By Lauren Carroll Harris
Everyday, women are oppressed by capitalist society's ideal of "beauty" and are told that what we look like is more important than what we think.
Meanwhile, millions of migrant women work in sweatshops, "honour" killings continue in many countries around the world, a quarter of women are sexually assaulted by the age of 18, women's wages remain one-third below those of men's, and 200,000 women die each year from unsafe abortions. Yet, we are still told by the media and post-feminists that women have achieved social and political equality, and that feminism is outdated and irrelevant.
Despite what many post-feminists and the media say, the Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) and its associated youth organisation Resistance believe that feminism has not gone far enough.
It is apparent that sexism is endemic in our society, and is on the increase. Since the decline of the women's liberation movement in the 1980s, the scape-goating of minority groups, people of colour and women has heightened, driving them into poverty, exhaustion and deeper anger.
As women, we often lack the means to state the injustices committed against us and are denied input into decisions which affect us, and with the introduction of the GST, are forced to pay unnecessary taxes on necessary items, like tampons. Without the rebuilding of an organised women's liberation movement, most women will continue to live without a voice.
The many gains that were achieved during the second wave of feminism of the 1960s and '70s are slowly being stolen away. Basic rights like free child care and education, equal pay and reproductive rights are being threatened.
This is why the DSP and Resistance are committed to fighting against domestic violence, rape, homophobia, sex segregation in the workplace and are for women's reproductive rights, equal pay, free child care on demand and free education.
The only way we can do this is by creating a society that does not rely on the exploitation of the majority of people for the benefit and profit of a few.
For the DSP and Resistance, being a feminist means actively struggling for the liberation of all oppressed people, and challenging the sexist, homophobic and racist system under which we live. So don't just get angry, get involved and join Resistance and the DSP! Visit the DSP web ste at <http://www.dsp.org.au>.