March 08, 2018

A female revolution

located:	Spain
editor:	Maria João Morais

A hundred years on from the suffragette movement winning women's right to vote, the struggle for gender equality is today stronger than ever. This year’s International Women's Day is already a historic date. Today, hundreds of marches and events are taking place in dozens of countries in an unprecedented mobilisation that seeks for a fairer society that defends all its citizens equally, regardless of gender.

In Spain, women are taking part in the first nationwide feminist strike to show that the “world stops” when they abandon their roles. The initiative is going beyond the workplace: women are called to stop domestic tasks, family care and even consumption. A paralysis that aims to highlight the dependence on the invisible and silent female work.

After witnessing an increase in the feminist struggle in 2017, with #metoo and Time’s Up movements gaining international dimension, denouncing cases of violence and sexual harassment, it is now important to expand the feminist claims to all the scopes of society where gender-based discrimination is still taking place, both in the public space and in the private environment of the home.

Besides the gender pay gap of 16.3 percent (EU average), today's women face the problem of double employment: at home and at the office. According to several surveys, at home, women spend double the amount of time on domestic unpaid work and childcare than men.

Only through constant mobilisation will it be possible to move forward with policies against gender-based violence; with gender quotas, with the reduction of the pay gap and the launch of active measures to make the labour market more flexible, so that women do not have to choose between pursuing a career or having a family.

That is why this 8 March is a day of paying respect for the women of yesterday, who struggled to get where we are now, while also celebrating the women of today who are still fighting for equal rights. It is an unstoppable wave that will only be laid to rest when women's rights are fully guaranteed.

Photo: Unite Women