By International Workers’ Unity-Fourth International
The feminist agenda takes the 28th of May as the International Day for Women’s Health, based on debates held in Colombia in 1984, on May 28th, when feminist activists had decided to create the Latin and Caribbean Women health network.
Three years later, the fifth Women and Health International Meeting, held in San Jose, Costa Rica, in May, 1987, approved the declaration acclaiming the 28th of May as the International Day for Women’s Health.
Patriarchy and capitalism generate health problems for women and gender dissidents in the mental, labor and reproductive spectrum. Some of these issues are only experienced by women. Other problems, that are universally present, are accentuated for women for our unequal and precarious condition as workers, lack of health and social security, gender discrimination and violence.
This situation is followed by the capitalist governments as they take money away from public services of health and education so they can act in favor of private corporations. Nevertheless, women have been fighting throughout time and have accomplished some universal achievements, universally or national wise, such as the legal abortion in Argentina, Colombia and other countries.
However, patriarchy and the crisis of capitalism are vigorous in their effort to take away all the accomplishments achieved. An example of this comes from Dina Boluarte’s government which classifies seven of the gender identities as mental disorders, including transsexuality and travestism.
The ultra right-wing, with its hateful language, damages women’s and girl’s mental health as they stimulate hate crimes, which generates insecurity, fear, stress, depression and violent killings, just like it has recently happened in Argentina, where three women were brutally murdered and had their house set on fire because these women were lesbians.
On this May 28th, we restate the need to keep organizing to mobilize, independently from governments and from the bourgeoisie parties to defend our achievements and fight for our rights.
From the International Workers Unity – Fourth International (IWU-FI), on this May 28th, we unite to the actions for women’s health and proclaim respect for our right to decide.
- Raise the health public budgets
- Free, accessible and feminist healthcare assistance
- Stop the obstetric violence
- Contraceptives, HPV vaccines, and menstrual products for free
- Scientific, secular and feminist sexual education
- Legal, free and secure abortion
- Free access to the transition process and hormonal therapy
- End of hate crimes