International Women's Rights Day: Towards a convergence of feminist struggles

Tens of thousands of demonstrators are expected Sunday in Paris and in ten other cities of France for the international day of the rights of the women, the militants wanting to make a point of convergence of the "feminist dynamics".

Against the pension reform and its supposedly negative effects for women, against the inequitable distribution of domestic work, against sexual violence and feminicides, or even against gynecological and obstetrical violence: the watchwords will be multiple in the parades, in the capital but also in Lyon, Nice, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Strasbourg or Nancy ...

This "March of the big winners" - so ironically named because the organizers do not believe the promises of the government which argues that its pension reform will be favorable to women - intends to "value the struggles of women" and put forward "equality and emancipation" requirements.

The participants are invited to dress in a work blue and a red scarf, the attributes of the now emblematic "Rosie the riveter", "icon of all invisible workers".

For several months, the opponents of the pension reform have got into the habit of making up like that during choreographies where they sing "Because of Macron, big losers we will be ..."

At 3:40 p.m. - the theoretical hour when women stop being paid, taking into account the gender pay gap -, the demonstrators plan to throw a "glove of household gloves", a way of protesting both against inequality in terms of wages and the distribution of domestic work.

In a study published Friday, INSEE has just recalled that being a parent has twice as many consequences on the professional situation of women than on that of men.

Convinced that "when women stop, everything stops", the organizers also call for a "feminist strike" on Sunday under the slogan "We stop all".

"On Sunday, all the women work: they cook, do the housework, take care of the children," observes Suzy Rojtman, of the National Collective for Women's Rights.

Polanski effect

The Paris parade, which must leave at 2 p.m. from Place d'Italie (after a feminist picnic), will reach Place de la République, via several symbolic stages: demonstration in front of a shopping center to say "stop at work on Sunday ", often imposed on women, in front of a hospital for the" revalorization of feminized occupations ", or in front of an Ibis hotel to support cleaning women fighting against precariousness and part-time work.

A "die in" is also planned to symbolize the victims of feminicides and a giant anti-pension choreography.

Three months after demonstrations that brought together 150,000 people all over France at the end of the "Grenelle" campaign against sexist and sexual violence, the organizers still plan to mobilize on this theme to "break the silence and denounce the violence".

The speech liberation movement has since spread to the world of sport, marked by an unprecedented wave of revelations on cases of sexual violence perpetrated in particular by coaches against young athletes.

And the "immense anger" aroused by the recent Caesar attributed to director Roman Polanski, targeted by rape charges, should attract even more people to the streets, according to the organizers. Under the hashtag #JeSuisVictime, this controversy has also led for a few days a new wave of testimonials on social networks.

Awareness also affects men: the Zéromacho association, which fights against prostitution and for "equality", this week launched a campaign on social networks to call on men to change some of their "toxic" behaviors which, "up to now, were considered as pledges of virility and masculinity".

"Gentlemen, we will not lie ... For things to change, we will have to change", proclaim the three videos posted.