Tens of thousands of women, braving COVID-10, mobilized on Monday to defend their rights across the world, from Mexico to Spain to Asia, on the occasion of International Human Rights Day. women.
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Everywhere, they have made the persistent observation of the inequalities, discrimination and violence to which they are subjected.
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In Mexico, against gender-based violence
Thousands of women protested in central Mexico City on Monday against gender-based violence.
Before the procession set off from the Plaza de la República to the seat of national government in the Zócalo, hooded demonstrators kicked the wooden fences around the Monument to the Revolution.
They also posted photos with the names and surnames of suspected rapists, murderers and stalkers.
Mexico is one of the countries most affected by violence against women. In 2020, there were 967 victims of feminicides.
Demonstrations also took place in Chile, Ecuador, Argentina and Paraguay.
Gatherings in Spain, except Madrid
In Spain, the demonstrations of March 8 for the World Day of Women’s Rights were banned due to the health situation in Madrid, the usual scene of gigantic marches, but not in other Spanish cities.
In Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and dozens of cities, rallies in the color of feminist struggles, purple, were held on Monday. “We still have a lot of work to do” to “put an end to the prejudices which still exist”, declared the Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, during a ceremony.
Thousands of people in the streets in France …
Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched Monday in Paris and in several large cities of France, to denounce the persistence of inequalities suffered by women, which the health crisis and the confinements have further reinforced.
The “first chores” were called to go on “feminist strike”, as proclaimed by the head banner of the Parisian procession, which gathered some 30,000 people, according to the organizers.
… In Algiers
Hundreds of women demonstrated Monday in Algiers, demanding the repeal of the family code, which they consider discriminatory, but also in the continuity of the pro-democracy movement of Hirak in full revival.
They held up placards which read: “Repeal of the code of infamy” and “Gender equality”.
… and in Asia
From Yangon to New Delhi, thousands of women marched in Asia. A crowd of women in colorful saris joined farmers on the outskirts of New Delhi to oppose government reforms, who have been demonstrating for months. “All our women, our sisters will be the main contributors to this event,” Kuwinder Kaur, from the state of Punjab, told AFP.
In Burma, activists, teachers, farmers, workers, intellectuals and students marched in numbers, demanding “the return of Aung San Suu Kyi”, overthrown by the army on February 1. In Yangon, demonstrators held up signs: “Together we can change the world” and multicolored flags made from their longyi, the traditional Burmese skirt.
Protests also took place in Pakistan, from the city of Lahore (east) to the province of Balochistan (west), and hundreds of people, mainly women of the feminist movement Gabriela, marched in Manila, Philippines.
“#MeToo in Greece”
Hundreds of women have demonstrated in Greece, as the country experiences a series of denunciations of sexual assault in the field of sport and culture.
“It’s more important today than in previous years, precisely because we are going through the #MeToo movement in Greece,” actress Marilena Kavazi told AFP in Syntagma Square in Athens.
Parliamentary Committee in Turkey
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Monday that his country would create a parliamentary committee to better fight violence against women.
This announcement came a few days after a violent attack that shocked the country, that of a woman by her ex-husband in Samsun, in northern Turkey, in the middle of the street and in front of their daughter.
… And enhanced US engagement at the UN
The United States to join the Group of Friendly Countries at the UN for the elimination of violence against women and girls, because “when women do better, countries do better,” the US ambassador announced on Monday. Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
President Joe Biden also announced on Monday the appointment of two women to head US military commands, who are expected to become the second and third women to hold such senior military positions in the United States.
Women journalists targeted in Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, women employees of the television channel Enekaas TV were forced to stop working on Monday after the assassination of three of their colleagues last week in Jalalabad (east).