Dear Friends, 

We are sponsoring an exciting Mothers March on Saturday 12 March 2011, and very much hope you will join us on it. The March will be followed by a Speak Out (please see leaflet below).

This is a brilliant chance for us as sex workers to get some recognition for being carers, even if we can’t be public. Over 70% of prostitute women are mothers, mostly single mothers, doing what we can to survive and give our children a better chance in life. We are also grandmothers, sisters, daughters, aunties, partners . . . supporting families and whole communities. When do we hear that in the media?

We get no credit for our work, we are invisible. Unless of course we’ve been raided, arrested, jailed or murdered. The best known sex workers are those who have been exposed in the media or murdered by a serial killer. We can’t even report attacks without risking arrest.

As the cuts bite, there is less help with housing, debt, childcare, or any of the resources we may need to escape violence. More women are being driven into the sex industry. How else are we to support kids through school now EMA is gone and other benefits are being slashed? Why the surprise if some asylum seekers who have been left destitute or forced to live on vouchers turn tricks for a fiver, or some students do lap dancing to pay university fees? 

Instead of being offered protection and support, we are witch-hunted by politicians and even some feminists who earn comfy wages lecturing us about changing our ways.

If you are as outraged about this as we are, please join us on the Mothers March. Together with other mothers from all walks of life we can have an impact and demand that all the caring work we do should be recognised and paid for. If we won that money many of us wouldn’t have ended up in the sex industry or we would have been able to leave if we wanted to.

If you can’t march, please send a message of support, a donation towards organising costs, write a letter to your local paper . . . There are many ways to be involved.

Best wishes,

Cari Mitchell                                                              

Why we’ll be marching:

“Most of the women that I meet on the street are there to keep their families together and their children out of care. They go out for an hour and make enough money to pay a bill. We are not ready to stay in bed and survive on bread and jam. Personally I feel I deserve more and so does my daughter. What I do is not dishonest. It is hard work.” Jenny, street worker

“What I want is a little recognition. I’m not asking for the hundreds they pay a stranger to do my job as a mother. Just a little of that money would have made my life and my daughter’s life much easier.” Mandy, street worker

“We are all mothers working in this place. Don't talk to me about ‘my country’. What kind of country is it that forces mothers into prostitution to keep our kids safe? My son was nearly snatched off the street by a gang. He was saved by a passer-by. I never went home again. I moved area, found another flat and went on the game to cover the rent.”

“I’m marching for safety. We get raped and beaten and then the police tell us that if we don't like it we should stay home. If we do report an attack, more often than not we are arrested for prostitution while our attackers go free.”

“About a year ago I was determined to get out. I got a cleaning job but it only just covered what I had to pay for someone to look after my daughter. I would have had to work two jobs to have enough to support us. This job can destroy you. But other jobs destroy you just as good.”

“I was 18 and pregnant when I started working as a maid. The father of my baby wasn’t around and I was very hard up. I thought it wouldn’t be forever. My job was to look out for the girl and make sure she was safe. After a few months the police raided. They told me if I didn’t give them information I would be charged with brothel-keeping. I had no information to give. That conviction has ruined my life. I have tried for all kinds of jobs since then and it has always come up.”

“I am a mother. I was raided for working collectively with other women. How else could we work safely? The jury sided with me and I was found not guilty. But now I am forced to work alone or I’ll be arrested again. Why put us at risk?”

“Making us illegal doesn’t stop prostitution. It merely makes us vulnerable to psychopaths. The police take advantage, they raid us and seize all our money and assets. Some of it they just steal, it’s never accounted for. Many are also clients. Some of them don’t agree with the laws but they don’t speak out.”

International Women’s Week & Mothering Sunday

 MOTHERS MARCH

Sat 12 March 2011 w All welcome

London: 12 noon Trafalgar Sq, 2pm speak-out: call for venue

Invest in caring not killing

For Everyone’s

SURVIVAL
& WELFARE

End Cuts, Poverty & Discrimination

WOMEN, MEN, YOUNG, OLD BRING YOUR DEMANDS!

Why a Mothers March?  Because:

·  Mothers produce and care for the world’s people, while brutal market forces destroy us and our planet.

·  Mothers’ basic contribution to survival and welfare is unrecognised and unpaid.

·  Governments invest in weapons of war, banks and corporations. Feeding, housing, health, support, education, the environment – they couldn’t care less.

·  Our young people are victimised for defending everyone’s right to education.

·  Everywhere people are risking their lives to bring change – from Palestine to Egypt, from Haiti to Colombia, from Kashmir to Congo and Nigeria …

Why march with us? Because:

·  Many of us do caring work, whether we’re mothers or not.

·  We’re all being robbed of benefits and services our labour and taxes paid for.

·  We’re thrown out of jobs or made to work for less.

·  Mothers can help bring together all who stand for life, against war and exploitation.  

·  Everyone’s contribution and struggle must be counted and supported.

·  Fathers, sons, brothers, partners . . . it’s time to show your support.

Mothers March in Guyana, India, Peru, the US.

ASK ORGANISATIONS TO ENDORSE THE MARCH

The Global Women’s Strike is an international network for recognition & payment for all caring work, and for military spending to go back to the community starting with women the main carers.

Why I’ll be marching:

Ø ‘My daughter has a life threatening disability. If I am forced out to work and there’s no one to look after her, we are heading for disaster.’

Ø ‘It’s frightening to raise children in a world where they are not valued.’

Ø ‘We asylum seekers were cut first. No recourse to public funds, food vouchers, destitution. That’s what they intend for everyone.’

Ø ‘We run a small health food shop. Times are hard. The oldest of my three children is losing his EMA. I don’t know how we’ll manage.’

Ø ‘We use the library all the time, for revision, books and films for the holidays.’

Ø ‘Women are not believed. I was raped, accused of lying and jailed.’

Ø  ‘Legal aid enabled me to sue the police for assault and wrongful arrest. Without it only the rich will be able to afford justice.’

Ø ‘Mums of young children are treated as “workless”. When I was on Income Support I could be available to my son.’

Ø ‘After school clubs are closing. Children are treated as “collateral damage” for the cuts.’

Ø ‘Grandparents are expected to step in. But we’re also expected to retire later. ’

Ø  ‘I was put in a detention centre, and my children with social services.’

Ø ‘We share our house with other people to reduce costs. Cuts in housing benefit will make it impossible, especially in London.’

Ø ‘I went into sex work to support my kid and pay for my degree.’

Ø ‘People are told to blame “others” for the cuts. Racist attacks go up, all kinds of bullying, against immigrants, disabled people, lesbians, gays, trans. It’s scary.’

Ø  ‘Child Benefit should be universal. Kids should see they and their mums are valued. Means testing stigmatises; many kids hide they’re on school meals.’

Ø ‘Young people want to find their own way to activities. Without out-of-school clubs, sports, music . . . our families are impoverished.’

Ø ‘Flooding, drought. And they want to take our forests. They don’t respect anything.’

Global Women’s Strike international demands:

Payment for all caring work - in wages, pensions, land & other resources. What is more valuable than raising children & caring for others? Invest in life & welfare, not military budgets & prisons.

Pay equity for all, women & men, in the global market.

Food security for breastfeeding mothers, paid maternity leave and maternity breaks. Stop penalizing us for being women.

Don't pay 'Third World debt'. We owe nothing, they owe us.

Accessible clean water, healthcare, housing, transport, literacy.

Non-polluting energy & technology which shortens the hours we work. We all need cookers, fridges, washing machines, computers, & time off!

Protection & asylum from all violence & persecution, including by family members & people in positions of authority.

Freedom of movement. Capital travels freely, why not people?

www.globalwomenstrike.net  Tel: +44 (0)20 7482 2496  gws@globalwomenstrike.net

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