March for women’s rights. (Barcelona, March 8, 2022) Louis Jean/AFP
Women all over the world will hold mass demonstrations on Wednesday, Women’s Rights Day, to defend their rights, which have been violated in many countries.
The ruling Taliban in Afghanistan, the mass suppression of the protest provoked by the death of Mahsa Amini in Iran, the doubt about the right to abortion in the USA, the consequences of the war in Ukraine on women… The reasons for mobilization are numerous. Many gatherings are planned for March 8 in major cities around the world, including Madrid, which is usually the scene of a huge purple wave. Women “remain the first victims of wars and underrepresented in diplomatic negotiations,” officials condemned before the UN Security Council on Tuesday.
In the video, the Taliban declares that women are no longer allowed to play cricket
Yesterday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres lamented that “equality between the sexes is further and further away” and that “at the current rate, UN Women are defining it after 300 years”, particularly considering: Example of Afghanistan, where “women and girls have been erased from public life”. Universities in the country also reopened on Monday after a long winter break, but only men were able to pass their threshold, with women no longer allowed to study since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.
Girls’ right to education is being violated all over the world
In a symbolic and unprecedented move, on the eve of March 8, the European Union adopted sanctions against the Taliban’s minister of higher education, Neda Mohammad Nadeem, who is “responsible for widespread violations of women’s right to education.” Other individuals or organizations responsible for violations of women’s rights in Iran, Russia, South Sudan, Burma, or Syria have also been targeted by these sanctions.
In Iran, a phenomenon is taking a worrying course: over the past three months, hundreds of middle and high school girls have been poisoned. And for the opposition movements, there is no doubt that the Iranian regime is behind this wave of drunkenness to put pressure on young women, some of whom have recently challenged the Islamic Republic. Indeed, since September 2022, young women have been at the forefront of the uprising sparked by the death of Mahsa Gina Amini, after being busted by the morality police for a “badly worn” veil..
Women’s struggle against pension reforms in France
Madame Tussauds in London will mark the day by unveiling a new wax statue of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, who founded the Women’s Social and Political Union in 1903 to demand women’s right to vote. In Europe, rallies are also planned in a number of countries, for example, in France, where demonstrations are being organized with the demand of “equality in work and life” in about 150 cities. The number is significantly more than in previous years, according to the organizers. The challenge will be put under the sign of the fight against pension reforms, accusing them of injustice towards women.
Prohibited demonstrations
Elsewhere in the world, on the other hand, demonstrations were banned, as in eastern Pakistan, a conservative and patriarchal country, where the authorities justified their decision by protesters waving “signs and controversial banners” targeting topics that are often taboo. such as divorce, sexual assault or menstruation. In Cuba, lacking the opportunity to demonstrate freely, independent feminist organizations will in turn bypass official celebrations by mobilizing through a “virtual demonstration” on social media, where they will raise awareness specifically about feminicide.
In Mexico, under the slogans “No woman was killed” and “Against male violence and precarious work”, demonstrators will organize a march in the main cities of the country, where in 2022, according to data, 969 women were killed. . Demonstrations are planned in Colombia to demand a fight against a rise in the number of murders of women, which rose from 182 in 2020 to 614 last year, according to state ministry figures. In Washington, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and First Lady Jill Biden will present the “For a Better Future” award to “eleven extraordinary women from around the world.”
Protect abortion rights
In the United States, feminists will mobilize especially to defend the right to abortion, which was called into question by the Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn Roe v. Wade” guaranteeing this right in 1973. This repeal now allows each state to legislate according to its beliefs regarding voluntary abortion (IVG). Since then, several states, the most conservative, have banned or restricted the use of abortion. To the dismay of the country’s feminists and women.
In Europe, this right has also been weakened recently. While Malta still bans abortion, Poland made it almost illegal in 2021, eliminating the option to seek it in the event of fetal malformation. The country now allows abortion only in these cases: rape or incest and endangering the life of the mother (a condition that acts as the only valid reason for terminating a pregnancy in many Middle Eastern countries, including Libya, Iraq, Lebanon, etc. Syria). Hungary, in turn, has restricted the right to abortion, as women seeking an abortion have been forced to listen to the fetus’s heartbeat since September. “We are fighting against (…) patriarchy (…) which mercilessly fights against our rights, such as abortion, which we have won by fighting,” says the manifesto of the Madrid march, which will start at the end. of the day
Fearing that one day the situation in France would deteriorate, the deputies preferred to take the lead. The only barrier for them is to include the right to abortion in the 1958 Constitution, the struggle continues.
In the video: “I had an abortion myself”. Deputy Clementine Otten testifies about her abortion.
Source: Le Figaro
