International Women’s Day, March 8, 2025, was celebrated in New Delhi, in a mass rally jointly organised by more than a dozen women’s organisations.
The organisers of the rally included National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), Purogami Mahila Sangathan, All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA), Jimmedari SWO, Centre for Struggling Women (CSW), Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan, All India Mahila Sanskritik Samiti (AIMSS), YWCA, Jagori, Nirantar, SAMA, and others.
Large numbers of youth, including school girls and boys, as well as hundreds of women and men from across the city, enthusiastically participated in the rally held at Jantar Mantar.
A huge banner, with a vivid graphic depiction of women militantly fighting for their rights, formed the backdrop for the celebrations.
Banners and placards of the different organisations were mounted on the walls all around the venue of the rally. They carried slogans such as – “The liberation of women is the decisive condition for the liberation of society!”, “No to privatisation of health, education and other essential services!”, “With political power in our hands we will end oppression and injustice!”, “Ensure worker status and minimum wages for Anganwadi and ASHA workers!”, “Stop privatisation of public sector enterprises!”, “ End contract labour!”, “Equal pay for equal work!”, “Four labour codes are an attack on our rights!”, “Step up the struggle against price rise and unemployment!”, “Oppose the growing violence on women!”, “Severe punishment for those guilty of crimes against women!”, and many others.
The rally began with a spirited rendering of songs by activists of all the participating women’s organisations, highlighting the determination of women to break all the shackles and march towards liberation.
Representatives of Purogami Mahila Sangathan, NFIW, AIDWA, CSW, AIPWA, AIMSS, Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan and Jimmedari SWO addressed the rally.
Speakers recalled that 50 years ago, in 1974, women activists in our country had brought out a report titled ‘Towards Equality’, which highlighted the terrible marginalisation of Indian women in education, health, employment and political participation. Women’s organisations have been consistently fighting over the years, demanding that the state should safeguard the rights and dignity of women. Yet, 50 years later, women in our country continue to remain victims of the most brutal forms of oppression.
Through our struggle we have forced the state to bring in laws granting certain rights to women. However, the right to an 8-hour working day, the right to equal pay for equal work, the right to maternity leave and child care facilities, the right to safety at the workplace and proper working conditions, , all these are blatantly violated. There are no mechanisms to enforce these rights and no punishment for the employers who violate these rights.
Expressing concern at the decreasing participation of women in the workforce, speakers pointed to the widespread use of contract labour, and the utter vulnerability of women workers, even in the state sector enterprises and services, including education, health, railway and road transport and many other services. Speakers demanded withdrawal of the four labour codes, whose aim is to deny workers their hard-won rights and intensify the exploitation of women, in the interests of enhancing capitalist profit.
Speakers expressed great anger at the fact that various feudal and backward practices, including caste discrimination, continue to enslave women, with the full support of the rulers. They denounced the growing violence on women, seen once again in the barbaric rape and murder of a young woman doctor on duty at the RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata just a few months back, the targeting of women in the ongoing violent conflicts in Manipur, and so on. They condemned the role of the authorities, the police and the criminal political parties, as a result of which such crimes are increasing day by day. Life experience has shown that women cannot rely on the rulers and their state to defend their rights.
Women need to unite and organise in defence of our rights, together with all the exploited and oppressed. A call was issued at the rally, for women to come forward in the struggle, with the aim of building a society in which there will be no exploitation, oppression, or discrimination, and in which the state will be duty-bound to ensure the well-being and security of all.
Young school girls expressed their determination to fight for an end to the injustice and indignities faced by women, through a dance-drama performance. Women students from a government school in Delhi vividly displayed the plight of women in society and in the family, through a street-play. The play showed the resolve of these new generation women activists, to not accept the inferior status of women but to fight to end it.
The rally concluded with a group rendering of the song “Tu Zinda Hai…”, which highlights the death-defying spirit of women and their determination to realise on this earth that heaven in which women will be truly liberated.