International Women’s Day has become a widely celebrated day in the feminist calendar: one which aims to educate and strive for a gender equal world. However, many of the events marking IWD do not always reflect the intersectional origins of the movement.
Before the cupcakes and the corporate sponsorships, the celebration of International Women’s Day was solidified in the working women’s movement, particularly among migrant women workers.
IWD was first celebrated to commemorate the 1857 working women’s demonstrations in New York City, but its establishment as a modern celebration came in the tragic aftermath of the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York. Almost all of those who died were migrant women of Eastern European Jewish or Southern Italian descent. A year prior to the fire, Shirtwaist factory workers participated in a strike known as the Uprising of 20,000 to demand that factory owners provide safer working conditions and better wages. Unfortunately, only modest concessions were made, and as a result 146 workers died in less than 15 minutes without adequate escape routes and out of reach of emergency services.
The fire had an enormous impact on the labour movement, leading to a groundswell campaign of workplace reform that led to the passing of over 30 laws including those regulating minimum wage and working conditions. The fact that over 100 years later, activists such as Saydia Gulrukh Kamal are spearheading campaigns for justice for Bangladesh’s garment factory workers, serves as a tragic reminder that migrant women are still, over 100 years later, struggling for safer and fairer working conditions.
This year’s theme for IWD is ‘Count Her In: Invest in Women’, It asks us to think about how we can ensure economic security for women in the workplace. In Australia, many of our most vital industries are highly reliant on the labour of migrant women, especially in the health and community services sector and agricultural sector. For these women to gain economic security, their health and safety at work needs to be prioritised too.
Unfortunately, the security, safety and health of migrant women workers is precarious. In a recent survey by the Migrant Workers Centre, over of half of respondents said that they felt unsafe at work, with a troubling 18% stating they always felt unsafe at work. For migrant and refugee women in particular, research found that almost 70% of migrant and refugee women had experienced at least one form of sexual harassment and that this harassment most often occurred in the contexts of insecure employment.
Last month, one of the largest workplace sexual harassment cases in Australia’s history began proceedings. 12 seasonal migrant women workers are suing Perfection Fresh, a large fresh produce company, alleging dozens of instances of sexual harassment. Industrial and employment lawyer April Zahra said of the claim, “These women are working with their union and courageously coming forward to hold a powerful organisation accountable and to make workplaces safer for all women, especially farm and seasonal workers”.
As consultations continue on the National Strategy to Achieve Gender Equality, the history of IWD serves as an important reminder that the work of migrant women workers is integral to Australia’s economy. This IWD, we should begin our celebrations by acknowledging their work, and continue to fight for migration and employment systems that don’t make migrant women vulnerable.
‘Counting her in’ should mean counting all women in, including women who work in the home and women who are supported by the National Disability Insurance Scheme, not just women in paid employment. Investing in gender equality means ensuring fairer visa conditions for migrant workers, addressing sexual harassment in all workplaces, and investing to prevent race and gender discrimination at work. From the workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in 1909 to the ‘Perfection Fresh 12’ in 2024, migrant women everywhere are leading the struggle for a more equal world.
This article was first published in edition #130 International Women’s Day Special Edition of The WRAP on March 2024.