, partly due to the scattered patterns of social struggles.
Women's realisation growing their situation is the product of a number of factors.
The objective material base is the rise in the number of women in paid
In 1971, some 928,905 employment.
women worked, making up 31% of the workforce. In 1979, despite the economic crisis, this number had risen to more than
8 tinue to grow. But under the weight of
Nonetheless, it is the activities and initiatives of the women's movement, which often have a broad impact, that have allowed feminist ideas to permeate every level of society. For the last ten years a Women's Day has taken place in Belgium on November 11, which brings together women from all parties and
The economic crisis has brought relief the contradiction tween feminist objectives that the establishment claims to support (with laws like the law on equality of treatment at the actual situation of One of the first and most obvious consequences of the crisis is the rise in female unemployment. Of those totally unemployed 255,992 were women and 173,461, men. The rate of unemployment for men has tive for women. Yet the rate of unioni-
There exists therefore a layer of women throughout the unions ready to get involved in actions around their specific interests; a layer of young feminist women, women who have trade union posts. Within the FGTB, although the women's commissions have only a consultative role, they have number; and every proposal to establish a new one is immediately successful. women, who have better structures for organising activity, who are radicalising
At present, this layer of women in the unions looks to forces outside the workers movement to take initiatives, in particular to the socialist feminist current 'Fem-Soc', in which the revolutionary Marxists, the LRT-RAL (Belgian section of the Fourth International), are active. Moreover, it is this current who have initiated the unified actions of the last three years, which have been the culminating
women from the Brussels Socialist Party federation refused to sign the appeal because the demand on abortion was not in-
Victory on the abortion question requires a battle for the political independence of the Catholic workers movement which is linked politically and ideologically to the Christian (CVP-PSC) -the biggest party in Belgium.
Women against the Crisis' demonstration the slogan
TEGEN DE CONTRE LA
KRISIS CRISE tion out of the Penal Code' was widely taken up, with the agreement of all the sponsoring organisations, although it was important as a number of court cases on the question are in progress, after a de facto suspension of criminal prosecution for a number of years. Abortion is automatically penalised in Belgium. A proposal to suspend all cases for two years was recently rejected by the Chamber of Representatives.
The existing platform of 'Women against the Crisis' lays out an almost com-
Belgian 'Women against the Crisis' demonstration (DR) points of the women's struggle in Belgium. Two days before the March 6 demonstration this year the daily newspaper De Morgen quoted the spokeswoman of the FGTB women's commission as saying: We have everything to gain from collaboration between the FTB and the socialist feminist groups?
UNITY DOES NOT FALL FROM THE SKY The impact of the dramatic sharpening of austerity policies, under the pressure of the deepening crisis, has created the conditions for these unified initiatives. One of the factors in their success has been that they seek to involve women from both the main trade unions.
The original manifesto of 'Women against the Crisis' contained the demand for abortion to be decriminalised. placed a barrier in the way of involving women from the Catholie trade unions, despite their willingness to become involved in these initiatives in action directed against government policy.
This lesson was learnt 1981 International Women's Day demon-
The new manifesto no longer contains the demand on abortion. However, this entailed a long debate with the radical feminist current who did not want to 'sacrifice' a women's demand for the sake of unity, which they thought overthe struggle against effects of the economic crisis.
plete set of demands relating to women. It will be appropriate for the foreseeable future and will lay the basis for further
PERSPECTIVES The demonstration on March 6, 1982, was the biggest women's demonstration in Belgium for at least ten years. Decisive new forces, those from the workers movement, are being won to the strug. gle for women's rights. They already con stitute the most powerful mobilising force. Another important gain is that the two main trade unions have formally signed a platform of women's demands, which is the first step in a fight to force them to act on this commitment.
A perspective for future actions on this platform now exists. Certainly the
This has only happened as the result of a political battle in which the socialist feminist groups and the LRT-RAL have played a question to exclude the CSC-ACV. The policy in the very near future.
against the sectarianism of the Social
Democrat-dominated trade unions, where there was a tendency to use the abortion women who participated in the March 6 demonstration saw it that way.
We can expect further actions against government central role.