In recognition of the negative impacts of neoliberal globalization and war to women and the celebration of the centenary of the International Working Women’s Day, the Asia Pacific Research Network, GABRIELA, Asian Rural Women’s Coalition, and Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development co-organized a conference on the impact and women’s responses to the economic and climate crisis and war entitled “Women Resisting Crisis and War” in partnership with Innabuyog, Plan International, Global Fund for Women, The Primates World Relief and Development Fund, and Karibu Foundation.

The conference held from July 19 to 21 brought representatives of workers, peasants and fisher-folk organizations, pastoralists, Dalits, indigenous people, youth, migrants, women, and other sectors and stakeholders together to a common space for sharing and learning experiences, strategies and perspectives on survival and resistance amidst the multiple crises and wars.

These people were gathered to share, develop and provide new approaches for resisting and overcoming the neo-liberal and neo-colonial onslaught to further control resources of underdeveloped countries.

The three-day event tackled the impacts of the economic and climate crises to women, women’s means of survival and resisting the crisis, the impacts of war on women, women resisting war, and the challenges for organized women’s resistance with inputs on war and militarism, rejecting victimization, organizing and mobilizing against neo-liberal globalization and for freedom and democracy, and an overview of current strategies.

Because of the current social structure, women grew more vulnerable to the crises. As discussed in the conference, women are more prone to job losses because of the gender-specific inequalities in the labor markets. In addition, the industries hit by the latest economic crisis were those that hired mostly women workers like garments, electronics, and services industries. According to the Asian Development Bank, 80 percent of those who lost their jobs in the said industries were women.

This led to further exploitation of women in the workplace where they experience lower wages, longer working hours, and unhealthy working environment. A case in a factory in Indonesia shows that the economic crisis was used as rationale to terminate women workers who worked for more than ten years, but the real reason was to allow the factory to hire younger workers who would accept lower wages and more “flexible” arrangement.

In Asia, as women comprise over half of the agricultural workforce, they also suffer from the impacts of the climate crisis. This has led women to look for other means of survival, which make them more vulnerable to sex trafficking and prostitution. As they move to urban centers to look for jobs, women end up being deceived into situations of forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation. In Thailand for example, cases of prostitution increased by 20 percent from 2008 to 2009.

But women, as shown by the conference, do not take these impacts sitting down. As they become more aware of their oppression and exploitation, they realize the need for resistance.

Women’s resistance ranges from pens to arms. Some would engage in petition signing, rallies and demonstrations, among others. As an example, women workers stage strikes to demand higher wages and better working environment as in the case of an electronics factory in China and in other parts of the region. But due to the continuing exploitation and impoverishment brought about by the current social structure, some would opt for armed struggle, as in the case of the revolutionary movements in India, Nepal, and the Philippines.

Meanwhile, workshops on surviving the crisis with focus on surviving climate disasters, hunger, and development aggression; impacts and resistance of war and militarism, community resistance to war’s displacement, and popular resistance to war and militarism; and strategies for effective campaign and advocacy work were also held.

Culminating the conference was the presentation and deliberation of the Conference Declaration (see Statement section for the copy of the declaration).

The results and the declaration of the Asia-Pacific Women’s Conference will be discussed and shared with the Montreal International Women’s Conference. The women’s conference in Baguio City, Philippines is Asia-Pacific’s process leading to the Montreal Conference to be held on August 13-16.

This women’s conference in Montreal will bring together women active in their communities and on the frontlines of struggles against imperialist globalization, war and violence against women. It also calls for the participants to assess the achievements and shortcomings of the worldwide women’s rights movement in the last 100 years, honor the pioneers and celebrate the centennial of the International Women’s Day. Likewise, participants will be gathered to discuss building a Global Militant Women’s Movement in the 21st Century and formally establish the International Women’s Alliance as its culmination.

Ben Patrick Soliguin is a research assistant with IBON Foundaton, Inc.