Global Women’s Strike is an international multiracial network campaigning for recognition and payment for all caring work for people and planet - a Care Income.

Co-ordinated by the International Wages for Housework Campaign which was launched by Selma James in 1972 >>>

Selma James

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.

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Global Women's Strike

The Global Women’s Strike and Women of Colour GWS, which have campaigned for financial recognition for unwaged caring work for decadescontributed 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.

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Wages for Housework

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.

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International Women’s Week events

By Global Women's Strike | 28th February 2026

Hookers, dykes and women of colour celebrate 50 years of making trouble & history

By Global Women's Strike | 9th September 2025

Hookers, dykes and women of colour celebrate 50 years of making trouble & history When: Wednesday 22 October 18:30 – 20:30   Where: Bishopsgate Institute, 230 Bishopsgate London EC2M 4QH (Full wheelchair access. Bar & refreshments)   Book: Bishopsgate Institute Online   Price: £15 / £11 – Use code ECP20 for a discount on standard…

Book Launch: Wages for Housework – The Story of a Movement, an Idea, a Promise.

By Global Women's Strike | 4th February 2025

A fascinating new book by Emily Callaci about the history of the International Wages for Housework Campaign is being launched in the UK next week (US launch to follow). Wages for Housework The Story of a Movement, an Idea, a Promise features WFH founder Selma James (who turns 95 this year), co-ordinates the Global Women’s…

Save the date: 24 October: International Women’s Strike Actions

By Global Women's Strike | 30th September 2024

Spread the word – Women are rising A Week of Actions When women stop, everything stops. On 24 October 2024, women and allies from around the world will participate in the Global Women’s Strike, commemorating the historic 1975 Icelandic women’s strike, where women halted their unwaged and waged work in the home and outside, in…

Wages for Housework Campaign in major exhibition – Hard Graft: Work, Health and Rights

By Global Women's Strike | 12th September 2024

‘Hard Graft: Work, Health and Rights’ at the Wellcome Collection (London) explores “the profound impact of physical work on health and the body. It delves into the stories of underrepresented workers and their rights within precarious and unsafe labour environments. From protests to healing practices, the exhibition unveils hidden histories of resistance and collective action.…

About the Global Women's Strike >>>

no noise

About us: We are an international grassroots network campaigning for recognition and payment for all caring work, in the home and on the land...

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Our international community: There are Global Women's Strike groups in India, Ireland, Peru, Thailand, UK, US (Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco) and we work with people in many other countries.

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Our collective power: 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.

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books

Resources and ways to join with us: Antiracism, anti-discrimination and the justice work we do for ourselves and with others are at the heart of our campaigning.

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Our recent news >>>

International Women’s Week events

By Global Women's Strike | 28th February 2026

An attack on trans women is an attack on women

By Global Women's Strike | 28th February 2026

An attack on trans people is an attack on women We reject all attacks on trans people. They have led to over 5,000 murders globally since 2008 (when the Trans Murder Monitoring was set up) at the hands of violent men – 94% of the victims were women, 93% women of colour, 46% of those…

Guaranteed Care Income San Francisco

By Global Women's Strike | 26th February 2026

Guaranteed Care Income San Francisco The research findings of the Guaranteed Care Income San Francisco (GCISF) pilot were made public November 12, 2025 on the steps of City Hall in San Francisco. The event had a strong turnout, including lots of press (see below). There was Spanish interpretation for the event and it opened with…

GWS at End the blockade of Cuba demonstration

By Global Women's Strike | 21st February 2026

Alerta de Acción: Las Madres y Otros Cuidadores Dicen Detener ICE y Restaurar los Beneficios para Inmigrantes!

By Global Women's Strike | 5th February 2026

Las Madres y Otros Cuidadores Dicen: ● Detener el Asesinato, Secuestro y Abuso Infantil de ICE ● DETENER la financiación de ICE ● Restaurar los Créditos Tributaries por Hijos, SNAP y Beneficios de Medicaid para Inmigrantes Como madres y otras cuidadoras, estamos furiosas y profundamente molestas por el reinado de terror que se està imponiendo…

Action Alert: Mothers and Other Caregivers Say STOP ICE, Restore Benefits for Immigrants!

By Global Women's Strike | 5th February 2026

Mothers and Other Caregivers Say: ● Stop ICE Murder, Kidnapping and Child Abuse ● STOP Funding ICE ● Restore Child Tax Credits, SNAP and Medicaid Benefits for Immigrants As mothers and other caregivers, we are furious and deeply upset at the reign of terror being imposed on immigrants, our families and those standing with us.…

Venezuela, Palestina, Haití… estamos con el pueblocontra el imperialismo y la ocupación de Estados Unidos

By Global Women's Strike | 9th January 2026

Por la Huelga Mundial de Mujeres (GWS), Mujeres de Color de la GWS y la red de hombres Payday Una vez más, el Gobierno y el ejército de Estados Unidos han intervenido violentamente para derrocar a un jefe de Estado que no servía a sus intereses, el presidente Nicolás Maduro y su esposa Celia Flores.…

Venezuela, Palestine, Haiti…we stand with you against US imperialism and occupation

By Global Women's Strike | 6th January 2026

By the Global Women’s Strike (GWS), Women of Colour GWS and Payday men’s network Once again, the US government and military have violently intervened to remove a head of state who did not serve their purpose, President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and colleague Celia Flores. Once again, local elites (in Venezuela and some Caribbean…

After more than 50 years of campaigning,wages for housework is becoming a reality – in India and elsewhere.

By Global Women's Strike | 16th December 2025

After more than 50 years of campaigning,wages for housework is becoming a reality – in India and elsewhere. By the International Wages for Housework Campaign, 15 December 2025 For more information contact: gws@globalwomenstrike.net or 020 7482 2496 We women are owed a debt and the first payments have come – more is expected as the…