March 8th is celebrated throughout the world as International Women’s Day , however in many countries the celebration of international women’s day is meaningless ,it is just talk because although there is all kinds of ‘equality ‘ legislation in the capitalist countries , in fact the position of women in capitalist countries is bad because of the ‘gender pay gap ‘ as well as various forms of discrimination against women and the over-sexualisation of society .
In fact in terms of equality legalisation People’s Korea was actually far , far ahead of any so-called ‘free ‘ Western country . On the 30th of July 1946 ,the Provisional People’s Committee of North Korea enacted the law on sexual equality . Article 3 of the law on sexual equality stated that “Women have the same rights as men to workers' rights, equal wages, social insurance, and education”. However , the UK did not pass the equal pay act until 1970 ,some 24 years later than the DPRK , the US passed its equal pay act in 1963 some 17 years later than the DPRK .It is also noteworthy in the DPRK that right from its first days women had the right to vote and to be elected whereas in the UK women only fully got the right to vote in 1928 ,some 71 years after men had gained the right to vote !
In People’s Korea the right of women to equal pay and to work is reinforced by a number of measures such as the provision of free childcare which is also a legal right in the DPRK. The DPRK has daily nurseries and creches and even 24 hour nurseries and are open 7 days a week. These are completely free of charge but in Britain according the website ‘Day Nurseries ‘ the average cost of putting a child in a nursery part-time is just under £8,000 in 2023, many families have to plan their budget carefully to cover the fees’ this would mean that many women would be out of pocket after paying childcare expenses so rendering the much vaunted ‘equality ‘ in Britain an illusion .
I was able to visit the Changgwang Kindergarten in central Pyongyang in 2008 . It had 10 floors and included an indoor swimming pool . Every child there received 120 grams of rice per day . The facilities far surpassed those in Britain which only has small private pokey nurseries some of which are unsafe .
In People’s Korea women’s equality and women’s liberation is real because it is based on the Juche idea and on socialism . In the West there was simply bourgeois feminism which only served the interests of women from the capitalist class but not the working class.
The great leader President KIM IL SUNG recognised the importance of solving the women’s question in the DPRK pointing out that "If a society is to run normally women who account one half of the population must play their role satisfactorily if we are to revolutionize and working classize the whole of society we must also revolutionize and working classize women . Just as a wagon cannot run smoothly if only one of its wheels functions, so a society cannot develop on a sound basis when only men fulfill their duties .Only when women are revolutionized and actively participate in the revolution and construction can the whole of society be revolutionised and working classized".
In the DPRK more and more women are being appointed to high positions such as comrade Kim Yo Jong , the vice-department director of the Central Committee of the Workers Party of Korea , comrade Choe Son Hui ,the Foreign Minister of the DPRK and comrade Hyon Song Wol the singer and member of the Central Committee of the Workers Party of Korea . Some factories have women managers or directors , for example in February 2019 I was shown around the Pyongyang Ryugyong Kimchi Factory by the general manager who was a woman.When I first visited the DPRK in May 1992 in those days the women I saw tended to be waitresses , shop assistants and other jobs . However in the last 20 years I have seen more and more women in positions of responsibilities including women guides . People’s Korea under the leadership of dear respected Marshal KIM JONG UN is making great strides forward !.
People’s Korea is a land where the ideals of March 8th are a reality .
Dr Dermot Hudson
Chairman , Korean Friendship Association UK
Chairman British Group for the Study of the Juche Idea
President Association for the Study of Songun Politics UK
Hon secretary general International Central Committee for Songun Study
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