Since the mid-twentieth century the global economic system has worsened under neoliberalism – an economic system which seeks to make markets favorable to foreign corporations and governments; at the expense of working and peasant women and their communities. Neoliberalism is characterized by the loosening of laws which protect workers (such as minimum wage and security regulations); as well as the passing of laws which give corporations unlimited access to global markets (such as mining in foreign countries or exporting products without tariffs). The obscene wealth of a few and severe poverty of the many has exacerbated immensely under neoliberalism – with women feeling increased impact because of gender-based social and systemic barriers to regular work, fair wages, safety, stable living situations, and equal opportunity.

Under neoliberalism, women around the world face a political crisis: in the global north, imperialist governments serve the needs of corporations while regularly trimming back the services available to women and our families. Taxes are invested in the military, in private initiatives, and in the global system which expands markets and services like education, healthcare, and transportation are regularly privatized. While governments in the global south regularly loosen laws to invite in more and more foreign direct investment and corporate presence. While these same governments themselves fail to meet the needs of women and their families (due to corruption, investing public funds in corporate projects, etc), governments in the global south are also puppets to the Imperialists. Imperialist nations utilize puppet administrations for their own gain, at the expense of the people.

This predatory relationship between imperialist countries and their puppet governments makes resource rich countries dependent on foreign direct investment, aid packages, and military support from imperialist countries who bleed them dry.

Women face exploitation and neglect under the capitalist system, especially in the global south. Working and peasant women in the global south face the most egregious exploitation due to lack of development, unfair labor practices, and feudal patriarchy. Foreign corporations seek to use the raw materials of the global south to maximize profits which causes systematic displacement of women and their families; as well as the exacerbation of climate catastrophe which pushes people off their land.

The global capitalist system relies heavily on women’s unpaid labor at home and underpaid labor at work; and it fails to meaningfully address women’s needs through its programs for development. Instead, institutions like the United Nations only exacerbate the crisis that women face by inviting in more internationally or privately funded development programs. It is in this regard we call on the women of the world to organize and join IWA in its effort to unite and strengthen the fight against neoliberal policies, exploitation, and capitalism’s negative effects on women! Let us unite and fight for genuine equality and expose the rotten neoliberal system which starves and deprives us!

Neoliberalism opens up markets and passes regulations which ensure that capitalism can operate internationally, across borders. Neoliberalism gives foreign multi-national corporations access to raw materials, low labor costs, and resources without being burdened by local laws and regulations. The people who benefit the most from this economic system are the owners of transnational corporations and the leaders of imperialist countries who argue that “free trade” and “open markets” are the answer to the people’s needs for development and global economic stability. Governments of developing economies who provide access to markets and raw materials also benefit. In reality neoliberalism only seeks to squeeze out super-profits under capitalism at the expense of workers and producers all over the world.

Countries without industry are forced to constantly lower the price of raw materials and labor so they can win the business of foreign corporations. But lowering the cost of business only increases the profits of foreign business owners while driving down the wages of families. As a result, as costs for imported goods increase, people in the export oriented countries are left with little purchasing power, and no basic rights or social protections. Women and their families are at further risk of poverty and exploitation under neoliberalism. Furthermore, the presence of foreign export oriented manufacturing fails to meet the material needs of the workers on the production lines. Products made for export do leave the country and make the country reliant on imports from foreign markets. The true solution is to introduce national industry – which allows countries to process raw materials and manufacture products which attend to the daily needs of the population.

The ruling elite who pass policies that favor neoliberalism and the global capitalist system, as well as the business owners who seek deregulation and amass super-profits are the enemies of the people. Our victory comes from our collective strength as workers struggling against the systems which most oppress and exploit us. We must strengthen our resolve to fight for genuine national independence, democracy, and void of foreign domination.

Seventy percent of the world’s farmlands are now controlled by 1% of the land owners. Agricultural areas in the global south no longer produce food for local consumption – instead a majority of land is used to produce food that is exported for foreign markets, or arable land is converted into extractive mining or logging projects to supply the global economy with raw materials. These corporate projects have a particular impact on peasant women and their families who subsist on meager wages brought in from working in plantations or selling what crops they are able to produce on small plots of land – often leased from a landlord. Those who live in areas targeted for mining or cash crop production are forcibly removed from their land – leading to migration crises around the wold.

Landlessness impacts an estimated 2.5 billion people globally. The World Bank estimates that 4 out of every 5 individuals living in extreme poverty are from a rural area. Women in rural communities are not just subjected to extreme poverty, but are also disempowered by patriarchal social systems. Furthermore women are not only expected to contribute to agricultural production but they are responsible for maintaining the household and typically spend up to 14 hours per day on unpaid care work. This severely limits women’s participation in decision making and organizing which could advance their rights and change their conditions.

Only 47% of women in the world are formally employed or looking for employment as compared to 72% of men. In most cases, this is because women have responsibilities at home caring for family and community which prevent them from regularly holding a job. To cope with this many women turn to the informal economy to supplement the family income. Many women take on domestic work jobs such as laundry, cooking, or caretaking. Others run small businesses which sell items like medicine, soap, and other items that are not readily available in rural areas.

Women take up informal work to meet the needs of their communities who are under-resourced by their governments. However, the informal economy is precarious as it offers limited protections for workers. Instead of seeking to improve available services and create programs which enable women to get regular jobs – governments and international institutions are working to pass reforms which require women in the informal economy to pay taxes and report their income. This is because it is estimated that women’s unpaid taxes from the informal sector cost developing countries upwards of one trillion dollars per year in GDP. Instead of improving conditions for women workers – governments are solely trying to find ways to line their pockets with their incomes.

Women who do enter the regular workforce are paid an average of 20% less than men for the same job. Even though all workers are exploited and paid unlivable wages, the rate of exploitation is much steeper for women. In many cases, women also hold lower positions in workplaces – this leads to precarity in finding and maintaining a job because these roles are often contractual (rather than regularized), and the workers are seen as disposable. Women workers are criminalized and fired for organizing and joining unions, and violence is often used to enforce control and stop them from organizing for improvements in the workplace.

Neoliberalism creates conditions for corporations to amass super-profits while reducing wages and protections for workers. For instance, Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are able to subvert national labor laws, meaning they pay less than minimum wage and skirt around meeting labor standards. While SEZs claim to create employment and grow the economy through industrialization they have failed at their task. Women comprise 50-90% of the workers in the existing 5,383 SEZs operating globally, with high concentrations in garments, electronics and textiles. The over-representation of women in the SEZ clearly illustrates the neoliberal scheme to take advantage of women’s lesser role in society to drive down the cost of wages and benefits to increase profits.

In the case of both rural women and women working in industry - when the wages become too low to provide for their families many turn to opportunities in other countries to provide for their families, however, many still find they are among the most exploited and unprotected workers in the host country.

Women are often displaced from their homes due to the impacts of neoliberalism. These can range from forced displacement due to land-redevelopment, climate catastrophe which makes their homes unlivable; or being forced to leave their families to find ways to provide economically. Approximately 48% of migrants globally are women and girls – who face unique challenges because of discrimination and precarity. These migrant women are often called heroes by the leaders of their home countries – seeing them as an important economic keystone because they send reparations back home to their families – but are neglected in times of crisis.

The migrant crisis globally is exacerbated by the climate crisis which excellerates each year. Women and girls are especially vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis because of their lack of access and control of assets (such as land, technology, and means of production), lack of meaningful representation in government, as well as their high concentration in low-wage and informal employment. Environmental changes are caused by the largest corporations on the planet, as well as the US military, but it is poor and working women in the global south and their communities who experience the impacts firsthand – from food and livlihood insecurity to disruptions in education, to exposure to violence, health risks and forced migration.

Even under such brutal working conditions, inflation, and global health crises, workers continue to stand up against the capitalist forces by demanding decent wages and improved working conditions. Even when they are met with oppressive measures for organizing, workers are united and demand change. Since 2020 we have seen a surge in worker strikes across countless industries with attendance reaching into the thousands across the world. We salute the women on the frontlines of workers’ struggles. We fight alongside Amazon warehouse workers in the United States who continue to fight for the right to unionize, garment workers in Cambodia and Indonesia who continue to demand stolen wages from pandemic closures, and women in the Philippines who are raising the demand for higher wages and lower prices on essential goods. All around the world workers are realizing the power of working together to oppose exploitation and demand improvements.

Workers keep the world going through their production and it is up to the working class to create the future of society as well. In the last 3 years, the anti-people schemes of the imperialist forces have been exposed for all of the world to see. Workers have been brutally awakened to their disposability under capitalism and are refusing to stay silent. As the imperialists claw at their last shred of power, IWA calls on our membership to build towards, and fight for, a society where workers are prioritized over profit by ensuring our rights and livelihood are non-negotiable. Women are an indisputable part of the worker’s movement globally! IWA honors the struggle of working women, and we are fighting for a world that we will win together.