Paraguay: Working women together and organized, we defend our rights – ñadefende ñande derecho !
08 March Statement from LVC members and allies in Paraguay:
Together and organized, ñadefende ñande derecho, is the slogan with which we call for this year’s march. We are dismayed by increased job insecurity, which is the precariousness of life itself and which primarily impacts the lives of us, women.
We, women from rural and urban organizations, self-organized women, peasants, Indigenous women, communicators, union members, teachers, journalists, sex workers, women with disabilities, Afro-descendants, lawyers, leaders of soup kitchens, women from political parties, graphic designers, trans women, bisexual women, lesbians, students, people from Baños, and neurodivergent women, we demonstrate against the mafia and organized crime that has seized power in the State in recent years.
On March 8, we commemorate International Working Women’s Day around the world, in honor of the women who, for more than a century, have fought for peace, social justice, equality, improved working conditions, and other demands that have been the hallmarks of the labor and feminist movements.
The current global and national context is highly unfavorable for the working class in general, but even more so for working women, most of whom suffer daily from the harsh conditions of precarious work and the combination of domestic and care work, which exhaust our lives and expose us to further violence.
The repressive discourses and policies promoted by anti-rights groups, spearheaded by leaders like Trump and Milei, have strengthened a conservative movement in Latin America that threatens progress in women’s rights. This conservative influence deepens inequalities and exposes women and people of color to greater risks.
Hate speech and misinformation promoted by anti-rights and fascist sectors advance an agenda of lies, seeking to distort knowledge and scientific advances.
The latest leaks of Lalo Gómez’s messages show how the State is co-opted by organized crime. We denounce today that all positions of power are occupied by mafia pawns, whose dominance extends to the communities where they intervene to mediate community issues, gain space, and once again violate women, because the mafia establishes itself through the system of violence.
The proposal to eliminate the Ministry of Women, the Ministry of Children and Adolescents, and Law 5777 on Comprehensive Protection of Women, launched by the government and spokespeople for Cartismo, clearly show how institutionalized machismo and misogyny are. With this proposal, they seek to leave the women and children of our country completely unprotected. We warn that we will remain vigilant and in defense of institutionality.
The implementation of the “Education of Affectiveness and Sexuality in Schools (EASE)” material in educational institutions, imposed by the Ministry of Education (MEC) and fundamentalist sectors, is a clear example of the denial of our rights by addressing topics with discriminatory content, religious bias, and anti-scientific bias.