On average, in the U.S. women make 76% of men’s wages. Three-fourths of poverty in the U.S. is concentrated in women and their children. This number is not shrinking, but growing, particularly among unmarried women, single parents, widows, and displaced homemakers.

Anucha Browne Sanders’ case against the New York Knicks shows that sexual harassment is an extremely pervasive phenomenon. It is easy to assume that such behavior only occurs in situations where women are in virtually powerless subordinate positions. However, all women workers face this threat.

The first Women’s Day celebration in the United States was a demonstration in 1909 by working women and their supporters for better wages, shorter working hours, better working conditions, and the right to vote. Despite many social and political improvements for women in the 20th Century, the fundamental problems of yesterday are still the fundamental problems of today, particularly for poor and working-class women.

The first women’s day celebration in the United States in 1909 was a demonstration by working women and their supporters for better wages, shorter working hours, better working conditions, and politically, the right to vote. Despite many social and political improvements for working women in the 20th century, the fundamental problems of yesterday are still the fundamental problems of today.

Women in the United States face a complex economic reality. Sex discrimination, while often declared dead by media and lawmakers alike, has persisted over time. One of the starkest illustrations of this discrimination is economically.

In October 2007, Anucha Browne Sanders won her sexual harassment case against Madison Square Gardens and was awarded $11.6 million. The verdict was the result of a grueling trial, where Browne Sanders, a high profile sports executive for the New York Knicks, recounted witnessing male executives pressure young female interns into sex.

After breaking with the management-dominated American Nurses Association in 1996, the CNA turned its full attention, strength and budget toward the concerns of the direct care nurse, organizing the unorganized, bargaining strong contracts and getting politically active.

The prevalence of eating disorders in the U.S. has reached epidemic proportions, now afflicting 10-15% of Americans. This is no accident, but is the result of a profit-driven culture that overemphasizes physical appearance and idealizes thinness, particularly among women.

"I am a 50-plus-year-old woman recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Divorce after a miserable 20-year marriage has left me without the good health insurance I previously had.... When my last shipment of medication covered by my previous insurance runs out, I face the possibility that my condition will worsen and I could become unable to care for myself adequately."

Suzanne Swift joined the military to get money for college. During her junior year of high school, Swift signed a contract to enlist with the military police for five years after she graduated high school. Swift was sent to Iraq as soon as she completed basic training. She reports that she dealt with ongoing sexual harassment and abuse from her fellow soldiers on top of dealing with the everyday trauma of being in a warzone.

March is Women’s History Month, and it is appropriate to read, discuss, and reflect on the contributions by working-class women in the struggle for a better society. For those parents who want to teach our children about the history of the working class, there is a new young adult novel that presents the role that women and children have played in American labor history.

Elvira Arellano, the immigrant single mother who has taken sanctuary in a Chicago church to avoid deportation and the break-up of her family, has put a human face on the debate over immigration. Arellano was arrested in 2002 while working as a cleaner at O’Hare Airport for using a false Social Security number, but she has refused to just quietly leave the country, declaring, “I am not a criminal. I am not a terrorist. I am a mother and a worker.” Her 7-year old son is a U.S. citizen.

Americans spend $5,267 per capita on healthcare every year - almost 2.5 times that of other industrialized countries. Yet we have fewer doctors per capita, visit the doctor less frequently, and have a lower life expectancy than most industrialized countries.

Even with Bush's approval ratings sinking to an all-time low, the majority of Americans opposing the Iraq war, and numerous scandals exposing the corruption of his administration and the Republican party, Bush has succeeded in getting another extreme conservative onto the Supreme Court.

To mark International Women’s Day (8 March) this year, the Committee for a Workers’ International is publishing a collection of nine articles contributed by members of our sections across the globe.