Today, on International Women’s Day 2017, women across the world are striking. This is the first international women’s strike and this has the potential to be the most political International Women’s Day on record.
The organisers of this year’s Women’s March on Washington came up with the idea for A Day Without A Woman. Their aim is to encourage women in the United states, and elsewhere in the world, to strike today in protest at the inequality women still face in the workplace. Women are wearing red to show their solidarity.
In Ireland women are also striking, for one reason: abortion.
The Strike 4 Repealmovement have organised a national strike because the Irish government has still yet to call a referendum on abortion law. Ireland has some of, if not the, most restrictive and draconian abortion laws in the world; in 1983, the Eight Amendment to Ireland’s constitution granted a foetus the same right to life as its mother meaning that there is a near-total ban on abortion, including in cases of rape, incest or serious foetal abnormalities.
On International Women’s Day it’s important to celebrate how far we’ve come but we must keep our eyes firmly on the road ahead, remembering how far we still have to go.
You can donate to Ireland’s Abortion Rights Campaign here.
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A Law From 1861 Means A British Woman Now Has A Criminal Record For Giving Herself An Abortion
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.