8 March, 2010
Today in Brazil, the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) will begin a 100-kilometre, 10-day march from Campinas in São Paulo state to the city of São Paulo itself in honour of International Women’s Day. The march, celebrating 100 years of the announcement of International Women’s Day and under the banner “We’ll Keep Marching Until Every Woman is Free,” will highlight the continuing fight for common rights and public services, peace and demilitarization, economy autonomy, and an end to violence against women.
A main objective of the pilgrimage will be CUT’s drive for total wage equality between men and women. Even though Brazil has ratified ILO Convention 100, the 1951 Equal Remuneration Convention, the South American country has a long ways to go in order to achieve wage parity.
CUT Secretary of Working Women, Rosane Silva, said that every nation that has ratified ILO Convention 100 must speed up laws and practices to ensure that the articles of the convention are met. In Brazil, as a means to enhance subsidies to meet that goal, CUT has done a national study on wage disparities. Throughout 2010, the national labour centre will present those figures before governing bodies and employers to get them to comply with Convention 100.
Also today in São Paulo, Sindicato Nacional dos Papeleiros (SINAP), the ICEM pulp and paper affiliate that is part of CNQ/CUT, will conduct a manifestation demanding equal rights for women in front of the Suzano paper mill.