The Asian Rural Women’s Coalition (ARWC) – representing farmers and landless peasants, fisherfolk, agricultural workers, Dalits, indigenous peoples, herders, pastoralists, migrant workers, domestic workers, displaced women including refugees and asylum seekers, women with diverse gender identities, women with disabilities, youth and children, and advocates – joins women across the world today in commemorating the International Working Women’s Day.
ARWC salutes all women who carry on the struggle for land and genuine agrarian reform; as well as for all the democratic rights and demands including the right for just wages, safe work, fishing rights, and migrants’ rights. Women continue to resist patriarchy, fascism, and imperialism that aggravate gender oppression.
Imperialism has subjected the world to insufferable oppression and exploitation . This deadly system gave birth to two World Wars, and now, it is pushing the world toward another. Billions of people – especially from the Global South – continue to suffer, especially women who are forced to rely on selling their labor at increasingly devalued rates amidst the massive crisis of overproduction and devouring of super profits by the elitefew. Peasants are losing their ability to produce freely due to land dispossession and exorbitant production costs. Meanwhile, indigenous communities and minority ethnic groups across the world are forcibly displaced from their ancestral lands.
Women, youth, and children from poor and marginalized communities, especially in rural areas, likewise bear the brunt of the imperialist crisis. The erosion of women’s livelihoods has resulted in a never-ending cycle of economic turmoil that compounds their already overwhelming burdens. The weight is made heavier by the uncertain future faced by youth and children—caused by economic instability, political repression, cultural crises, and imperialist wars of aggression.
Rural women – especially in Asia – play a crucial role in food production, natural resource management, and sustaining rural economies, yet they remain among the most marginalized. They face persistent inequalities, including landlessness or restricted access to land, economic opportunities, and decision-making spaces. Climate change, land grabbing, and intensive agriculture further threaten their livelihoods. They are also subjected to political persecutions, harassment, and other forms of human rights violations.
All forms of violence against women, youth, and children continue to rise across Asia, showing no signs of abating. Sexual violence, robbery, and murder, remains a constant terror to women. Workplace sexual harassment—especially in factories and large plantations owned by landlords—has also been reported. Online fraud and digital violence disproportionately target women and children, exacerbating their vulnerability. Safe and work with dignity, accessible and quality education and health are denied to women.
We see the coming years to be increasingly difficult for women in the Global South, including Asia. Reelected U.S. President Donald J. Trump is set to continue – if not heighten – the fascist and discriminatory policies against women worldwide through his protectionist economic policies, anti-abortion laws, anti-migrant policies, cuts to social security, and regressive gender policies. That, on top of gearing for more wars of aggression that will foster the dire conditions faced by women, such as its ongoing support of the genocidal war of the Zionist regime of Israel for its occupation of Palestine and its provocations in Asia Pacific with the Indo-Pacific Strategy.
Because conditions of oppression are also conditions for resistance, rural women across Asia have been at the forefront of challenging injustices and asserting their rights. Women have no choice but to rise and fight back against imperialist forces. Only by dismantling imperialism can true liberation be achieved. A strong, organized women’s movement is essential for the victory of national democratic struggles for all women across regions.
The yearly commemoration of International Working Women’s Day every March 8 is not only relevant for women but also serves as an auspicious moment for all nations and peoples to unite against imperialism as our common enemy. Rural women must rise up, organise, mobilize to fight for national and people’s liberation! Break free from imperialist domination, and build a just, free, and democratic future!
Rural Women Rise Up!
Down with U.S. Imperialism!
Long Live International Solidarity!
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