Since the collapse of the Soviet bloc, the worker’s movement has received a severe blow and with it the struggle for women’s rights has been weakened.

Yet now it is more important than ever that the struggle for women’s political and social rights is highlighted and evaluated. Never before have women participated in the labour market in such huge numbers.

International Women’s Day should be a holiday, so we can celebrate and review the progress and set backs in our fight.

Unlike Christmas or Easter, which come from superstition, March 8 is rooted in the working class movement and real human struggle. This day was chosen to commemorate a demonstration by women workers at aNew Yorkclothing factory in 1907, which was violently crushed by police.

It is a shame that many people are unaware of this day, but I think if Women’s Day was a holiday, more people would remember it and celebrate it. A day of demonstration and events to promote women’s rights would be an effective method to raise the consciousness and organization of our sisters.

Gender inequalities in the western nations may seem less visible than those ofAfghanistanandIran- where women have almost no rights and are being stoned for sexual misconduct.

Many would like us to believe that women have achieved equality with men in here, but significant inequality continues to go on under our noses. According to the Statistics on the Structure of Earnings (SSE), the average earnings of women working full-time in industry and services in the EU were only around 75% of those of men in 1995.

As long as capitalism exists, so will patriarchy and all forms of chauvinism. Let International Women’s day remind us of the struggles of the past so as to inspire us in the struggle to end all forms of exploitation and oppression, for socialism and communism.

Josef Rebwar;Thursday, 4 March 2004,Gothenburg,Sweden.