Reclaiming International Women’s Day
Honouring the Radical Roots of International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day was never meant to be a symbolic celebration. It began as a socialist, anti-war mobilisation led by working women who recognised that militarism, economic exploitation, and political exclusion were deeply connected. Today, resisting economies of war and neoliberal “peace” is a feminist act.
For over 110 years, WILPF has carried forward that legacy, challenging war economies, advancing care and justice, and defending global cooperation as essential to feminist peace. These struggles remain urgent: militarism continues to devastate women and communities, feminist organisations are underfunded, and multilateral institutions are weakened. True security cannot exist within militarised systems; it requires transforming them. Militarism, austerity, and the erosion of global cooperation are interconnected features of an economic model that prioritises profit and power over people and the planet.
Militarised Security Is Fragile and False
As the United States and Israel’s joint unlawful military campaign against Iran intensifies, the human cost is staggering. An airstrike on a girls’ school in Minab alone is reported to have killed more than 100 girls and teachers, a devastating example of who pays the price for militarised violence. Governments continue to raise military budgets while defunding multilateral institutions and feminist organisations. Bombs are funded, feminist organising is threatened, and global cooperation is weakened. These are not separate crises; they are connected political choices shaping life, survival, and dignity. This International Women’s Day, WILPF reminds everyone of the urgent need to challenge militarism, defend feminist organising, and strengthen global cooperation.
In our latest statement calling for an immediate ceasefire and compliance with international law, WILPF emphasised that militarised retaliation is not inevitable and that military intervention does not deliver liberation for women, girls, or communities. Defunding multilateral institutions and feminist organisations undermines accountability and exposes civilians to violence. Security for all depends on dismantling militarised systems, investing in care and justice, and strengthening international institutions that uphold human rights and collective well-being.
Public resources must shift from military spending to care systems, climate action, and feminist movements, ensuring communities’ needs, not profit and power, shape our shared priorities. This means sustaining grassroots women’s rights and peacebuilding organisations with long-term, flexible support and strengthening multilateral institutions that uphold international law, foster global cooperation, and centre feminist voices in decisions that affect us all. Moving the money is not simply a budgetary adjustment; it is a deliberate challenge to the economic and political systems that fuel war, inequality, and structural violence — laying the foundation for security that is collective, just, and feminist.
Join Us and Turn Outrage into Organised Power
WILPF calls on feminists, allies, and movements worldwide to mobilise in protests and solidarity actions, bring the call to demilitarise into multilateral spaces such as the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women happening next week, use our advocacy tools to strengthen your feminist peace work, and join and amplify the Move the Money campaign.
Militarised “security” is failing women, girls, and communities. Military budgets rise, feminist organising is defunded, and multilateral institutions are under attack. This International Women’s Day, WILPF calls for collective action to demilitarise, move the money, and defend global cooperation.
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