Florence Montreynaud (France)

2005: A Charter calling for "bread and roses"

The World March of Women against poverty and violence against women has undertaken a vast, unprecedented action of peace by proclaiming its vision of a future world in the Women's Global Charter for Humanity.

In 1995, thousands of Québec women marched to demand "bread to live on and roses for a reason to live." In March 2000, millions of women sharing that goal and another goal—ending violence against women—began marching on the streets and roadways of five continents. The World March Of Women Against Poverty and Violence culminated on October 17, 2000, International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, with a huge rally in New York City before United Nations headquarters.

Delegates presented millions of signatures and met with Louise Fréchette, UN vice-Secretary-General. "We share the Earth," said the Moroccans, "Let's share its wealth! " The ambition shared by all: to change the world.

This ambition has not changed. That is why this year, the March is conducting actions to publicize the Women's Global Charter for Humanity, a document that was adopted at the end of 2004. The Charter was considered essential for feminists around the world who are struggling for equality, freedom, justice, solidarity, and peace in a context of deepening inequality.

Today, across the planet, women continue marching to demand that States "adopt strategies to eliminate poverty, guarantee women's rights to economic and social independence; and to promote equitable sharing of family responsibilities." They want cancellation of the Third World debt, with the assurance that "money instead be directed toward the elimination of poverty." They are calling for a new financial system "based on equitable distribution of the planet's wealth and social justice." To change the world!

Everywhere—from Indonesia, to Africa, in the grips of AIDS, and Latin America, ravaged by violence—poverty is growing. The richest 20% of humanity consume 86% of all the goods and services, and the poorest 5% consume only 1.3%. Hunger—" an affront to the face of humanity that is growing steadily richer," says Sylvie Brunel of the group Action contre la faim ("Action Against Against Hunger")—causes the suffering of 20% of humankind, most of them children under five, especially girls; women of reproductive age, in particular, pregnant and nursing women; and low-income households, almost always headed by a mother. Among the poor of northern India, 21% of the girls suffer from severe malnutrition compared to 3% of the boys. Even though the Grameen Bank is still a model for the anti-poverty struggle, food policy strategists continue to overlook women's central role in subsistence agriculture, and agricultural engineering scorns the knowledge and skills of peasants. Economic globalization has not instilled awareness in all of the oneness of humankind and the universality of human rights. The president of the textile industry in Northern Rhineland imagined the factory of the year 2000 as "a ship that would set anchor wherever salaries were lowest." The international division of labour is responsible for the Third World being the host of 3000 free-trade zones in 116 countries 2002 statistics) employing some 37 million people.

How to bring about change? Through justice: in 1999, legal action was launched on behalf of 50,000 immigrants, mainly Chinese women, who were treated like slaves in manufacturing plants of Saipan, a U.S. territory in the Mariana Islands. Through consumer power: every individual can promote "fair trade" by deciding to buy goods produced in acceptable conditions. And through pressure tactics for the adoption of international social standards.

In the West, the work of feminists has heightened awareness of male violence—particularly sexual violence—against women. Studies have shown that one out of three women has been assaulted as a child; one out of four women is harassed at work, in 95% of the cases, she is the one to resign, not the harasser; and one out of ten women suffer serious violent attacks by a husband or companion. More still needs to be known about assaults and gang rape at school, beginning in primary school and continuing through student hazing; child rape in incest—still the best kept secret; the mistreatment of older people by family members and in institutions; and the oppression of disabled women, whose rights are violated. We need still more campaigns to put an end both to blaming the victims—silenced by shame and fear—and to the impunity of attackers, who often suffer no remorse; to end the toleration of pornography, and the consensus that all too often protects incestuous fathers, brutal husbands and the consumers of prostitution.

The awareness of violence against women and its condemnation and repression are very recent historical developments, and prevention is still in its early stages. Nordic countries have for a long time led actions that serve as an example to us all. In Canada, since the massacre in the École Polytechnique in 1989, men wear a white ribbon signifying their rejection of violence against women; feminists, too, have adopted this symbol.

In a world where the social order is still rooted in male domination, this form of violence is an attack on human rights. We want bread, roses and a non-sexist future where there is more respect and humanism, as described in the Women's Global Charter for Humanity: a transformed, peaceful world.

Florence Montreynaud, 57, French historian, committed feminist since 1970. She has published 14 books, including Le XXe Siècle des femmes (Nathan, 2001): an encyclopedia that presents, year by year, a century of women's liberation, from the point of view of women.

Appeler une chatte. Mots et plaisirs du sexe. (Calmann-Lévy, 2004 ; in soft cover, Payot, 2005): the history of words designating the sex organs in Western languages.

Le féminisme n¹a jamais tué personne (Ed. Fidès, Montréal, and Musée de la civilisation, Québec, 2004): Contre le machisme meurtrier, la révolution pacifique du féminisme.

She invented the name Chiennes de garde ("Watch-dogs" or "bitches") and launched the feminist movement of the same name in 1999. She leads two other feminists networks, mixed and international, that she also founded, La Meute contre la publicité sexiste ("The Gang Against Sexist Advertising") (http://www.lameute.fr) and Encore féministes ! ("Still Feminists!")  (http://encorefeministes.free.fr)