Press release from Queer Strike: “When women are paid for all we do, there’ll be a lot of wages due . . .”
Singer-song writer Gemma Rogers has re-imagined the song, “Wages Due”, written and originally sung by Boo Watson in 1975. Released on Bandcamp, people are asked to pay what they can when they download the song. We’re delighted that all proceeds will go to Crossroads Women.
Boo Watson was a founding member of Wages Due Lesbians in Toronto, Canada, and a talented musician. She composed and wrote the “Wages Due” song aged 17, reflecting her experiences as a young woman who had joined the International Wages for Housework Campaign (WFH). The song was an immediate hit in the wider movement for women’s financial independence and recognition of women’s unwaged work.
Wages Due Lesbians is now known as Queer Strike, an autonomous member organisation of the Global Women’s Strike, co-ordinated by the Wages for Housework Campaign, which opened the first women’s centre in the same year Boo wrote her song, 1975. Both groups are based at the Crossroads Women’s Centre.
Press Release from Gemma Rogers
At the Tate Britain exhibition, ‘Women In Revolt,” Gemma Rogers saw a looped video, in which ‘WAGES DUE’ was playing – the piece captured Gemma’s attention immediately and she began scouring the internet to find the song – and its writer, Boo Watson.
With permission from Boo, Gemma has re-imagined WAGES DUE for 2024 and is releasing it on Friday 28th June 2024 exclusively on Bandcamp. The song will be available to buy digitally for what you can afford – and ALL proceeds will go to Crossroads Women, which runs the Crossroads Women’s Centre first started by Wages For Housework Campaign in 1975. Queer Strike and Global Women’s Strike are both based there.
The Women’s Centre is an anti-poverty and justice hub, housing 15 women’s groups, and a supportive men’s group, which combine collective self-help services and campaigning to address issues from grassroots women’s point of view and lived experiences rape and domestic abuse, right to be here and the hostile environment, racism, disability discrimination, sex workers’ rights, benefit entitlements, unwaged caring work, support not separation for mothers up against ‘child protection’ injustices, natural farming, and more….
Gender equality still has a long road to travel to achieve equitability – 4 out of 5 employers are STILL paying male workers more than female workers.
Gemma’s version of WAGES DUE is supported by Mammas in Music – who are committed to challenge the status quo by advocating for equal opportunities for Mothers in an industry that historically under-values and under-represents their efforts, contributions, and abilities.
Their efforts to Connect, Empower, and Advocate are upheld by the core values: Community, Equity, and Growth.
Buy this song of protest, solidarity and love – to help fund a cause that continues to support all women’s rights – for a little or a lot – it will make a difference.