FIGHTING THE BACKLASH AGAINST WOMEN’S RIGHTS

From the dismantling of Roe v Wade in the US, which saw the removal of abortion rights from millions of women, to the mass movement in Iran following the murder of Mahsa Amini by the ‘morality police’, a movement which could have brought down the corrupt government. There are many examples of attacks on women and women’s rights being met with protests and resistance.

Here in Britain, when a woman was jailed for taking abortion pills after the legal limit, the anger was palpable. The woman was then released on appeal. This shows that the establishment fears a new generation of women beginning to fight for their rights.

FIGHTING TORY AUSTERITY

Today working-class people across the country are struggling from the cost-of-living crisis, from low pay and growing debt. This includes millions of women who are more likely to have childcare responsibilities and be in low-paid or precarious work. For students, even the highest level of student loans won’t cover the average rents. So how exactly are we supposed to make ends meet?

Tory austerity has seen the gap between the richest and the poorest in society grow. At the same time they have whipped up division as political cover for their disastrous policies. Back in 2011 when they trebled tuition fees to £9k, the Tory universities minister said that women were to blame for working-class men not being able to attend university!

Yet actually it has been Tory policies that has put a decent education out of the grasp of millions. We are crammed into overcrowded campuses; our staff are run ragged and there is little to no extra support. This is the real impact of Tory cuts in education.

University management can’t be trusted. Students and university workers need democratic oversight over all policies relating to sexual misconduct and violence to ensure they are fit for purpose and properly enforced. This would also show that sexism and violence will be properly dealt with and help challenge attitudes on campus.

A STARMER GOVERNMENT

There has to be a general election called this year, which Labour leader Keir Starmer is likely to ‘win’. We say ‘win’ because while he will most likely be the next prime minister, this doesn’t mean that working-class, young people or students have any faith that a Starmer-led government will stand up for us.

In fact, growing layers of big business are moving from supporting the Tories to supporting Starmer’s Labour because they think a Starmer government will help them grow their profits with low taxes and privatisation.

But no government can serve the interests of the rich and big business while also supporting working-class, young people and poor students, so a Starmer government will continue to attack the living standards of ordinary people in this country and internationally. That’s why we need our own independent voice, a new mass political party, which actually represents the interests of workers, young people and students.

FIGHTING SEXISM

Starmer’s government will offer no route to genuinely challenge sexism or the falling living standards of millions of people, mainly women. He says his government will “halve violence against women and girls”. But this is an empty pledge for a government which is sidling up to big business. The best way to fight for the movement needed to challenge capitalism is by getting organised on campus, including around a programme to improve students’ conditions and oppose sexual harassment.

We call for proper street lighting as well as free public transport so that students can go out and get home safely. There are far too many examples of university managements putting their interests before students, who have reported incidents of sexual harassment. We say they can’t be trusted to oversee this process. Instead, students and university workers need democratic oversight over all polices relating to sexual misconduct and violence to ensure they are fit for purpose and properly enforced. This would also show that sexism and violence will be properly dealt with and help challenge attitudes on campus.

But fighting these ideas on campus is not enough. They are perpetuated across society by institutions,
corporations, and the capitalism system. To seriously challenge sexist ideas would mean building a movement against the capitalism system which is fundamentally unequal. Capitalism is underpinned by sexism, oppression and exploitation.

Therefore, we have to build a movement that can fight to take the wealth and power out of the hands of the rich and the elites. It will only be under a democratic socialist plan of production that the material basis for sexism can be removed and all of the ideas and attitudes that go with it can be properly challenged.