In commemoration of International Working Women’s day, we are sharing this article which was included in the March issue of The Communist. 

Every day, capitalism is radicalizing wider layers of workers and young people. A recent Gallup poll shows that young women are losing faith in the system particularly quickly. Only 40% of women aged 18–44 in the US trust national institutions. That figure plummeted 17 points over the last decade, more than in any other group Gallup polled.

It’s no wonder.

The Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade dealt a major blow to young women’s confidence in the judicial system, which suffered the sharpest drop in trust, from 55% to just 32%. Understandably so—these supposed arbiters of justice trashed a fundamental right with no repercussions.

Despite many Democratic politicians being self-proclaimed feminists and making promises on the campaign trail, the Democratic Party has never even attempted to pass federal legislation to guarantee abortion rights. Those same Democrats controlled the White House, Congress, and Senate when Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. Are working women supposed to trust a party that only pretends to care about their rights during election season?

The class nature of the “justice” system is exposed especially clearly when it comes to sexual assault. A CDC survey revealed that 41% of women in the US have experienced sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner. Violence against women is commonplace, yet data from the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network show that 98% of sexual assault perpetrators walk free.

The courts aren’t just full of judges who are out of touch with the lives of working-class people, they actively protect those with the most blood on their hands. Jeffrey Epstein had over 1,000 victims, yet he only served a 13-month sentence before continuing to traffic poor women and children. During his “prison” term, he was allowed to leave Palm Beach County Jail on “work release” for 16-hours a day, six days a week.

There is no “equality before the law” when the ruling class is above the law. The Epstein scandal shows how bourgeois men see working-class women as objects to satisfy their inflated egos and perverted fantasies. Meanwhile, bourgeois women like Ghislaine Maxwell—whose childhood home was a 52-room mansion—are their partners in crime.

Despite having the same legal rights as men, at least on paper, women are disproportionately affected by the cost-of-living crisis and austerity measures. When social services like child and elder care are cut, women are more likely to fill in the gaps.

In the absence of federally guaranteed paid parental leave, The Guardian found that one in four mothers in the US return to work within 10 days of giving birth. In contrast, the ASPCA considers separating puppies from their mothers in the first eight weeks of life to be animal abuse.

This is no way to live, yet this is the reality of life for women under American capitalism—and many want out. The same Gallup poll found that 40% of young women in the US would permanently move to another country if they had the chance.

America is the world’s richest country, yet women here feel that their conditions are so unbearable that they dream of escaping. But in pretty much every country they could flee to, conditions for women are also declining as capitalism prepares to enter its deepest crisis yet.

For communists, it does not suffice for women to be as exploited as men. We fight to rid society of the conditions that give rise to all exploitation, oppression, and inequality. We demand:

• Universal employment with equal pay for work of equal value.
• Free, quality healthcare for all, including unrestricted access to family planning and abortion services, as part of a socialized health care system.
• Generous parental leave and an extensive network of accessible, full-time nurseries and childcare facilities.
• Free, quality elderly care, both residential and non-residential.
• Affordable, quality restaurants, laundries, and other socialized services. Free, quality cafeterias at work and in schools.

The implementation of this program is the only way to free women from the burden of domestic servitude and to guarantee genuine equality.

But these changes can’t be realized under capitalism. Our task can only be achieved through a revolutionary struggle. Only after the working class sweeps aside this degenerate system can all the poor and oppressed of the world experience freedom, not just on paper, but in life.