Indeed, it is women who pay a high price for current neoliberal globalization. It is women who suffer most notably the consequences of the debt and structural adjustment programs. It is women who assume, by our unpaid work, the impact of privatization and States' budget cuts in key sectors such as education, health, social assistance, food aid, etc. It is women who work in the free economic zones in conditions of veritable slavery. Our insecure economic conditions leave us more vulnerable to all forms of violence.
Women are the poorest of the poor.
Delegates will also emphasize the role of patriarchal beliefs and systems in influencing the policies of these institutions. Let us be clear, however. Millions of women actively participating in the World March are calling for an end to structural adjustment and demanding structural transformation instead. The World March of Women, by forming a huge international network uniting the already existing women's movements around the globe, is thus contributing in its own way to the construction of a new global architecture. It is therefore up to us to eliminate them by working simultaneously on the political, economic, cultural and social fronts.