March 8th is International Women’s Day. It was founded by socialists over one hundred years ago as a day of campaigning for the rights of all women – for decent working conditions, for a political voice, and for a life free from sexism and exploitation.
In 2025, this fight is still going on. 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’, there are many recent examples of attacks on women being met with protests and resistance.
Socialist Students is campaigning for socialist ideas to build a united mass movement that can fight back against all attacks on women’s rights, and put an end to sexism and violence against women for good.
End sexism and violence against women on campus
Reports consistently show that around three quarters of women students experience sexual violence while at university. The numbers are similar for colleges and sixth forms. Many victims are forced to take measures such as skipping lectures, changing course modules, or even dropping out of study to avoid their attacker.
The majority of sexual assaults take place on our campuses. On top of this, the rising cost of living and inadequate maintenance support force working-class students especially to take part-time jobs alongside their studies. Many have to work in the night-time economy, forced to make their way home after work in the dark, alone. Sexist harassment is rife in industries like hospitality, where a big proportion of women students work.
Yet universities are doing far too little to end the problem of sexism and violence against women. Only 2% of students experiencing sexual violence feel both able to report it to their university and are satisfied with the reporting process. Clearly we can have no faith in unaccountable university managements to protect students.
Students’ unions and trade unions must organise and campaign against sexual harassment in workplaces, including schools, colleges and universities. Introduce democratically elected committees comprising students and staff to investigate all reports of sexual assault and sexist abuse.
Fight back with funding and free education
As successive Labour and Tory governments have slashed direct government funding to universities, vice chancellors have obediently carried out cuts – including to things like counselling services, campus lighting, transport, and student bursaries, all of which has left students further exposed to the effects of sexism and sexual violence.
Socialist Students societies have launched numerous campaigns against cuts to campus jobs and services – such as in Liverpool, where we successfully campaigned for the reinstatement of the night bus. We think a key part of challenging sexism on campus is building a united movement for free, fully funded education instead of the current marketised tuition fee system.
Neither Labour nor the university managements have any alternative to the worsening conditions on campus, because they work within the framework of capitalism. Accepting this ‘profit-before-all-else’ system means accepting that a tiny elite in society gets richer and richer, while education and other public services crumble – with workers and students made to pay the price.
Organise on campus to fight to provide adequate resources for women who have experienced sexual violence. Fight to end the marketised basis of universities, by campaigning to abolish tuition fees. Fully fund education, cancel student debt and replace student loans with living maintenance grants for all – take the wealth off the super-rich.
The current unelected university managements can’t protect students’ right to a safe and rewarding education. Students and staff should democratically run our universities instead. Build democratic, fighting students’ unions that can link up with the campus trade unions and fight for the high-quality education we need.
Build a new mass workers’ party that gives students and workers from all backgrounds a political voice – a socialist alternative to Starmer, Farage and all the establishment parties and politicians.
A socialist alternative to sexism and capitalism
Socialist Students fights against all sexist ideas and behaviour, which exist not just on campus but all across society, perpetuated by capitalist institutions and corporations.
To seriously challenge sexist ideas means building a mass movement against capitalism, which is an inherently unequal system that benefits from sexism in countless ways.
Capitalism saves vast profits by consigning responsibility for childcare and housework to individual families, predominantly to the women within them. Women workers are paid less than men (in higher education the gender pay gap is about 20%) and this in turn reinforces ideas about women’s unequal status. The media, as well as the beauty, fashion and leisure industries, all benefit from the commodification of women’s bodies, promoting harmful stereotypes about how men and women should look and behave. The ruling class also relies on sexist ideas as one way to divide working-class people and weaken our ability to collectively fight their attacks.
A socialist revolution would remove this capitalist basis for sexism. All of society’s wealth, resources and technology would be used as part of a democratic plan to meet everyone’s needs. It would be a system based on cooperation and solidarity, and these values would come to be reflected in personal relations and culture. By removing the material basis for sexism, it would be possible to dislodge all sexist ideas and attitudes over time.
Build a movement that fights to take the wealth and power out of the hands of the super-rich and the elites. For a socialist world in which the working class democratically runs society to meet the needs of all people, to lay the basis for ending sexism and all forms of oppression
Do you want to kick sexism off campus?
Do you agree with our socialist ideas to end sexism and violence against women? Get in touch to get involved in campaigning alongside a local Socialist Students group. We want to hold protests and marches, organise outreach campaigns through leafleting and petitioning, and build pressure on students’ unions to publicly support and campaign for the socialist policies outlined in this leaflet.
Socialist Students 