By: SITRABORDO

March 8th
International Women’s Day
We trade unionists march… Long live SITRABORDO!

Commemorating March 8th as National and International Women’s Day in the current context is a rather complex situation in our society and around the world, where women are the visible face of struggle and resistance.

At the beginning of the 20th century, women’s struggles highlighted the need to claim their rights. Through protests, strikes, clandestine rallies, and demonstrations under the slogan “food, work and peace,” they demanded access to education, healthcare, and a more equitable distribution of household chores. They also demanded social rejection of gender-based violence and protection for victims.

These past and present situations have led to significant progress, but also to increased violence against women, especially sexual violence, which affects different areas of life, from home and workplace to State power. Public policies and legislation, often weak in their implementation, should reflect a real commitment to the opposition and rejection of those sectors of society seeking to slow down change. Raising awareness and transforming reality is essential to amplifying women’s voices, making them ever stronger. This movement must be consolidated as a tool for demands, dialogue, conviction, and transformation, with the strong will to protect rights achieved and continue building a more just and equal future.

A future threatened by the imminent environmental disaster derived from repealing the ban on metal mining act. In a country already suffering ecosystem loss and degradation, women’s rights —who face the greatest vulnerability to socio-environmental crises— are suffering a particular impact.

Despite safety policies proposed by authorities, violence against women has not decreased. According to the Attorney General’s Office’s report from June 2023 to May 2024, 20,950 violent acts in all its forms were recorded. In addition, the number of missing women has increased from 133 to 644 during the same period.

At the workplace, the situation of women in the country continues to be negatively affected by the clear lack of public policies. Reasons are based on contexts and conditions of weak social practices, characterized by stagnation and decline in certain specific areas.

Women’s labor force remains significantly lower than that of men: only 50.5% of women are in the labor force, compared to 81.5% of men.

Women work in the most vulnerable sectors of the economy (trade, services, manufacturing, domestic work, and community, social and health services), which creates vulnerable employment, job insecurity and job losses, limiting opportunities for growth and stability for women workers.