The protection of minimum work standards in government employment-welfare programmes will be considered by the National Assembly this fall. Marchers demanded a 'social infrastructure programme', to create jobs in the social sector that are of collective utility, e.g. taking care of the sick or elderly in the home, protecting the environment etc. The women of Quebec were not alone June 4, but were joined in their fight against poverty by women from countries as diverse as Camaroon, Nicaragua and the Philippines. These women spoke of the universality of the problem of poverty, which transcends boarders, race and languages. The global trend of neo-liberalism emphasizes a need to eliminate fiscal deficits and debts at the cost of social conditions globally.
Women are often the hardest hit by such policies.
When hospitals, day care and other social programmes are cut, it is largely women who replace them and do the work for free in their homes. The United Nations has been campaigning for gender equality for the year 2000. The year 2000 is only five years away and the women of Quebec have taken, with this march, a historically important step in the fight for gender equality.