September 13, 2024

This recent statement was issued from Manila, Philippines, on Aug. 20, 2024.

The Filipino women’s alliance GABRIELA expresses solidarity with the striking healthcare workers in India over the brutal murder and rape of a colleague in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, on Aug. 9, 2024.

Protesters are demanding justice, along with improved security and protection for women healthcare workers. The general public has also condemned the continuing crisis of women’s rights in India, highlighting the high rates of rape and other forms of gender-based violence across the country.

While a police volunteer in the state-run hospital where the victim was found has been arrested, thousands of doctors continue to demand a thorough investigation on the case as more details emerge regarding possible motives and involvement of state and hospital officials behind the heinous crime. The young doctor’s family also revealed that they believe a gang rape occurred, which means that more perpetrators must be brought to justice.

Filipino women strongly support calls for better workplace protection for doctors, especially those speaking out against criminal activities like the Kolkata doctor.  Women workers in the Philippines, be it in healthcare or in other fields and industries, are similarly subjected to violence and harassment in the world of work.

Those who dare speak up against gender-based violence and exploitative practices in their place of work or in their communities are at risk of being likewise targeted by fascist state and non-state forces.

As such, Filipino and Indian women share in the struggle for the rights, freedoms and dignity of women workers. GABRIELA joins the women and peoples of India in demanding justice for the young Kolkata doctor and for the Modi administration to address the dire state of women’s rights in the country.

Just as this atrocious crime should intensify the Indian women’s fight against the violent and oppressive patriarchal culture in India that continues to endanger millions of women across the country, it should also strengthen solidarities between other women workers all over the world in the struggle for social justice and an end to gender-based violence.