Selma James is an antisexist, antiracist campaigner. In 1972 she put forward Wages for Housework (WFH) as a demand and a political perspective that redefined the working class. The International WFH Campaign she founded coordinates the Global Women’s Strike. She coined the word “unwaged,” which incorporates all workers without wages. She co-authored the classic The Power of Women and the Subversion of the Community and is the author of Sex, Race and Class and other pathbreaking writing.
The Global Women’s Strike and Women of Colour GWS, which have campaigned for financial recognition for unwaged caring work for decades, contributed to the Green New Deal for Europe and jointly called on governments everywhere to provide a Care Income, starting now. As mothers, carers, farmers/farm workers, land and human rights’ defenders, women do most of the work of feeding (starting with breastfeeding) and protecting families and communities, the soil and the environment.
Wages for Housework begins with those of us with least power internationally – unwaged workers in the home (mothers, housewives, domestic workers denied pay), and unwaged workers on the land and in the community.
Wages for Housework is a demand, it is also a perspective, a way of organising from the bottom up, of autonomous sectors working together to end the power relations among us.
We are part of a global collective of a number of autonomous organisations within the Global Women’s Strike. Each has its own constituency and campaigns, each can count on the collective power of all.
Starting in March and for the whole of 2022, the International Wages for Housework Campaign,
which co-ordinates the Global Women’s Strike, will celebrate its golden anniversary. We are holding a series of events and launching our 1972-2022 archives at the Bishopsgate Institute.
On 8 March 2022, the Global Women's Strike launched an International Survey - What Do Mothers and other Carers Want? Join the discussion here:
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Learning from the experiences of Natural Farming in India, this new publication has been compiled by the Alliance for food sovereignty in Africa. Download a copy of it for free here below.
Read MoreShamima case shows terrible prejudice
Read Layla Omar’s brilliant article published in the Camden New Journal, describing how and why the government’s removal of Shamima Begum’s British citizenship is drenched in racism, and undermines all our rights. If Shamima isn’t British, then many of us are not.
Read MoreSupport Worker Relief & Credit Reform Act: mothers, other caregivers & students need it!
Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-WI) has reintroduced the Worker Relief and Credit Reform (WRCR) Act (HR 1468) and we are encouraging that as many as possible support this important bill. The WRCR Act would redefine who is a worker to include those of us who are unpaid mothers/other unpaid family caregivers as well as low-income students in higher education – making both eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit for the first time. This is monumental – and urgently needed at this time when public benefits are under attack in Congress, including imposing further work requirements.
Read MoreGWS at XR’s The Big One, 4 days of action in Central London
Four days of action from 21 to 24 April brought together 60,000 people around Parliament to force the UK government to act on the climate emergency. On Friday – “Unite to Survive” day – diverse networks of mothers, grandmothers, other carers and people with disabilities spoke out on refusing poverty, the devaluing of caring and…
Read MoreTODAY Join the Haiti Action Committee for a Day of Action in Solidarity with the Haitian People, thursday 27 April.
Please share this powerful statement issued yesterday by women’s and popular organizations in Haiti, calling for an end to the genocide of the people of Haiti. And join TODAY’s (Thursday) Day of Action called by Haiti Action Committee, our point of reference. Tweet/share on your social media. See Demands, sample tweets and background information here. Global Women’s Strike (GWS), Women of Color/GWS, and Payday men’s…
Read MoreEvent this Friday – Join the Women’s Speak Out at XR’s The Big One
Friday 21 April, 1pm, Downing Street, London SW1A 2AA. XR’s The Big One – four days of actions 21-24 April to bring together 100,000 people around Parliament to get this government to act on the climate emergency. On Friday – “Unite to Survive” day – diverse networks of mothers, grandmothers, other carers and people with disabilities will…
Read MoreSelma James’ message to Mumia, after news of the terrible Lucretia Clemons judgment that denied his latest appeal for legal redress.
Dear Mumia, It is painful to envisage your having to read this judgement where, once again, the evidence of your innocence is drowned in a racist class sadism. This is how the truth continues to be hidden. We know from your own example and writings that prisoners often win justice by becoming jailhouse lawyers for…
Read MoreEvent: London – 5 April – International Protest – Solidarity with the Peruvian People Down with the dictatorship of #DinaBoluarte
#LONDRES: PROTESTA INTERNACIONAL LONDON INTERNATIONAL PROTEST Solidaridad con el pueblo peruanoSolidarity with the Peruvian People Abajo la dictadura de #DinaAsesinaDown with the dictatorship of #DinaBoluarte 5 Abril 18:00Hrs – April 5th at 18h00Parliament Square LONDON SW1P 3BD 🎤 Micrófono abierto (Open mic) #NiUnMuertoMás#NoAlTerrorismoDeEstado#MásDe70Asesinadxs#DinaAsesinaRenunciaYa#CierreDelCongresoCorrupto#AsambleaConstituyente#NuevaConstituciónPlurinacional#PedroCastilloLibertad Traer pancartas, banners, banderas y whipalas.
Read MoreUS: Ask your Representative to cosponsor Worker Relief & Credit Reform Act
Exciting news – Rep Gwen Moore will be reintroducing the Worker Relief and Credit Reform (WRCR) Act this Thursday, March 9. Please ask your Representative to sign-on to the WRCR Act right away as an original co-sponsor. You can send a model letter directly to your reps at this link. The WRCR Act modernizes the…
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