Nearly one in five essential workers in America is an immigrant. We are of every race and background, in every state, keeping America fed, clean, safe, and healthy. We are doctors, nurses, child care and home care workers. We are essential to America. We are immigrant women. Because ‘We The People’ includes ALL of us. This is our home. Immigrant Women Are Home. Learn More.

A Day Without A Woman

Immigrant Women's Lives- International Women's Day

Exploring Immigrant Women's Lives on International Women's Day

On March 8, we celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) – a holiday that originated in the United States and was later codified by the Socialist International in 1914. IWD reminds us that the struggle for women’s rights and liberation is an international struggle. This International Women’s Day we should remind ourselves of the role played by immigrant women in the U.S. These women, our ancestors, came seeking a better life. They got jobs as maids and nannies, in factories and on farms. Too often they were disdained by the immigrants who had preceded them. The same is all too true today.

Last fall I attended a webinar that featured DSA Honorary Chair Gloria Steinem. The webinar was sponsored by We Belong Together, “an initiative of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, with the participation of women’s organizations, immigrant rights groups, children, and families across the country.” Steinem noted that “Historically, globally, it is women who have been on the road. If you look at refugees, migrants, those who are affected by conflict and need to find work and 
move for a better life, the majority have been women. Immigration is a women’s issue, and we need to change consciousness to help people understand this truth.”
(photo. D Bacon)