We dedicate this letter to working women, farmers, grandmothers, mothers, heads of households, social leaders, who have had to resist in their territories against the advance of armed groups, paramilitaries, guerrillas and criminals, who have stalked their communities, who have not allowed them to live in peace and dignity. Let us remember all those displaced by the armed conflict, especially in Catatumbo, which has displaced more than 50 thousand people andmurdered dozens. To the survivors of Operation Orion, who continue to struggle to find their missing relatives, some of them recently found in La Escombrera de la Comuna 13 in Medellin. We join the strong cry of resistance and memory of Las Cuchas Tienen Razón, with them, until we overthrow this neoliberal and patriarchal capitalist system.

The vulnerable situations experienced by women extend from war zones to our everyday lives regardless of the context. Although capitalism has given us women a level of economic independence that we lacked in previous socioeconomic systems, it did so at the cost of subjecting us to a triple burden – deprivation of rights in the State and society, servitude at home through reproduction, domestic and care tasks, and capitalist exploitation – the latter of which has particular difficulties. On the one hand, the type of work performed and the conditions in which it is carried out; in Colombia at least 700,000 people are engaged in paid domestic work and 94% of this population are women. Of these domestic workers, 60% earn the minimum wage or less, and only 17% have social security, reflecting the high levels of informality in this activity.

This not only affects during the “productive” stage but also has consequences in old age, between 2007 and 2018 the number of non-pensioned women almost doubled the number of men in equivalent condition. These gaps are not only present in social benefits, but in employability itself. Historically, female unemployment is higher than male unemployment and during the so-called government of change there has been no exception. In October 2024, the unemployment rate was 11.2% for women and 7.6% for men, and in March 2023, women workers earned 6.3% less than men [1].

The triple burden is not only a discursive element, it is quantifiable, for example, men work on average 9 paid and 3.1 unpaid hours, while women work 7.6 paid and 7.7 unpaid hours, limiting their educational, political, personal and recreational development [2]. If, in addition to the above, we focus on the cases of women who do not even have economic independence from their nuclear family, as is the case for those who work full time in unpaid domestic and care work, the limitations deepen, impacting their decision making and even preventing them from fleeing in acute situations of violence. In the pandemic, for example, not only did the unemployment rate increase, but also reports of gender-based violence (GBV) and especially of its maximum expression: femicides, worsened.

For their part, trans people face the most severe forms of employment discrimination within the LGBTIQA+ community. Eighty-nine percent of trans women are engaged in sex work, exposed to violence and stigmatization, only 6% are formally employed and 84% are not affiliated with a pension system. Their limited job opportunities are related to education, as they face high school dropout rates: only 32% complete high school and a meager 4% obtain a university degree. In addition, many transgender people are expelled from their homes at an early age, which aggravates their vulnerability [3]. In Colombia, the life expectancy of a trans woman is barely 35 years, an alarming figure that reflects the serious situation of violence and exclusion faced by this community, as it is also the third country in Latin America with the highest rate of trans-feminicides, surpassed by Brazil and Mexico. It is one of the most vulnerable groups in society, with the majority living in precarious socioeconomic conditions, with low income and few formal employment opportunities [3].

It should be noted that the Constitutional Court of Colombia has established important rulings to protect the rights of trans persons, including the right to change their name and sex on identity documents, access to genital reaffirmation processes and the regulation of military status according to gender identity. Although these are legal advances, they are not enough because discrimination and systematic violence against the trans community and women persists.

Despite the current government’s campaign commitments, its actions have been extremely limited. For example, the creation of the Ministry of Equality is a symbolic figure, as is the vice-president who headed it, Francia Márquez, since it has no real budget to execute and much less with suitable professionals, as evidenced by the harassment scandals in their high positions. Likewise, President Petro boasts about “the reduction of the homicide rate in the last two years”, making invisible that during his government, the year with the highest number of femicides in the last two decades passed, even surpassing the pandemic [4]. For their part, local governments apply austerity policies, reducing the budget for attention to GBV and implementing such harmful strategies as the “Cabinas Calma” in Bogotá [5] and the attempted restructuring of the Secretariat of Women in Medellin, which was not only a change of name, but the intention to merge with the Management of Childhood and Adolescence, the Management of Food and Nutritional Security (MANÁ) and the Departmental System of Care [6].

From invisible labor to workers’ resistance

Capitalism transformed production from a system of defined orders and prices, to one of profit accumulation based on infinite
to one of profit accumulation based on infinite production and competition.
competition. In order to increase profits, greater exploitation – long working hours and low wages – is needed
and low wages – and improved technology through mechanization and automation. The most vulnerable women – widows, orphans, homeless women or peasant women fleeing from feudal lords and the pressure of tribute – to avoid prostitution and its punishments, entered wage labor as cheap labor and the bourgeoisie made common the argument that the quality of female labor was inferior to male labor, only to lower costs because they opted to replace men with female labor, demonstrating that the undervaluation of labor was never for biological but economic reasons.

The feminization of poverty arose, which deepened with the division of labor that allowed for partial tasks without the need for professional training.
The feminization of poverty arose, which deepened with the division of labor that allowed partial tasks to be performed without the need for professional training; as the female presence in a branch of industry increased, male salaries in that branch fell. The tensions of competition led to restrictions on female participation in trade unions, necessary for them in the fight against the wage gap, which reached 50%, giving men the role of main household providers and supervisors of women’s paid and unpaid work, strengthening power relations and the idea of ownership over them. Violence was normalized as a “legally justified” punishment for any offense against the husband or the family.

With automation, many women were displaced to male-dominated sectors, forcing them to become more specialized and trained.
and forced them to specialize and become more highly trained. At the same time, the reduction in male wages forced more women to work, consolidating their role in production, which began to be socially recognized until they were admitted into proletarian organizations, where with the organized and articulated struggle with the men of the working class, they conquered some advances to reduce the wage gap in the most developed capitalist states of the nineteenth century. By gaining labor rights, marriage ceased to be the institution that guaranteed their only source of livelihood. Even so, violence against women and sexual dissidence persists and deepens with each crisis of capital, as does the risk of losing the rights won.

8M was not born of fire. It was born of revolution!

The commemoration of 8M arises from the socialist militancy of revolutionary women of the twentieth century, a history that the bourgeoisie and reformist feminism have wanted to erase. In 1908, the Socialist Party of America proposed the National Women’s Day, celebrated on February 28, 1909 in the U.S. to promote women’s suffrage. A year later, at the Second International Conference of Socialist Women in Copenhagen, Clara Zetkin proposed establishing the “International Working Women’s Day” to fight not only for suffrage but to unify the working class struggle and win women’s emancipation, which was unanimously approved by delegates from 17 countries. On March 19, 1911, it was commemorated for the first time in Germany, Austria, Denmark and Switzerland. A few days later, on March 25, the Triangle factory fire in New York claimed the lives of 123 women and 23 men. Finally, March 8 was established as the official date, commemorating both the first protest by women textile workers in 1857 to demand equal pay with their fellow workers, and in honor of the victims of the Triangle factory.

“The life of men and women is so cheap and property is so sacred“

-Rose Schneiderman, socialist and feminist activist.

The equality of women and corpo-sexogenic dissidence, trampled on for centuries, can be reconquered only in joint struggle with the entire working class for their rights and for the constitution of the proletariat. The socialist form of production, which calls upon all women to take part in productive labor, is already a firm foundation for their total liberation in the future. To this end, we propose:

• Against the wage gap and labor discrimination: full equality in the workplace, equal pay for equal work; that it be dignified, without precariousness or labor flexibility.
• Implementation of programs with a differential approach to guarantee employment and labor inclusion, with emphasis on the trans labor quota.
• Dismantling of trafficking and pimping networks with guarantees of genuine employment for the migrant population and for those who wish to leave prostitution, with full rights and access to social benefits.
• Full guarantees for desired maternity: day care centers at work or study sites.
• The right to a double school day for children where artistic, cultural, sports and scientific spaces are provided by the State. Opening of kindergartens, canteens and public laundries to socialize domestic and care work.
• Universal access to public, secular and scientific education from early childhood through higher education regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
• Suppression of state subsidies and privileges to religious institutions for their repressive role in the autonomy of women and sexual and gender diversity.
• Comprehensive sex education with a gender and diversity perspective from early childhood to deconstruct gender roles and stereotypes.
• For the right to decide: total decriminalization of abortion with free, legal, safe and free access. As well as the production and public distribution of contraceptives and abortifacient drugs, and universal and free access to them.
• Public health system without financial intermediation (EPS) with a gender focus that guarantees universal access to health care without discrimination, including free coverage for hormone treatment and surgeries for transgender people.
• Against revictimization in health services and institutions responsible for the routes of Gender-Based Violence (GBV): comprehensive care without prejudice or institutional violence for victims of psychological, physical, sexual and other forms of violence.
• Budget control by the organizations of our class and the popular sectors for the attention of GBV to guarantee decent salaries, sufficient and suitable personnel with national coverage, and strategies that protect victims and complainants, as well as shelters for them and those who depend on them.
• Dismissal of officials who cover up and protect rapists and femicides.
• Election by popular vote and revocable mandates of judges and prosecutors that contemplate the obligation of training with a gender perspective to address GBV cases.

–Uníos, Colombia.

References:

1. Vanguard (2024) Campaign to promote the rights of domestic workers. [Online].
   Available at.
   https://www.vanguardia.com/economia/2024/06/21/campana-para-promover-los-derechos-de-lastrabajadoras-domesticas/
2. UN Women (2024) UN Women and DANE present the third edition of the study Women and Men: Gender Gaps in Colombia, showing persistent inequalities in the country. [Online].
   Available at https://colombia.unwomen.org/es/stories/noticia/2024/11/onu-mujeres-y-el-danepresentan-la-tercera-edicion-del-estudio-mujeres-y-hombres-brechas-de-genero-en-colombiaevidenciando-persistentes-desigualdades-en-el-pais
3. Secretaría Distrital de Planeación Alcaldía Mayor de Bogotá (2022) Diagnosis and recommendations for labor inclusion of LGBTI social sectors. [PDF] Available at
   https://www.sdp.gov.co/sites/default/files/diagnostico_recomendaciones_inclusion_laboral_sectores_sociales_lgbti.pdf
4. UN Women (2024) In Focus. [Online] Available at https://colombia.unwomen.org/es/noticias-yeventos/en-la-mira/unete
5. Santiago Cifuentes Quintero (2024) Controversy over Cabina Calma announced by the Mayor’s Office of Bogota “for men to unburden and manage their emotions”: it will be installed in a shopping center where a feminicide was perpetrated [Online] Available at
   https://www.infobae.com/colombia/2024/08/01/polemica-por-cabina-calma-que-anuncio-la-alcaldia-debogota-para-que-los-hombres-desahoguen-y-manejen-sus-emociones-la-instalaran-en-centrocomercial-donde-se-perpetro-un-feminicidio/
6. Laura Rosa Jiménez Valencia (2024) Women’s collectives reject the restructuring announced by the Government of Antioquia. [Online] Available at
   https://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/medellin/colectivos-de-mujeres-rechazan-la-reestructuracionanunciada-por-la-gobernacion-de-antioquia-3361078
7. Alexandra Kollontai (1921) Woman in social development. [Online] Available at
   https://proletarios.org/books/Kollontai-La_mujer_en_el_desarrollo_social.pdf
8. UNÍOS (2023) The true story of 8M. [Video] Available at
   https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cpgu1KDvYmI/
9. Juan Ignacio Cortés (2023) Triangle Shirtwaist: the fire that advanced the recognition of women’s rights. [Online] Available at
   https://www.es.amnesty.org/en-que-estamos/blog/historia/articulo/triangle-shirtwaist-derechos-de-lamujer/