MMF 2000-2005-2010

Activists in various countries will denounce the situation of women in the world and present their demands with regards to the common good and public services, peace and demilitarisation, women's economic autonomy and violence against women. They will also celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the declaration of International Women's Day.

5^th March 2010 - Under the slogan "Women on the March until we are All Free!" the World March of Women will take to the streets in all four corners of the world where the movement is present - Africa, Americas, Asia-Oceania and Europe - in the first key moment of its 3^rdInternational Action. According to the WMW International Secretariat, currently based in São Paulo, Brazil, 51 countries have already confirmed that they will be carrying out actions (see table below). In many countries, mobilisations begin this Saturday, the 6th March. And in New Caledonia, the 1^st WMW action took place on the 27^th February. But the majority of countries have organised their actions to take place on the 8^th March.

Inaugurating the 3^rd International Action, there are countries preparing marches and mobilisations during the whole 8^th to 18^th March period, or during some days in between, in this way drawing society's attention to women's situations and demands for justice. It is the case of Brazil, for example, where around 2,000 women from the WMW will march together during 10 days, from Campinas to the capital of São Paulo state. Or in Pakistan, where rural and urban women will march and will hold decentralised seminars and other activities from the 12^th to 18^th in Toba Tek Singh, Gojra, Gujranwala, Shaikhupora, Kasur and Lahore. In Sri Lanka, a march will take place during 2 moments between the cities of Thalahena y Marawila: between the 8^th and the 11^th, and between the 15^th and the 18^th. InMali, decentralised marches will take place in six districts of the capital, Bamako, from the 8^th to the 15^th March. These actions will culminate in the carrying out of a march on the 18^th, in the North of the country, a region in conflict. In Kenya, activities will start on the 8^thand will finish on the 18^th and will include marches and cultural events, such as theatrical performances, vigils and visits to communities.

How the WMW 3^rd International Action is organised

The 3^rd International Action is being launched on International Women's Day (8^th March), and will continue throughout the year until the 17^th October (the International Day for the Eradication Poverty). The International Action includes decentralised activities (at the country level) and regional activities (in Asia-Oceania, Europe and the Americas). It also includes an international event, focusing on peace and demilitarisation, the mobilisation in Bukavu (South Kivu province), in the Democratic Republic of Congo, that will bring the International Action to an end. Around 500 women will participate in this mobilisation, the majority from the African continent, but also from other countries in conflict in the world.

For details of country level actions, visit the website of the 3^rd International Action:http://www.wmw2010.info

International Women's Day: In search of lost history

In this first key moment of the 3^rd International Action, WMW activists will also highlight the history of International Women's Day (today commemorated on the 8^th March) whose true meaning - the struggle for women's rights and the transformation of society - is lost in the commercialisation that takes place around this day. Traditionally, this history is linked to a strike and / or fire that are supposed to have taken place in a women's textile factory in New York, either in 1857 or in 1908, but in a deeper research into its origins, a whole period of feminist struggle for economic and workers rights, as well as the right to vote, in the USA and elsewhere is discovered.

It was in 1910, at the 2nd International Socialist Women's Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, that Clara Zetkin - German socialist and feminist - proposed the creation of an annual International Women's Day, following the example of North American socialist women who, since 1908, had been organising a national annual Woman's Day (to demand economic and political equality for women, to denounce exploitation of women workers, to demand the right to vote, etc).

To read more about the history of International Women's Day, please go to:http://www.marchemondiale.org/actions/2010action/origen8marzo/en

For interviews and further information

1. Alessandra Ceregatti (World March of Women International Secretariat), for contacts with the WMW International Committee and National Coordinating Bodies in various countries: Tel. +55 11 3032-3243 or +55 11 8316-3664 / Email:Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser..

2. World March of Women websites: www.wmw2010.info and WMW:www.marchemondiale.org