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Editorial

By VVAW

In commemorating International Women's Day, it is fitting that we reaffirm our determination to struggle against the systematic exploitation and oppression women undergo in this country. We must always remember that the cause of this oppression is a system -- imperialism. The roots of sexism are in this system: it is the enemy we must combat, not some inherently perverse nature of men.

In the context of today's economic crisis, the oppression of women in the US stands out in ever sharper relief. Our economic system needs to keep wages as low as possible. This is accomplished, in part, through chronically high unemployment which maintains a large pool of cheap reserve labor. Women and 3rd World people have historically formed this group in the US. In any economic pinch, they are the first ones to get hit. Today, already holding the poorest paying jobs, unable to get equal pay for equal work, women are the ones who must hold the front lines against skyrocketing food prices and fuel costs. With the hundreds of thousands of job layoffs recently, much of the gains women have made toward equal employment in past years have been eroded in a few months. Those remaining employed find that their frozen wages can't begin to keep pace with the inflationary price spiral.

It is becoming clear to most Americans that we are in for a rough time in this country. We have increasingly less choice about combating the mounting problems we face; the struggle for major change in our society is becoming a necessity. To do this we will need to be as united as possible. The divisions placed between the people are clearly our enemy in this.

It has been said that women hold up half the sky. Certainly without women both participating in and leading the struggle for change in the US we will never get anywhere. only look to the incredibly crucial role women played in the struggle for liberating Vietnam to see the truth of this. We must understand that in the US, the rising of the women will be the rising of us all.