Rights groups have called on women in France to down tools on Friday, 8 March – International Women’s Day – for a strike to mark the importance of women’s labour both at work and at home. For the first time, trade unions have joined the call for what organisers hope will be France’s largest ever such strike.
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“When women stop, everything stops,” reads the call to action from the SUD/Solidaire union, calling for women to walk off the job, even if they’re at home.
Going on strike and not doing domestic work “demonstrates how all we do is essential” said Soad Baba Aïssa, of Femmes Solidaires, one of 50 feminist groups at the origin of the strike call.
They have been joined by five major trade unions, including the CGT and the CFDT, which have previously published a support statement but stopped short of calling for specific strikes.
The decision this year comes after the strong support trade unions found during the protests against the government’s pension reform last year, when there was a particular focus on the disparities for women in lower-paying jobs or with truncated careers.
Salary inequalities
Unions are particularly concerned about salary inequalities, which exist “in all companies in all administrations”, said Myriam Lebkiri of the CGT.
Women in France earned about a quarter less than men in the private sector in 2022, according to a study by the Insee national statistics institute – partially because they are more often employed part time.
Even working the same amount of time, women still earn nearly 15 percent less than men because they hold lower level positions. And when women and men work the same positions and the same amount of time, there is still a 4 percent disparity.
Growing support
Women’s rights groups have called for a strike every 8 March for several years, and are inspired by the success in Spain in 2018, when five million people took part.
Public transit ground to a halt and hundreds of gatherings drew hundreds of thousands of people across the country behind the slogan: “If we stop, the world stops”.
In Iceland, 100,000 people – a quarter of the population – took to the streets on 24 October, the anniversary of a 1975 women’s strike, to demand wage equality and to denounce violence against women.
In France 2024 could mark a turning point as inflation and increased costs of living disproportionately affect women, and with the resurgent MeToo movement.
Thousands of demonstrations are planned in 150 cities across the country.