Bobby Ramakant - CNS’ Post

Pakistan socialist parties have a long history of advocating for social justice, equality, and the redistribution of wealth and power in the country. These parties have played a significant role in mobilizing the masses against feudalism, capitalism, and imperialism. One of the most prominent socialist parties in Pakistan is the Awami Workers Party (AWP), which was formed in 2012 through the merger of three left-wing parties: the Labour Party Pakistan, the Awami Party Pakistan, and the Workers Party Pakistan. The AWP has been at the forefront of struggles for workers' rights, land reforms, and gender equality. Another important socialist party in Pakistan is the Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP), which was founded in 1948. The CPP has a long history of fighting for the rights of the working class and peasantry. It has also been vocal in its opposition to military rule and foreign intervention in Pakistan. The National Party (NP) is another socialist-leaning party in Pakistan, which traces its roots back to the Balochistan National Movement of the 1970s. The NP has been at the forefront of struggles for the rights of the Baloch people, including demands for autonomy and greater control over the province's resources. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is another political party in Pakistan with socialist leanings. Founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1967, the PPP has traditionally espoused leftist and socialist principles, including a commitment to social welfare programs, land reforms, and nationalization of key industries. The Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA) is a coalition of left-wing political parties in Pakistan, including the AWP, the National Party, the Progressive Youth Alliance, and the Socialist Movement Pakistan. The PDA aims to provide an alternative to the mainstream political parties in Pakistan, which have often been criticized for their failure to address the needs of the marginalized and oppressed sections of society. Despite their strong ideological commitments, socialist parties in Pakistan have faced numerous challenges, including state repression, internal divisions, and electoral setbacks. The dominance of conservative and right-wing forces in Pakistani politics has made it difficult for socialist parties to gain widespread support among the electorate. However, socialist parties in Pakistan continue to play an important role in raising awareness about social and economic inequality, promoting the rights of workers and peasants, and challenging the hegemony of the ruling elite. They have also been active in mobilizing mass movements against authoritarianism, militarism, and religious extremism. In conclusion, socialist parties in Pakistan have a rich history of struggle and resistance against oppression and exploitation. Despite facing numerous challenges, they remain committed to the cause of social justice and equality.

Despite well-developed welfare systems in the Nordic countries, more Nordic citizens live in economic vulnerability today than ten years ago. The growing number of children living in poverty is particularly serious, as is the fact that many pensioners, especially women, are living in economic hardship.     In conjunction with the summit of the UN Commission on the Status of Women NIKK publishes a knowledge base, focusing on this year’s theme. The Nordic Council of Ministers and The Nordic Council #CSW68

#CareWork is essential for households and societies to function. However, the unequal responsibility of unpaid care work on women results in time poverty, impacting women’s autonomy and their ability to access their rights and opportunities of skill education and employment. The care work responsibility of women is among the main reasons behind the low female labour force participation of the country, which stands at 32.8%. It is time to change this. Let us all come together to #ShareTheCareWork! NonTraditionalLivelihoodsNetwork (NTLN) MenEngage Alliance

On this day seven years ago, the Government announced a $2 billion pay equity settlement for 55,000 care and support workers. It significantly advanced human rights, gender equality, and decent work in Aotearoa New Zealand. That settlement finished at the end of 2023. However, a new pay equity settlement is yet to be reached. Care and support workers perform important, skilled, and emotionally complex work. They provide care to people across Aotearoa with a wide range of needs. They work in home support, disability, aged residential care and mental health and addictions. Pay equity will ensure there is a skilled and sustainable workforce to look after people in our communities. Pay equity is about gender equality, ensuring that female or historically female-dominated professions are valued equally. "I encourage all parties to continue constructive dialogue to ensure a settlement that provides real pay equity. Pay equity needs to be well funded by the Government. Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora (the leading agency) must ensure there is sufficient funding available for a strong pay equity settlement," says Saunoamaali'i Karanina Sumeo, EEO Commissioner. E tū union has issued this media release https://bitly.ws/3idPh calling for fairness on pay equity. “It’s not just about our pay, though that’s a big part of it. It’s also about making sure we actually have a workforce that’s able to carry out this vital work," says residential aged care worker, Marianne Bishop. #PayEquity

On International Women’s Day 2024, Lucy Steed, GAICD chats with Bloomberg News about Melior’s gender lens investing approach, what the findings from the gender pay gap reporting actually mean, and the gender metrics Melior assess across ASX 300 companies. https://lnkd.in/gYX9EYFh #genderpaygap #wgea #advocacy #impactinvesting #activecorporatestewardship

I am incredibly proud and honoured to be part of the Living Wage Scotland's International Women's Day video. Cleaning industry typically works on a low wage, minimum wage and also below-minimum wages. Some people even are not employed but working on a self-employed basis or even worse, gets paid cash in hand and get various costs deducted from their wages. In this case it works out that they are not getting paid even the minimum wage! I know a lot of women who are in these situations or previously have been in this situations. Sometimes it is hard to think that people are OK to pay cleaning staff cash in hand and don’t even care about people getting paid the "fair" wage. All I want to do in my business is to create a fair and safe workplace for all my staff, as we employ 90% women, hopefully I am doing my part in creating a better workplace for women!   #Edinburgh #cleaning #commercialcleaning #teambuilding #excellentstaff #livingwage #team #management #communication #business #teamwork

Unpaid care work keeps millions of women out of the labour force. According to the latest ILO estimates, 708 million women worldwide are unable to participate in paid employment due to care responsibilities—compared to 40 million men. As the demand for care grows, it’s clear we urgently need policies that support the care economy and foster opportunities for all. 📘Learn more about these new findings and how to drive change: https://ow.ly/UBxm50TViBn #DayOfCare

It is time to underscore the essential role of reproductive work in the economy. Domestic work mostly undertaken by women has never been fairly priced in the market or counted down to GDP. However, this should not erase the value and contributions domestic workers have made to the economy and society. It is time to invest in reproductive work and "build care infrastructures that recognize, fairly compensate, and redistribute the care work performed predominately by the working class, migrants, and women of colour can lead to a multitude of benefits, including ensuring better educational outcomes for children, improving women’s mental well-being, and expanding women’s access to economic opportunities. " https://lnkd.in/d4ivMz7a

International Equal Pay Day is marked every year on September 18 - a day used to continue the advocacy on and highlight the issue of equal pay for work of equal value. The gender wage gap and general decent work continues to be an issue for women at work. Recent research titled "Beyond 33%: The Economic Empowerment of Fijian Women and Girls" on paid and unpaid labour in Fiji was published by FWRM and commissioned by Professor Wadan Narsey based on official data sources such as the Fiji Bureau of Statistics, Fiji Revenue and Customs Services and Fiji National Provident Fund. This research found that females made up only 34% of the paid labour force. The highest average incomes for both females and males are for Employers with Females ($24,365) earning 29% less than Male Employers ($34,452). For Salary Earners whose the gender pay gap is at 14 percent between males and females. For wage earners, the gender pay gap is at 20 percent. According to the United Nations, the global gender pay gap is estimated to be at 20 percent. Existing structural barriers evolving from established patriarchal ideologies have long challenged the empowerment of women and girls. Therefore, we also take this opportunity to acknowledge the efforts made by advocates for decent work for women. FWRM continues to highlight the challenges faced by women in the world of work and shares this video, that was developed more than 20 years ago, yet somehow still remains relevant to this day. #DecentWork4Women #EqualPay4EqualWork https://lnkd.in/gv_MnEJx

Fifty years ago, more men voted for social democratic parties in Western Europe than women, but today, the opposite is true. New research from Orit Kedar, Odelia Oshri and Lotem Halevy helps explain why. Using public opinion data in 18 democracies over five decades (1970-2020), they show that male manual workers have withdrawn their support for social democratic parties at a faster rate than the general population, while also increasing their support for the far right. The economic positions of parties play a crucial role in this trend. In places where manual sectors are highly male dominated, a moderately large shift by a social democratic party to a more centrist economic position is associated with a decline of eight percentage points in the gender gap in support for that party. This shift occurs only if a viable far-right party is on the ballot. Similarly, when social democratic parties and far-right parties take significantly different economic positions, higher male presence in manual sectors correlates with greater male support for social democratic parties. However, as the economic policies of social democratic parties and far-right parties converge, higher male presence in manual sectors no longer translates into greater male support for social democratic parties compared to women. https://lnkd.in/gRskrmmb