Statement of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Iran on
March 8, International Women’s Day (2018)Since the first Women's Day in 1910, women have undoubtedly made much progress, have defied their
subordinate status and have been able to break some of the chains that bind them to this subordination, but
in order to break totally free, a more powerful defiance is required not only to end this subordination in the
fields of political and civil rights, but also to go beyond that and fight the class society that is the root cause
of oppression and discrimination against women.
Statistics published on the eve of March 8 clearly indicate that millions of women are forced into slavery on a
global scale. When nearly three million women are bought and sold annually as commodities; when millions
of women are circumcised; when more women fall victim to rape and domestic violence than being killed by
cancer, accident, war and malaria and when thousands of women are murdered in honor killings annually,
women's oppression cannot be any longer limited to gender discrimination and economic inequality. This
savagery invades all aspects of women's lives.
There is no doubt that oppression, gender discrimination and subordination of women came about through
historical processes. At the same time, we know that the capitalist society has eliminated many backward
traditions and cultures that were a barrier to the growth and globalization of capital, but in the same system,
oppression, gender discrimination and women's subordination have remained. Since this unequal position
and double oppression of women is rooted in the need for capital accumulation, thus even when women are
freed from the slavery of housework and enter the labor market, they receive lower salaries than men by
about thirty percent. More than half of these women are not covered by existing labor laws, including
unemployment, sickness and retirement insurance. Just look at the special economic zones of textile,
electronics and toys in India, in Bangladesh and in China to see the depth of exploitation of women by the
capitalist system. It should not be also forgotten that with the emergence of any economic crisis, women are
the first to be laid off. We witnessed during the past year many protests against these conditions by
hundreds of thousands of women in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, the United States, India and Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, in countries where political Islam is in power or Islamic terrorist groups are influential and have
control, the oppression against women has gone beyond all common limits. In these countries, the state and
its laws are a pivotal element in the institutionalization of women's subordination and underprivileged
status. The Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the most prominent of these types of states.
The Islamic Republic has organized and institutionalized for almost four decades aggression against women.
Nevertheless, amid this unbridled offense and despite many obstacles on their way to labor market and
higher education in different fields, women have been fighting regime’s misogynic rules and policies in all
aspects of social life. Women have had an outstanding role in various arenas of struggle, in every uprising
that have taken place in the society and in fighting the oppressive and exploitative relations that are based
on women’s reproductive role. They have shown that they are a force without which coming revolution is
impossible. The regime of the Islamic Republic, through institutionalizing the
deprivation of half of the
Iranian population from their human and social identity, has imposed gender apartheid on the society. This
system of gender apartheid has not been only part of the ideology of this regime, but also an essential
element of its establishment and consolidation. It is from this point of view that any struggle and resistance
by the women against this apartheid is part of the fight for revolution and part of the political struggle to
overthrow the regime of the Islamic Republic.
This struggle that is aiming to create a fundamental change in women’s position cannot limit itself within the
narrow framework of the bourgeois liberal horizon. It is true that communists and radical activists in the
women's movement fight for any degree of improvement in the conditions and position of half of the Iranian population from their human and social identity, has imposed gender apartheid on the society. This
system of gender apartheid has not been only part of the ideology of this regime, but also an essential
element of its establishment and consolidation. It is from this point of view that any struggle and resistance
by the women against this apartheid is part of the fight for revolution and part of the political struggle to
overthrow the regime of the Islamic Republic.
This struggle that is aiming to create a fundamental change in women’s position cannot limit itself within the
narrow framework of the bourgeois liberal horizon. It is true that communists and radical activists in the
women's movement fight for any degree of improvement in the conditions and position of half of the
society, but in all these cases they do not forget that they live in a class society and that struggle for women's
emancipation is inseparable from the struggle against class society.
Radical activists of women's movement are going to commemorate this year’s March 8 under conditions
where the country-wide uprising of late December 2017 and early January 2018 has opened a new chapter in
the history of the struggle to overthrow the Islamic Republic. The subordinate women, more than any other
layer of the society, felt their demands been expressed in the uprising that swept the streets demanding
bread and freedom. Women in Iran suffer from the exploitation of the capitalist system, the rotten culture of
the patriarchal society and the gender discrimination imposed by the Islamic state simultaneously. Hence,
they have no interest in continuing the status quo or confine their demands within the framework and
horizon of Islamic feminism or liberal feminism. The women fighting against forced hijab, also known as the
"Girls of the Revolution Street", by publicly removing their headscarves and waving them like flags while
standing on a platform, have gone out to fight an Islamic regime which started its rule by attacking women
and forcing them to wear hijab as the first step to defeat the revolution and consolidate its power.
The December-January uprising showed that radical and socialist activists of the women's movement cannot
and should not miss any opportunity to open the emancipating horizon of socialism to women, specially the
workingwomen. Without doubt, there will be more massive uprisings coming, but what is important is that
women can join the class struggle on a wide scale and with their own demands which will be best
represented in the struggle to eliminate the class system. In the hope of this, we will be celebrating March 8,
International Women's Day.
Long Live March 8 International Women’s Day
Down with the Islamic Republic of Iran
Long Live Freedom, Equality and Workers’ State
Central Committee of the Communist Party of Iran
March 2018
