IWD 2026: Solidarity with women of the world in the struggle against war and militarism, and for full equality!

International Women’s Day is a day of solidarity with women wherever they are in struggle around the world.  Given the horrors that imperialism creates daily, this year on International Women’s Day, we must raise our voices in support of those women facing its most horrendous consequences – Cuba, Palestine, Sudan, Venezuela, Iran.  We must do everything in our power to block imperialism’s drive – to war, to conquer and destroy, to bend to its will those who have chosen not to be its vassals.  

Cuba, which has stood for over 60 years as a beacon of internationalism and solidarity with the peoples of the world is being strangled by an illegal blockade.  Palestine, struggling for its national rights for over 70 years, is facing genocide.  Sudan, in the midst of a foreign-fuelled military conflict is suffering the world’s greatest humanitarian crisis.  Venezuela, another victim of economic warfare, has seen its president kidnapped and its oil claimed once more by the US.  The people of Iran, also victims of economic warfare, are now facing the use of catastrophic force by the world’s most powerful military.

Desperate to hold on to the profit, power and privilege that flows from its domination of the world, imperialism becomes more dangerous, more barbaric, more determined to hold back the tide of humanity who prefer a better world, a better future.  Most dangerous, most barbaric, most determined to rule despite nearly universal opposition, is western imperialism led by the United States which threatens everyone, including friends and allies along with the rest of humanity.  

The Communist Party of Canada stands with the women of these countries who so often are the victims of the violence of war and the violence that comes with war: sexual violence.  We stand with the women, their families, their communities, and their countries.  They need our support and the Communist Party will do everything we can to meet that need.  We call on all those who do not want to see more death and destruction, who support the right of people and countries to live without foreign interference, to add their voices and their support to the growing opposition to the arrogance and brutality that these countries confront. 

The Prime Minister of Canada, speaking at Davos, called for “respect for human rights, sustainable development, solidarity, sovereignty and territorial integrity”. He talked about standing up to the “bully”.  Fine words, but the actions of the Canadian government utterly fail to meet those goals.  It is upon the Canadian government that pressure must be applied, to live up to its stated opposition to bullying and in support of sovereignty.  Our government must come to the aid of Cuba, the people of Gaza, and the victims of violence in Sudan.  They must condemn the violation of international law, piracy on the high seas, and the use of violence against Venezuela and Iran. If those fine words are only about Canada’s sovereignty and Canada’s territorial integrity, then the world will know that Canada is hypocritical, unworthy of respect and unwilling to stand up to the “bully”.  

On International Women’s Day, 2026 women in Canada must also confront the actions of the Canadian government at home:

• As it lays off public employees, it is estimated that 58% of the layoff will be women, 5.5% will be Indigenous, 8.3% will be disabled workers, and 26% will be racialized workers. In each of these cases, the percentage laid off exceeds the percentage of that category in the workforce.  In other words, these layoffs will fall disproportionately on women and other workers who face discrimination in the workplace.  This increase in unemployment will follow these workers into retirement as it reduces pensions perpetuating the correlation between these categories of workers and poverty in old age. It will also reduce the services to the citizens the government was elected to serve;
•  As it talks about abandoning its commitment to $10/day child-care – a stab in the back for working parents and working women most particularly;
• As it funds its military expansion with tax dollars so desperately needed by Canadian women, and Canadians generally, for health care, child-care, housing, education, climate remediation and so much more.

There is so much that Canada needs but increased military expenditures – that do not feed us, nor provide housing, nor education, nor health care, nor transportation, nor environmental protection and do not produce much in the way of employment – is not one of them.  Canadian women and Canadian communities deserve more and they deserve better.  

On International Women’s Day, 2026 the wage gap that reaps the corporations $148 billion each year continues.  We need to intensify the struggle to close it.  The right to choose is restricted by lack of facilities in most parts of Canada outside the big cities.  We need to fight to make it a tangible right not just words.  

We oppose any attempt to use women’s struggles for equality as a means of division. Democratic issues have to nourish each other and serve the unity of the working class and the popular masses against monopolies. As such, we oppose reactionary measures such as Bill 94 in Quebec imposed by the CAQ government which, under the false pretext of defending women’s rights, Québec’s national rights and secularism, forces women teachers wearing the hijab to choose between their work and their faith. In addition to scapegoating, this manoeuvre attacks their right to work and installs division not only amongst women, but within the working class as a whole.

As we watch the growing attacks in the United States on the rights of women, starting with the right to an abortion, we must guard against the right-wing agenda that uses women’s rights, trans rights, the rights of the gender diverse along with the rights of racialized and immigrant communities as a false explanation for the problems created by capitalism – growing poverty, unemployment, lack of housing, growing inequity and a bleak future.  These are the problems that working women face, these are the problems the working class faces.  We must answer this agenda with a program that addresses the causes, the policies and decisions of capitalism.  We are not the cause, but together, working women and men, can be the solution.

The Communist Party of Canada stands for what working women need and deserve.  On International Women’s Day, 2026 we pledge to be part of the struggle to further the struggle for women’s equality and to achieve what women in this country need, what this country needs, and we call upon and will work with all those who want a future where our needs not those of the corporations and their minions are what drives the policies of our country.  

Solidarity with the women of the world!  

Solidarity with the struggle for women’s equality!

Unite to halt the drive to war and militarism!

Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada