HDP submits motion for March 8 to become a public holiday

The international women’s struggle day on March 8 should become a public holiday in Turkey according to the will of the HDP faction in the Turkish National Assembly. “It is high time to do this. International Women’s Day stands for women’s struggle for equality, justice and freedom. Until today, many women are fighting for equality in society. The 8th of March belongs to the women of the world and thus also to the women in this country,” said MP Dilan Dirayet Taşdemir from the Ağrı constituency. A motion to this effect was submitted to parliament on Monday.

The HDP motion first clarifies the background of this day, on which women worldwide demand their right to equality. The historical roots for the creation of 8 March are considered to be the protests of New York women workers who first took to the streets in 1857 to demonstrate against inhumane working conditions and for equal pay. Fifty years later, on 8 March 1908, women tobacco and textile workers went on strike and protested for better working conditions, women’s suffrage, shorter working hours and higher wages.

Clara Zetkin introduced a motion at the Second International Socialist Women’s Conference in 1910 to establish an International Women’s Day. “Women’s rights are not special rights, but human rights!” said the German socialist. The motion was passed unanimously. On 8 March 1917, women textile workers in St Petersburg went on strike against Tsarist Russia under the slogan “Peace and Bread”. In memory of this, in 1921, the 2nd International Conference of Communist Women set March 8 as the uniform date for International Women’s Day. Since 1975, March 8 has been officially recognised by the United Nations as International Women’s Day.

“Things are bad for women’s rights in Turkey. The position of women and gender relations are characterised by great contradictions and inequalities,” says Dilan Dirayet Taşdemir and notes that significant equality deficits can be observed in every area of life. “Therefore, it is imperative to obtain the constitutional obligation of the state to actually enforce equal rights for women and men. The elimination of existing disadvantages in our society is of existential importance for women. Therefore, it is of particular symbolic importance to declare 8 March a legal commemoration and holiday for women’s rights for the abolition of social gender inequality.”

It is not yet clear when the Turkish parliament will decide on the motion. A date has not yet been set. However, in view of the women’s policy agenda of the patriarchal regime of the Islamist AKP and the extreme right-wing MHP, it is to be expected that the motion will be rejected by the coalition majority.