Pakistan, March 7—On the eve of International Working Women’s Day (IWWD) 2025, marches and seminars were held in cities across Pakistan, organized by trade unions, student groups, government employee unions, and women’s organizations. Members of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) in Pakistan, along with our allies, participated and led discussions. Women workers, who face sexist discrimination and capitalist exploitation in factories, hospitals, and schools, were central to these activities. Cultural clubs also held events like film screenings and theater performances that showcased the struggles of working-class women in Pakistan.

Women need communism

PLP used this opportunity to call for a classless society that guarantees gender equality, workers' rights, and social justice. We highlighted the inextricable links between sexist super-exploitation and gender oppression in Pakistan and made the case for a revolutionary solution to these issues.

Our comrades attended the marches and chanted slogans such as: "Communism, not Feminism," "Down with Liberalism and Fascism," "Fight for Communism," "One World, One Fight," and "Workers of the World, Unite!" As expected, women bosses and misleaders attended, trying to erase the working-class and communist origins of IWWD. They promoted the achievements of capitalist women, while deliberately omitting the word “working” from their placards. These leaders spread liberal feminist ideas, while ignoring the struggles of working-class women, many of whom were still forced to work in their homes for low-wages, and were ironically not given the day off to participate.

History of fightback

We also held discussions where our comrades gave speeches about the meaning and history of IWWD, emphasizing solidarity with working-class women fighting against capitalist exploitation and patriarchal domination. Our comrades explained how U.S. imperialism fosters fascism to suppress working-class struggles for equality, justice, and peace. Capitalist rulers divide the working class by enforcing sexist gender roles and fostering divisions based on race and religion. PLP has long fought to unite workers against exploitation, racism, sexism, and nationalism. 

Although we are small, we aim to present a true communist analysis to the working class, uniting people from all backgrounds in the fight for a classless society.

The political tone of the event was sharpened by a speech that stressed IWWD is not just a celebration, but a call to action. It demands the destruction of the capitalist system that sustains and deepens the super-exploitation of working women.

Another PLP comrade explained that the oppression of women in Pakistan is not isolated but a result of capitalism, which is rooted in feudalism and imperialism. Capitalism profits from gender-based exploitation, relying on women’s unpaid domestic labor and relegating them to household duties. Around 57 perwcent of working women in Pakistan serve as unpaid family workers, primarily in agriculture and domestic work. This labor is essential to the capitalist economy but is unpaid and lacks social security.

Women in Pakistan suffer under both capitalist exploitation and patriarchal control. Feudal power structures further reinforce this oppression by enforcing rigid gender roles and limiting women’s access to land and financial resources. A large portion of women’s labor in sectors like agriculture, domestic work, and garment manufacturing remains unrecognized and uncompensated. Women’s participation in the workforce is just 24 percent, one of the lowest rates globally. This exclusion is supported by patriarchal traditions, limited access to education, and the capitalist system’s reliance on women’s unpaid household labor.

Sexist capitalism by the numbers

Key facts about the situation for women in Pakistan under capitalism include:

• Women earn 38-45 percent less than men for equal work, with a starker gap in the informal sector, where most working-class women face exploitation without legal protections.
• 47 percent of women are illiterate, compared to 30 percent of men.
• Gender-based violence has surged by 17 percent since 2020, with over 14,000 reported cases in 2024, including honor killings, domestic abuse, and sexual assault.
• Maternal mortality remains high, with 186 deaths per 100,000 live births, reflecting the failures of Pakistan’s healthcare system, which is shaped by capitalist policies.
• Although women hold 20 percent of parliamentary seats, nearly all the nominees are from the upper class.

Our comrades reaffirmed that the struggles of working-class women in Pakistan are not separate from the broader class struggle. True liberation cannot be achieved through reforms—it requires the destruction of the capitalist system.

On this International Working Women’s Day, we emphasize that the fight for women’s liberation is bound up with the fight for communism. The way forward lies in class consciousness and an international communist revolution. Only by smashing capitalist structures can working-class women achieve true equality, economic security, and control over their own lives.

Forward to the International Communist Revolution! Workers of the World, Unite!