People Before Profit women’s equality campaigner Becca Bor said:
“People Before Profit participated in the Derry rally for women’s liberation and reproductive rights on International Women’s Day at the Guildhall Square. We salute all the women and their allies across the world who have marched, rallied, went on strike and spoke out for equality.
The #MeToo movement in the United States has put a spotlight on the continuing prevalence of sexism and sexual assault across the world. Anger is at boiling point in the US because President Donald Trump has openly bragged about abusing women. But women and their allies are not just angry, they’re taking action.
Across Ireland women are finding their voice and are speaking up for full equality.
The #Repeal the Eighth Amendment referendum is one of the most important struggles in decades. The outcome of this struggle will shape politics in the North and the South in the coming years. At stake is a woman’s right to control her own body. Without this fundamental right there cannot be full equality.
Across the island of Ireland, women are saying ‘enough is enough’. The Church and others have no right to be in the business of dictating how people live their lives. The gender pay gap must end. People Before Profit is campaigning to repeal the reactionary 8th amendment and for a woman’s the right to choose.
This is a 32 county fight. We need a new Ireland where women have full equality; where there’s Marriage Equality for the LGBT+ community; where we have a properly fundd free public health service and affordable childcare; and where economic inequality and deprivation is ended.
We encourage everyone to step up the campaign for the right to choose here in the North and we encourage people from Derry to join the effort to repeal the Eighth Amendment in Donegal.
More than 100 years ago James Connolly outlined why the women’s liberation struggle should receive the enthusiastic backing of the entire working class movement when he said: “None so fitted to break the chains as they who wear them, none so well equipped to decide what is a fetter.”
People Before Profit encourages everyone who believes in progress, justice and equality to back the struggle to remove the ‘fetter’ of the Eighth Amendment and to establish a woman’s right to choose North and South. The time to act is now.”
