International Working Women’s Day Statement from the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC)­

March 8, 2018

On this year’s International Women’s Day, the National Alliance of Philippine Women­ in Canada (NAPWC) sends its warmest and militant greetings to all working class women around the world. Today we commemorate the legacy and contribution of the countless women who have fought and continue to fight patriarchy, class exploitation, and racial discrimination. We salute the courage and strength of all women who continue to speak up and fight against the intensifying oppression and exploitation of women. As part of the larger working class movement, we carry these struggles forward today with heightened militancy and strengthened resolve in taking the revolutionary road to achieve women’s genuine equality, development, and liberation.

As imperialism continues its attacks on marginalized people, along with the rise of fascism globally, we are reminded that the struggle for women’s liberation is far from over. While we bear witness to the systemic violence perpetuated against women, we also bear witness to the countless women all over the world who are mobilizing against attempts to reverse our hard-fought gains in reclaiming our bodies and our lives. We refuse the narrowing of our economic, social, political and cultural freedoms by the regressive right-ward shift manifesting with the deepening crisis of capitalism. As working-class women of colour, we defy the commodification and exploitation of our lives, our lands and our communities by standing against imperialism and neoliberal globalization.

With the crisis in capitalism reaching its tipping point, it is all the more important that we remain steadfast and vigilant in resisting imperialism in all its forms. Imperialism is relentless in its goal to strip women of their rights, dignity, and liberation. It is vicious in its goal to create instability, through wars of aggression, forced migration, and trafficking of women and children, in order to maintain its dominance in the world.

Women, all over the world, are speaking out against the abusive systems and cultures of patriarchy that perpetuate our oppression. As the #MeToo and Time’s Up Movement has brought to light the sexual assault and sexual harassment experienced by female Hollywood actors, we are reminded of the sexism and violence long experienced by indigenous women and women of colour. We call on justice for all the missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada and demand an end to our victimization by calling an end to all forms of violence against women.

As Filipino Canadian women, we have been witness to the exploitation of our women in Canada’s Caregiver Program (CCP), formerly known as the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP). The LCP/CCP has been at the root of our community’s marginalization in Canadian society, perpetuating not just economic hardships of Filipino Canadian women, but also relegating and entrapping our women into devalued domestic and caregiving work. This anti-woman and racist program serves as Canada’s de-facto childcare and elderly care program and serves only the interests of the upper and middle-class Canadian families. The call for genuine universal childcare program that will benefit the majority of Canadian women, particularly working class women, continued to be denied.

We demand an end to the continuing privatization of childcare and healthcare through Canada’s Caregiver Program, one that is wrought on the backs of Filipino women. We are deeply concerned by recent news that 80 percent of applications by caregivers for permanent residency were rejected in 2014, as it renders Filipino women in a state of limbo amidst increasingly-stringent requirements. While this news has raised alarm about higher childcare costs associated with more sponsorship fees, we see the state of childcare affordability and accessibility itself as the greatest cause of concern. Rather than insisting on childcare provisioning at the expense of women from the global south, we must demand universal childcare for all women.

As working class women of colour, we reject the ongoing attacks of the capitalist system, colonialism and imperialism and call on women to stand in solidarity with us in both our call for the scrapping of the Caregiver Program and our call for the equality, successful development, full participation and liberation of all women. As such, we stand in solidarity with other marginalized women in the continuing fight against violence against women. We can no longer be silenced and we will not be silenced.

 

End the exploitation, march for genuine women’s liberation!

End violence against women!

Women’s liberation is not negotiable!

Expose and oppose neoliberal policies!

Long live international women’s solidarity!

 

-11-

 

Contact:

Qara Clemente or Arielle Dela Cruz Yip
Philippine Women Centre of British Columbia
pwcofbc [at] gmail [dot] com

Charie Siddayao
Philippine Women Centre of Ontario
pwcontario [at] yahoo [dot] ca