IWD and Solidarity with Anganwadi workers
Our statement of solidarity was read at Sangharsh Ka Utsav (festival of Struggles) on 9th of March marking the international Women's day
Jai Bhim, Lal Salaam comrades,
We are honoured to join your International Women's Day celebration.
You, the Anganwadi workers of Delhi, and indeed across India, stand at the very foundation of Indian society. You nurture our youngest citizens, care for the health of mothers, and ensure that the most vulnerable among us are not forgotten. Your work is indispensable, and yet, you are treated as though you are dispensable. This contradiction—where the state recognises your work as essential but refuses to grant you dignity, fair wages, and security—exposes the deep injustice at the heart of our social and economic order.
The government’s actions reveal a fundamental truth: it relies on you, the Anganwadi workers, to sustain the health and future of our people, yet it refuses to recognise your labor as work. Instead, your service is dismissed as an extension of “women’s duty”—an unpaid or underpaid responsibility rather than a profession worthy of respect, rights, and remuneration. This is because your labor is reproductive in nature—it does not directly generate wealth for the Brahmanical capitalist class, but it sustains the very workforce upon which the nation depends. In a society still shackled by caste and patriarchy, this allows the state to exploit you while denying you justice.
The Delhi government, like others before it, has shown that it will suppress and punish those who dare to demand your rights. The illegal termination of 884 Anganwadi workers is not merely an act of retaliation against individuals—it is a warning to all workers that they must remain subservient. But history teaches us that the oppressed do not win their rights by submission, but through struggle. The bravery of you, who have fought on the streets and in the courts, is a lesson for all working people in India and the world.
You are engaged in a battle not only for reinstatement but for justice itself—for the recognition that caregiving is work, that women workers deserve dignity, and that the state must be held accountable for its exploitation. Your victory will not be yours alone—it will be a victory for every worker whose labor has been made invisible, for every woman who has been denied her rights, and for every citizen who believes in democracy, justice, and equality.
We stand in full solidarity with your struggle. We call upon all workers, all oppressed peoples worldwide, and all those who seek a just society to join you in this fight. Justice delayed is justice denied. All the workers must be reinstated, their labor must be recognised, and your rights must be secured. We believe you will win!
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Useful resources on the topic of women's struggles:
IWD in London
We also marched in the streets of London on the 8th of March as a part of International Women's Day organised by Global Majority groups with a banner calling for Smashing the Brahminical Patriarchy and in solidarity with Delhi State Anganwadi Workers
