Vol. 71/No. 18      May 7, 2007

The bulk of participants came from the Americas and Europe, with the largest delegations being from Brazil, Cuba, Portugal, and Venezuela. The participation of women from 18 countries in Africa, 8 in Asia, and 11 in the Middle East registered the international breadth of the gathering and brought the conditions facing women in those countries to congress discussions.

In addition to five plenary sessions, numerous congress work commissions, and an all-day conference focused on young women (see article in April 23 Militant), nearly a dozen workshops took place as part of the congress agenda. They took up themes such as “The Negative Impacts of Neoliberal Globalization on Women,” “Women’s Struggles Against State Terrorism and Imperialist War and the Fight for National Independence,” “Advancing Equality and Social Rights to Work, Healthcare, Social Security, and Education,” “Defense of the Culture and Equal Rights of Indigenous and Afro-Descendant Women,” and “Transforming the Media’s Negative Impact on the Image of Women.”

The congress discussion reflected the absence of mass struggles by women for their rights anywhere in the world today. Contributions from the floor in plenary sessions and workshops tended to focus on broad political characterizations with many delegates pointing to “neoliberal globalization” in general, and the Bush administration in Washington in particular—not private property and the capitalist system—as the source of the problems women face today. “Get out, Bush!” was a popular chant in Spanish and Portuguese during plenary sessions.

The virtual absence of discussion on issues such as child care, education, or women’s rights to control their reproductive lives, including access to abortion, marked the gathering.  
 
Roots of women’s oppression
Probably the most interesting discussions addressing the material roots of women’s oppression and the kind of struggle needed for its elimination took place at the workshop on “WIDF, Feminism, and Gender Theory.”

“To have gender equality, it’s necessary to build a new social system,” said Carolina Aguilar of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC). Aguilar pointed out that a socialist revolution transformed social relations in Cuba and opened the door for women, and men, to change the economic and social status of women. The scope of what has changed in Cuba in 50 years of revolutionary struggle for women’s equality is unsurpassed anywhere in the world.

“In the garment industry in the United States, workers are historically paid less because the majority are women and also immigrants,” noted Maura DeLuca, a sewing machine operator and member of the Young Socialists in the United States, pointing out how capitalism perpetuates and profits from the oppression of women. Actions for the legalization of undocumented immigrants and against raids and deportations have increased confidence in the working class in the United States, DeLuca said, including among workers who are women. “Through these fights, workers break down barriers the bosses impose on us based on race, gender, and immigration status,” she said.

In informal discussions especially, participants exchanged information about conditions facing women, ranging from illiteracy to property ownership rights and experiences in struggle.

“Nowadays if a woman wants to get a divorce, the decision is based on religious law,” Dr. Shaikha Al-Zayani of the Women’s Society of Bahrain told the Militant. “If two women with the same problem go for a divorce, the results can be very different, depending on the judge’s personal views and religious school.” The Women’s Society of Bahrain is now campaigning for a Personal Status Law that would make divorce a civil, and not religious, matter.

During a plenary session, a delegate from north Korea described the fight to expose the truth about how the Japanese army forced more than 200,000 Korean women into sex slavery between 1910 and 1945. “We learned a bitter and important lesson—that without fighting imperialism, nothing can be achieved,” she said. The congress adopted a resolution in support of the struggle to reunify Korea. Delegates from Japan abstained on the vote, making that resolution the only one of dozens adopted by the congress that was not approved unanimously.

“As in Latin America, the Spanish colonizers did not leave many good memories for Saharawi women,” said a delegate from the Western Sahara during a session broadcast on Venezuelan TV and radio. “We are here representing the people of the last colony in Africa, and we continue to suffer the illegal occupation by the Kingdom of Morocco, backed up by Spanish imperialism. Saharawi women are true protagonists in the fight for national liberation.”  
 
History of WIDF
A workshop on “WIDF’s History and Role in Defense of Women’s Rights, National Independence, Social Justice, Democracy, and Peace” was one of the most politically interesting sessions. The main presentation, made by Yolanda Ferrer, general secretary of the FMC, was given to participants in written form.

WIDF was founded in 1945 immediately after World War II. From the beginning, its members were overwhelmingly women’s organizations led by Communist parties that looked to Moscow for political direction. WIDF’s international headquarters was located in Berlin, east Germany, until 1990.

For decades, Stalinist parties in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe dominated the federation and largely excluded the participation of women’s organizations which did not share their politics. The presentation by Ferrer underscored the importance of anticolonial and anticapitalist revolutions in Africa and Asia in the decades following World War II, and the 1959 triumph of the Cuban Revolution, in broadening the horizons of WIDF and beginning to shift its center of gravity toward the struggles of women in countries subjugated by imperialism.

After the bureaucratic regimes and parties that had sustained WIDF collapsed at the beginning of the 1990s, the federation almost disintegrated. Regional initiatives taken by the FMC and others—including a 3,000-strong International Encounter of Solidarity Among Women held in Havana in 1998—reached out to new and broader forces fighting for women’s rights and helped to revitalize the federation.

The FMC and the Latin American regional office of WIDF in Havana devoted substantial leadership to ensure the success of the 14th congress, a success registered by the fact that it took place for the first time ever in Latin America and, with broad international participation, was the largest since 1991. The Venezuelan government sponsored the event and provided the resources to guarantee its functioning. It was hosted by several Venezuelan women’s organizations, which are in the midst of discussions about creating a unified women’s movement.

Delegates and guests also joined an April 13 march of 1 million people here marking the fifth anniversary of the reversal of a U.S.-backed coup against Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. One of the congress sessions, an exchange with Chávez, was televised and broadcast live on the Aló Presidente show April 12.

The congress reelected Márcia Campos, from the Confederation of Brazilian Women and the October 8 Revolutionary Movement, as WIDF president. Five vice presidents were elected, one for each WIDF region: Annie Raja of the National Federation of Indian Women, for Asia; Ruth Neto, National Organization of Angolan Women, for Africa; Mayada Abassi, Palestinian ambassador to Brazil, for the Arab countries; Skavi Koukoumes, of the Federation of Pan-Cypriot Women’s Organizations, for Europe; and María Inés Brassesco, of the National Organization of Women in Argentina, for the Americas.

Maura DeLuca and Mary-Alice Waters contributed to this article.
 
 
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