One of the major goals of the MGEU Women’s Committee is to provide relevant information on women’s issues as well as highlight special events recognizing women to all MGEU members.

March 8th is International Women’s Day


Pancake Breakfast
This year, the Manitoba Federation of Labour (MFL), Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the Winnipeg Labour Council (WLC) are celebrating International Women’s Day with a Pancake Breakfast and Women in Politics Forum on March 8th from 7:30 – 9:30 am at the Union Centre, Room 2C, 275 Broadway, Winnipeg, MB . Proceeds will be donated to the December 6th Memorial Fund, a project of the MFL Women’s Committee. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased by calling one of the following numbers:
MFL (947.1400)       CLC (947.9494)       WLC (942.0522)


Grassroots Women Awards 2010

The Women’s Committee would like to congratulate Sister Kelly-Ann Stevenson (nee Ivory) for being chosen as an honouree of Grassroots Women Manitoba 2010. Sister Kelly-Ann is being honoured for her Trade Union Activism.
Grassroots Women Manitoba honours women whose lives are lived in the best of struggles. Grassroots Women Manitoba is an internationalist and anti-imperialist women’s collective affiliated with Grassroots Women Vancouver, the International League of Peoples Struggles and Gabriela, a progressive women’s movement in the Philippines. All revenue derived from this initiative is used to advance feminist, and progressive education and liberation work.
For more information about Grassroots Women Manitoba, please email laywen@yahoo.com or phone (204) 237-9985.

 

The History of International Women’s Day

On March 8, 1908, during a strike involving textile workers in New York, hundreds of working women were demonstrating, demanding change – the right to vote, the eight hour day, equal pay, child care and an end to unsafe working conditions. They demonstrated with placards bearing the slogan “WE WANT BREAD AND ROSES”. Many of these women were campaigning for political rights, better working conditions and for women to join trade unions. The engendered march and demonstration gave life to the entire movement for women’s rights. The “Bread and Roses” song became the chosen anthem of the women’s movement.


Early union organizing by working women brought forward “International Women’s Day” (IWD). At the Second International Conference of Socialist Women in Copenhagen, Denmark, 1910, Clara Zetkin, the great European socialist and champion of women’s rights, proposed that the days of demonstration of the American working women become “International Women’s Day” and that March 8th of each year be dedicated to fighting for equal rights for all women in all countries. International Women’s Day was celebrated for the first time, in several countries, on March 8, 1911. Women everywhere demonstrated their solidarity! Fifty years later, in 1960, Copenhagen hosted an anniversary celebration of the first International Women’s Day with delegates from Asia, Africa, America and Europe. The main theme was to rally women in the struggle against poverty, racism and in the struggle for peace.


International Women’s Day has been celebrated in Winnipeg annually since 1922, first by the women’s section of the Ukrainian Labour-Farmers Temple Association and since 1950, by the Congress of Canadian Women. Each year has seen more and more women’s organizations. International Women’s Day was officially recognized by the United Nations in 1975.


International Women’s Day symbolizes women’s struggles throughout history. Women…locally, nationally and internationally, through demonstrations and festivities, celebrate March 8th and pay homage to those courageous women who fought and continue to fight to improve our working and living conditions. It is a day to celebrate achievements won, to educate our future activists and non-activists alike, to record tasks unfilled, to continue to plan and pledge for the future...equal rights for all.


Through the years, the MGEU’s Women’s Committee has had an ongoing commitment in recognizing International Women’s Day, by sharing and educating all members through hosting celebrations, distributing posters from NUPGE, MFL and CLC, and by designing and selling mugs. Most importantly, the MGEU Women’s Committee continues to depict the theme of women’s equality by unionization, political action, education and the opportunity to spend time with other Sisters through a biennial Women’s Conference.


The Women’s Committee would appreciate any suggestions or comments. Please contact them via email at womenscommittee@mgeu.ca or by writing to the MGEU Women’s Committee at 601-275 Broadway Ave., Winnipeg, MB R3C 4M6.