Did you know that 8th March was La journée de la femme?
When did it first start?
The first international woman’s day was on 19th March, 1911 in Europe and in the States, already asking for more rights ( qui plaidait pour plus de droits).
Lénine chose the 8th March in 1921 as woman’s day. In 1945 the United Nations signed a charter to proclaim sex equality as a fundamental right ( la proclamation de l’égalité des sexes comme droit fondamental ) but only made it an official celebration in 1977 whereas it became official in 1982 in France, with François Mitterrand.
Now actions, events, talks, conferences and more…. take place all over France le 8 mars, such as:
“Promouvoir la femme dans l’économie” (promoting women in the economy)
Did you realise that women are paid 23% less than men for a similar job? ( Il y a un écart de salaire de 23%)
The feminist movement Les Glorieuses worked out that by 7th November at 16:34, every year, men have earned what women earn in 12 months. In actual fact, women could stop work then until 31st December included!!
And who spends more time looking after the children and doing domestic tasks? (s’occuper des enfants et faire les tâches ménagères)
Vous avez deviné? ( you guessed?) Les femmes !!! 3h26 par jour contre 2h pour les hommes.
One event to mention for this year is a festival called Le Festival des Impertinentes at Le Point Virgule et le Grand point Virgule in Paris. Some women decided that one day was not enough to celebrate women: elles méritent mieux que cela! ( they deserve better than that!)
On 19th March for instance their show is called: Si j’étais présidente…… (this rings a bell!!!)
If you want to find out more about French women in literature, theatre, politics, science and more, Alliance Française de Bristol et Bath gives opportunities to discover these topics and many others.