Selma James – on struggles of women

On 30th November, Cardiff People’s Assembly is hosting an event with Selma James, “Women Race and Class: Uniting Our Struggles”.

Selma James, celebrated author and the founder of the international Wages for Housework campaign in the 1970s, will address the issue of power relations within the society during her talk. Cardiff People’s Assembly are hosting this talk to explore how the three forms of oppression, power, sex and class overlap. The event will also look at how the three can be united to create a better society for all.

Cardiff People’s Assembly has organised talks on many such issues in the past and is a network of people who oppose austerity and cuts. It is an organisation that holds open meetings to decide the next course of action.

Adam Johannes is an organiser with Cardiff People’s Assembly. He said, “Women in general in 21st century Britain still have a lower income than men on average with the gender pay gap widening for women. The gender pay gap is part of the same power imbalance that has caused a series of sexual harassment scandals in politics, the media and entertainment industries.”

The event is free and open to all. It will take place at Trinity Centre, Piercefield Place. The talk will be followed by a general discussion and there will be enough time for questions to generate a debate. This will be followed by a screening of “The Women of Rhondda” made in the early 70s. The short film is about Welsh Women involved in the general strike of 1926.

Selma James, having been a women’s rights and anti-racist campaigner for years, writes in her book, Sex, Race & Class: The Perspective of Winning, “Defining the enemy as patriarchy – the power relations between men and women – while ignoring the multitude of other power relations – such as those based on class, race and nationality – impels many feminists into narrow, unfeeling and racist corners. It is an arrogant and one-dimensional view of humanity and of the crisis of survival we share.”