Workers Party Women on the march and Rally in Belfast on International Women’s Day
Ursula Meighan chairperson of the Workers Party Women’s Committee said today after the rally we marched today not to celebrate but to protest that women’s rights are still not recognised as human rights.
Women are worse off today than they were decades ago. Every right that they fought hard to achieve is being eroded. Women have suffered the brunt of the financial crisis, they have carried the burden of the pandemic. They have suffered because of the crisis in the Health Service. The program for Government has offered nothing tangible for women. They are being given nothing but empty promises.
Ursula continued the program for Government finally agreed by the executive parties offers nothing for women but promises which have been given before and not delivered on. No thirty hours free childcare places like the rest of the United Kingdom, No real funded initiatives on tackling Violence Against Women and girls. No Anti-Poverty Strategy than was promised two decades ago. No Bill of Rights that was agreed as part of the Good Friday Agreement.
No real commitment to the establishment of a real living wage and the end of zero hours contracts and no end to precarious employment. No real commitment on affordable childcare that would allow more women to enter the workforce.
No change to the privatisation of Health and social care services, that disproportionately affects women and largely working class women. No strategy to tackle the gender pay-gap, and no plans to address the benefits system that leaves working class women struggling to feed and provide clothing for their families. No acknowledgement that women carry the burden and responsibility for childcare, eldercare and everything else in between.
Women deserve more than a glossy document that talks about plans to create more plan, they are tired of the never ending paralysis by analysis, women know what is wrong with their lives and they are tired of smiling photos calls.
Ursula concluded we walked the walk to day to protest their neglect, we now demand that they stop talking the talk and start walking the walk. We want real meaningful change and we are prepared to fight until our political leaders deliver on their promises, we want deeds not words, we want actions not promises.