International Women’s Day or more correctly International Working Women’s Day will be celebrated around the world on the 8th of March . International Working Women’s Day was first put forward by the German socialist Clara Zetkin in 1910 , some 116 years ago .
Only in a few countries on the globe is March 8 International Women’s Day actually a public holiday . One such country is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) or People’s Korea. In the DPRK there are actually greetings cards for International Women’s Day . On March the 8th in the DPRK men present their mothers and wives with flowers and cards.
In the DPRK women have reason to celebrate International Women’s Day s because they are valued and respected as members of society .Respected comrade KIM JONG UN said that women are “ one of the two wheels of the revolution along the road to victory indicated by the Party” .
This contrasts with Western countries in which women have supposedly been liberated and are “equal to men “ but in reality are seen as sexual objects because of the toxic over-sexualisation in Western countries and the massive porn and sex industries in capitalist countries (the United States it is estimated that the revenue from pornography is $15 billion dollars annually ) which are completely absent in People’s Korea . In the DPRK there is no pornography and no sex industry .
Moreover in the capitalist countries there is a gender pay gap .According to the website Statisa the gender pay gap in the UK is 12.8 per cent .
People’s Korea actually granted equal pay to women nearly 80 years ago when it passed the Law on Sexual Equality in July 1946 some 24 years before the Equal Pay Act in the UK . Thus the DPRK solved the problem of equal pay decades ago whereas the problem still exists in the UK and other capitalist countries.
In People’s Korea, unlike the capitalist countries , concrete measures have been taken to ensure that equality is not just on paper .Childcare is free of charge and there is a big network of nurseries and creches including workplace creches and 24/7 nurseries . In the UK nurseries are very expensive , apparently it can amount as much as £16000 per year , more than what most working class women earn ! In People’s Korea the amount of maternity leave increased from 77 days in the 1970s to 150 days in the 1980s and a few years ago was increased to over 200 days which can be supplemented by regular and additional holidays . Women who have more than 3 children can work for 6 hours but get paid for an 8 hour day , something that is totally unheard in a capitalist society !.
Motherhood in People’s Korea is something that is honoured and celebrated rather than being demonised .The DPRK actually instituted the Communist Mother prize in November 2023. Women who have many children in the DPRK are rewarded with extra benefits . In the UK and other capitalist countries women from the low income strata who have many children are blamed and vilified.What a contrast !
Women hold important and responsible positions in the DPRK . Some are deputies to the Supreme People’s Assembly and to local people’s assemblies ,this includes working class women such as street cleaners and trolleybus drivers . When I visited the DPRK in February 2019 I was shown around the Pyongyang Ryugyong Kimchi Pickle Factory by a woman manager .It is quite common in the DPRK for women to hold positions like director , vice director or manager or head teacher. The DPRK has a woman foreign minister Choe Son Hui.
Therefore on March the 8th Korean women will proudly and meaningfully celebrate International Working Women's Day !
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