Women and the Early Years of Japanese Communism

Shomi Yoon gave this talk as part of Marxism 2014 in Melbourne. Marxism 2015 will take place from April 2 – 5. “What sort of woman are you? Demonstrating when you should be at home looking after your children?” This was the question Sadayo Nakasone faced by the arresting officer for participating in the first […]
All the way for equal pay

Kristine Bartlett is a hero. She and her union, the SWFU, are spearheading the fight for equal pay through the courts. Last year Bartlett was in the Employment Court to argue that her miserable $14.46 an hour after 20 years experience as a caregiver breached the Equal Pay Act 1972. Her reasoning was that her […]
Family Court Reforms

The war on the poor has extended its reach to the Family Court. In the guise of protecting the vulnerable and improving the experience of those needing assistance to resolve family disputes the Government has reformed the Family Court fundamentally. Although the Minister of Justice consulted with an expert advisory group what became clear when […]
False advertising in Radio NZ prostitution discussion

Last month, National Radio’s Jim Mora hosted a panel discussion about prostitution in Christchurch. As usual with Mora’s show, this involves a bunch of yuppies pontificating about the issues of the day. For this show though, Mora introduced Debbie Baker from ‘Street Reach’ as an advocate for women working in the sex industry. Oddly enough […]
Michael Laws: a sexist, eugenicist toad

The exchange revealed by this blog post encapsulates the sheer inhuman malice of the capitalist system. Michael Laws is calling another person ‘monstrous’ for giving kindness and love to a child with Down Syndrome. He talks about abortion law in terms of how great it is that we can weed out what he sees as […]
Marching against Rape Culture

International Socialist Organisation members joined over one thousand others in rallies across the country last weekend, protesting against rape and sexual violence. Members in Tamaki Makaurau report a lively and energetic, mostly young, crowd at that city’s demonstration. Many in the crowd were receptive to left-wing ideas and arguments: we distributed many hundreds of leaflets […]
“Roastbusters”, rape, misogyny and the police

What an appalling set of stories. Each day it gets worse. Revelations of the abuse suffered by young women in Auckland over the last few years, and then further revelations of how their stories and complaints were ignored or dismissed by Police, have horrified many. For days media outlets kept referring to this as a […]
Slutwalk Dunedin 2013

The forecast was for rain and snow but but the sun shone through for Dunedin’s SlutWalk 2013. About 200 people turned up to oppose victim-blaming, with a hardy few showing some skin to the chilly wind to protest the idea that “slutty clothing” has anything to do with sexual violence. SlutWalk started in 2010 in […]
Women, Politics and Class: a Socialist Analysis for Aotearoa

Women face a contradiction. While equal pay for women and men working for the government became the law in 1960, it wasn’t until the Equal Pay Act passed in 1972 that equal pay between the sexes across the board became legal. The Domestic Purposes Benefit, providing state support to single parents, was introduced in 1973. […]
Book Review: Alison McCulloch, Fighting to Choose: The Abortion Rights Struggle in New Zealand

When an abortion service started in Invercargill last year, anti-abortionists quickly mobilized against it. An anonymous e-mail was to sent to the Abortion Law Reform Association NZ threatening ALRANZ and clinic staff: “People who work at the clinic are legitimate targets and so are you. You’ll be hearing from me again, that is if your […]