Dominican Republic: “Persist, resist, transform for Women’s Rights”

In commemoration of March 8, International Working Women’s Day, the organizations that are part of CLOC-Vía Campesina in the Dominican Republic, along with other social movement organizations in the country, gathered for a march through the streets of Santo Domingo.

In the Dominican Republic, March 8 is not only a day of commemoration but also of collective struggle and active remembrance. In a country where Anacaona, María Trinidad Sánchez, the Mirabal sisters, and Mamá Tingó planted the seeds of rebellion, these organizations took to the streets to celebrate past achievements and demand what remains: social justice, territory, and free bodies and rights for all. In a world marked by political, social, and environmental crises, women, diversities, and dissidents continue to be at the forefront of resistance and transformation, reaffirming: We will not stop!

March manifesto:

“Persist, resist, transform for Women’s Rights”

Today, March 8, we raise our voices to demand justice and remind those in power that we are not second-class citizens. The silence, fear, and anguish that they may want to impose on us through their systematic indifference will never be our response. Dignity and struggle will remain constant until we achieve full equality and freedom.

For decades, women in the Dominican Republic have fought for their rightful place in society, but progress has been slow and historical debts persist. The government ignores us, Congress betrays us, and institutions fail us.

While President Luis Abinader evades our demands, women continue to die from sexist violence, we continue to be criminalized for making decisions about our own bodies, and we face structural inequality that condemns us to precarity and marginalization.

But here we are. We are not afraid, and we remember.

We gather today because we know that persisting is our only option, resisting is our duty, and transforming is our mission.

The state is failing us, and we will not remain silent

We demand answers to an unsustainable reality:

• Uncontrolled gender-based violence: While Congress and the government fail to approve a Comprehensive Law on Gender Violence, women continue to be murdered, violated, and silenced.
• Political and economic inequality: We continue to see a ministerial cabinet with minimal female representation and low participation of women in elected positions, while our rights remain poorly guaranteed and the wage gap continues to punish us.
• Criminalization of abortion: While other countries progress, the Dominican Republic upholds one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world, denying the right to choose, even in cases of rape, incest, and life-threatening conditions.
• Poor health and obstetric violence: Women continue to die in hospitals due to inadequate care, while a system promotes cesarean sections without considering their risks.
• Comprehensive sexual education hijacked by religion: We continue to allow churches to interfere in public policy, denying girls and adolescents the information that could save their lives.
• Extractivism and environmental destruction: We oppose mining and the plundering of our natural resources, which impoverish our communities and destroy our territories.
• Institutionalized racism and xenophobia: Dominican-Haitian women are persecuted, detained, and deported without guarantees of their rights.

We will not stop

This government and society must understand that we will not back down. We will not allow them to continue negotiating our rights, nor will we permit them to continue enriching themselves at the expense of our exploitation and oppression.

We demand immediate justice and structural changes:

• Autonomy over our bodies and Lives: Legal abortion in the three cases, comprehensive sexual education, and universal access to sexual and reproductive health.
• Right to live without violence: A Comprehensive Law against Gender Violence, with effective prevention and punishment measures.
• Labor and economic rights: Ratification of ILO Convention 190 against workplace violence, incorporation of the gender perspective in the Labor Code and Civil Service Law, equal pay, and a National Care System that recognizes and redistributes unpaid domestic and care work.
• Environmental Justice and Right to Territory: Cancellation of extractive projects and recognition of the human right to water in the Constitution.
• Full Rights for All People: Law against discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation, social protection for older women, women living with disabilities, and peasants, as well as the eradication of state violence against racialized people.

All Women, All Rights

Today, we say loudly: Our lives matter, our rights matter, and our territory belongs to us. A dignified life, rights, equality, freedom, and justice—because the present and the future are feminist.

This post is also available in Español.