6th International Action of the World March of Women Continues in Sri Lanka: Life Over Profit, Peace Over War
April 24, 2025 — Sri Lanka
On April 24th, women from Sri Lanka and across the globe came together as part of the 6th International Action of the World March of Women (WMW), under the powerful slogan: “Life Over Profit, Peace Over War.” The 3-day gathering, held in Sri Lanka and organized by the Women’s Centre, WMW, and Action Aid France, focused on resisting transnational corporate power and raising the struggles and resistance of women workers.
Why Sri Lanka?
The Women’s Centre, founded in 1982, has long been a force in Sri Lanka’s labor rights movement, particularly in the garment sector. As a strong advocate for women’s labor rights, the center has stood at the frontlines during major strikes and mobilizations, supporting women workers in demanding dignity, fair wages, and protection from violence and exploitation.
Sri Lanka’s garment industry, where women make up the vast majority of the workforce, continues to be marked by low wages, long hours, and unsafe working conditions. These systemic issues are compounded by widespread gender-based discrimination and a lack of social protections. In the face of these challenges, women-led labor organizing continues to grow—despite strong opposition from both corporations, institutions and state policies.
A Feminist Action Rooted in Solidarity
The April 24th action marks a global day of resistance and remembrance—especially in honor of the lives lost in tragedies like the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh. But this year, it also served as a space to listen to the voices of women workers in Sri Lanka and beyond, building international feminist solidarity against corporate impunity.
Through shared stories, public forums, street actions, and strategy meetings, participants from the Global South and North are collectively pushing to dismantle the structures that allow transnational corporations to thrive at the cost of workers’ rights, lives, and ecosystems. The goal is to forge concrete and common strategies to demand accountability and sustain the momentum of the feminist movement across borders.
One of the most powerful moments of the day was a street action held in front of Sri Lanka’s largest Export Processing Zone, where women workers and militants of the WMW came together to raise the urgent demands of Sri Lankan garment workers. By standing in front of the Export Processing Zone, the action exposed the ongoing exploitation by transnational corporations and symbolically reclaimed a space that represents the heart of Sri Lanka’s garment export economy. It highlighted the critical role of women workers and the daily injustices they face in an economic model that puts profit before people.
Through chants, banners, and testimonies, they made visible the exploitation endured by women in the industry.
In a deeply emotional and symbolic act, candles were lit to commemorate the victims of the Rana Plaza disaster. The participants emphasized that the same unjust conditions that led to the tragedy still persist today—reminding the world that while time passes, the structures of exploitation remain intact.
Throughout the 3-day, participants from Asia-Oceania, Africa, and Europe engaged in strategic discussions on feminist alternatives to corporate and militarized systems. Sessions focused on women’s struggles in the garment, agriculture, food and fisheries industries, and transnational corporations’ current characteristics and impacts on these industries. Together, the participants called for a radical transformation of the economy—one grounded in the feminist economy alternative.
Globalize Resistance. Globalize Feminist Solidarity. Dismantle Corporate Power.
As the World March of Women continues its 6th International Action, Sri Lanka becomes a beacon of feminist resistance—where grassroots voices rise in unity against systemic exploitation. The struggle continues, and so does our commitment.
You can reach the press release of the action in Sri Lanka here.
You can reach the international declaration of the World March of Women here.
Read the article published in capiremov.org which analyses the relationship of the TNCs with the far right.
#WMW2025 #LifeOverProfit #FeministSolidarity #April24