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.

Learn more

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 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.

Learn more

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.

Learn more

Recent & upcoming events >>>

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.…

Event: London Land Justice Fair, 21 July, 12-6pm

By Global Women's Strike | 3rd July 2024

We’ll be running a stall, and a workshop on land use in the women-led natural farming movement in Andhra Pradesh, India. All welcome!

Webinar : What Mothers and Other Caregivers Want – findings from international survey, May 11

By Global Women's Strike | 7th May 2024

From March 2022 to May 2023, this survey asked 1065 mothers and other caregivers from different generations and in different countries what they want and need. Assumptions are always being made about this, but in fact caregivers are rarely directly asked about how we spend our time, the resources we have or don’t have, or…

Watch our workshop with our sisters from Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming

By Global Women's Strike | 25th January 2024

Speakers: Meerabi Chunduru, Swati Renduchintala, Vijay Kumar, Selma James. Chair: Jyoti Fernandes In the last 20 years, in Andhra Pradesh, India, grassroots women in a secular movement of self-help groups are collectively transforming the food they grow, their families’ health, and increasing their income. They are the largest transition to agroecology in the world, simultaneously…

Mothers Manifesto outside Parliament today!

By Global Women's Strike | 13th December 2023

Dear friends The Global Women’s Strike will be supporting the Mother’s Manifesto on Wednesday 13 December, 9.30-2pm, on their stall outside Parliament while some of them meet MPs inside. We hope you will join us there for all or some of the time. Mother’s Manifesto are a group of mothers who have been campaigning for 18 months to raise awareness of family food poverty and…

Press release: Wages for Housework film All Work and No Pay at Tate Exhibition Women in Revolt.

By Global Women's Strike | 7th November 2023

The Wages for Housework film All Work and No Pay is part of the major Tate Britain exhibition Women in Revolt which opens tomorrow 8 November 2022 and runs until April 2024. The film was made by the Wages for Housework Campaign (WFH) with the BBC community access unit Open Door in 1975. It provided…

Join our mailing list here. Get the latest news and urgent campaign actions delivered straight to your inbox.

Current campaigns >>>

Mothers & children of Palestine, we are with you: Learn more

International survey: What Mothers and other caregivers want and need: Learn more

Caring for the land: Learn more

Surviving the Military Dictatorship in Myanmar: Learn more

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…

About the Global Women's Strike >>>

About us: Learn more

Our international network: Learn more

Our collective power: Learn more

Resources Learn more