اقدام مشترک تشکل های مستقل زنان ایرانی به مناسبت ۸ مارس روز جهانی زنان

 

Press Release

March 5, 2021

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The Collective Action of Iranian Women’s Independent Organizations in Commemoration of March 8th, International Women’s Day

We, twenty-three Iranian women’s organizations in Diasporas, stand together while maintaining our independent group’s identity, to show our solidarity with women of Iran and around the world in the plight for gender equality on March 8th, International Women’s Day. We proudly declare that we support of the achievements by Iranian women and for having accomplished unimaginable feats of courage and fortitude, and that women are at the forefront of all social struggles in Iran today. We collectively express our determination to change power relations and to seek reparations for the harms that Iranian women have endured, more than ever in the past four decades.

One hundred and eleven years have passed since the 1910 International Socialist Women’s Conference in Copenhagen. The conference was attended by 100 people from 17 countries and unanimously approved Clara Zetkin’s proposal for International Women’s Day. Following in their footsteps, the UN General Assembly finally recognized March 8th as International Women’s Day in 1977.

As we begin the third decade of the 21st century, two billion seven hundred million women in the world still do not have equal rights, despite the progress and achievements that have been made as a result of women’s struggles for political, economic, social, and sexual-gender equal rights. One in three women experiences violence during their lifetime. Women receive 23 percent less pay than men for equal work. And in only 21 out of 130 countries in the world, women hold leadership positions. March 8th is the day when women around the world, regardless of dissimilarity, declare their determination for an equal world and complete elimination of gender-based oppression in the patriarchal system. The women of the world stand up on this day to continue the struggle with empathy, solidarity and like-mindedness as half of human society, relying on their achievements and ascents in the fight against religious extremism, political Islam, neo-liberal policies and right-wing forces

The COVID-19 Pandemic and its aftermath have increased the systematic, structural, and discriminating economic, gender, and racial barriers. Women around the world have experienced more violence in the private sphere than ever before, their unpaid workload has increased, and unemployment and poverty have gripped them more. Although women are a major force at the forefront of countering the COVID Pandemic and providing services, they have had and continue to have little opportunity in addressing its broader aspects in national and international policymaking. Hence, the United Nations’ theme for March 8th, 2021 is “Women in Leadership, Achieving an Equal Future in the COVID Era.”

Despite political obstacles, Iranian women have persistently commemorated March 8th for nearly a hundred years. From the formation of the Peyke Saadat Nesvan in Rasht in 1921 to the demonstrations of women against compulsory hijab; in prison and on the streets, Iranian women are celebrating this day in solidarity with women around the world, renewing their commitment to combat gender-based oppression. On March 8th, we stand with the powerful women of Iran and we pride ourselves on women’s persistence amidst the struggles. We, feminists, egalitarians, and women’s human rights advocates pledge on March 8th to uphold the achievements of women’s struggles over the past hundred years and object to sexual-gender oppression, backwardness, and oppression on the basis of nationality, ethnicity, race, and economic / class standing. We are independent and diverse women organizations with a collective will, serving as an “unstoppable current” that will not rest until women’s legal, social and political desires and demands are met; until violence against Iranian women in the private and public spheres ends; until all women prisoners are released, and the poverty women face is eradicated.

Facebook page & Live Broadcast:   Collective Action of Indep. Iranian Women

Youtube: Live Broadcasting https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCa48JJ4pcpCpavJySkW-Vrg

The event will start @ 9:00 AM PST on March 8th

Instagram & Live Broadcast:  collectiveaction_march8

Hashtags:  In Persian and translation in English.  We are asking the feminist, human rights activist, progressive people to write something in their hand and post their picture with these hashtags as our promotional video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nrfVpIdhRdY

#باهم_برای_برابری

#کف_مطالبات_زنان

#Together4Equality

#WomensDemand

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