The following article was originally published as part of the June-July 2022 issue of uManyano lwaBasebenzi.
Applying age-old tactics, capitalist states across the world are right now launching austerity to make the working class pay for their crisis and trying to weaken our defences by doubling down on oppression and divisions. The most dominant imperialist powers are leading the way – both China and the United States have embarked on offensives against reproductive rights. The US Supreme Court attempt to take away the right to abortion by tearing up Roe v Wade is an attack that will have repercussions for women worldwide.
Already, decades of underfunding, new austerity and sexist reaction prevent access to essential reproductive services and healthcare for many in South Africa. The ANC’s reign of economic and social inequality continues with cuts to healthcare and education budgets, while overseeing major price increases in necessities like food, electricity, and transport. Austerity is a direct attack on the working class pushing families further into desperation.
Most poor and working class women survive on poverty wages and even stretch their earnings to cover extended family. According to a 2019 study, women are the sole breadwinners in 42% of households in South Africa. Women workers earn between 23% to 35% less than men on average. Meaning that millions of people depend on women who in most instances earn poverty wages. The R350 social relief of distress (SRD) grant is an absolute insult and cannot provide any “relief”. For the “fortunate” ones who have full-time minimum wage jobs, the dismal R3500 per month earnings could never stretch to cover transport, rent, electricity, water and food for one person, let alone entire households. A trolley of groceries for a household of four is now estimated to cost R4400/ month. The war in Ukraine is contributing significantly to price increases, with the price of sunflower oil rising by a staggering 45%-55% within the last two months due to production and logistics disruptions.
The pandemic had a major impact on exploitative sectors which are often dominated by women such as hospitality, cleaning, health care and child care. These sectors rely on and reinforce the idea that women are “natural” carers, and will do the work despite terrible conditions. Although women made up 47% of the workforce in 2020, two million of the three million workers who lost their jobs between February and April 2020 were women. In conditions of rising unemployment, women are often the first to lose jobs and get pushed back into the household full-time to take on domestic, educational, and care duties neglected by the state due to budget cuts. In the majority of households, women take on most (if not all) of unpaid domestic and reproductive work. Another devastating development from the lockdowns in 2020 was the sharp increase in gender-based violence (GBV) as women were even more isolated in the unsafety of their homes, a huge boost to the controlling power of their perpetrators. “Post”-lockdown, this trend has continued with a 73% increase in rape cases in the first quarter of 2022, and with increased financial insecurity, more women will become trapped in abusive relationships.
Patriarchy is an essential element of the parasitic capitalist system. Like racism, it is used by the ruling class to divide workers. These attacks on the right to control your own body and sexuality have been accompanied by the backlash against #metoo as spotlighted by the witch-hunting against Amber Heard. In addition to divide-and-rule, no safe access to abortion and reproductive healthcare, force women to take on even more responsibility at home. For bosses and the capitalist state, limiting the ability to plan when and if we have children ensures a constant supply of impoverished workers in order to drive down wages and produce more profit. All this dehumanises women and directly contributes to the soaring rates of GBV. Ramaphosa himself stated that the levels of violence are “comparable to countries that are at war”, but continues to implement budget cuts that directly impact on life-saving services like healthcare, shelters for those fleeing abuse, housing, social services and LGBTQI+ inclusive education. In the US, women and the LGBTQI+ community are now fighting to uphold the right to abortion, that has already been banned in states like Texas with many more to follow if the Supreme Court signs away this fundamental human right.
Working class organizations like trade unions, civics, and youth organizations must unite in struggle and fight against sexism and GBV in workplaces and communities, soaring prices, and the states’ austerity measures. Such a united struggle can also win gains for the working class by fighting for free, inclusive reproductive and healthcare for everyone, publicly owned housing for all in need, free childcare, and communal kitchens with workers earning a living wage. We must also fight as a united working class against the capitalist system itself – only under a socialist system with a democratically planned economy can we end the exploitation and oppression of all people marginalized by capitalism and use the wealth produced in society to take care of the needs of all.
