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Women's Marching Feet Echo around the World
From Montréal to Sydney, from Havana to Paris, from Istanbul to Maputo, women staged a myriad of actions to defend the World March demands. The examples below barely reflect the scale of the movement, but they do give an idea of the prevailing diversity and imaginativeness.
BURKINA FASO
Above: On May 6, 2000, in Boromo, 10,000 women took part in the national March. |
From 1998 to 2000, the Burkina Faso coordinating body led actions to raise women's awareness. The platform of national demands was presented to the Head of State. "It is as though we are satisfied after a long period of hunger. The women are very happy that they were able to speak the same language and they want to preserve their enthusiasm," a member of the coordinating body wrote.
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The March committee, coordinated by Forum Mulher, mobilized people around the main themes of poverty and wife assault. It recommended that, in its new family legislation, the government grant women greater independence. It took part in a project called Gender and Emergency, which ensures that women benefit from reconstruction programs in areas affected by floods.
| MOZAMBIQUE
Above: March 8, in the streets of Maputo, the capital. (Photo: Sylvie Desautels) |
NIGERIA
Above: The March is launched on March 8, 2000, in the State of Enugu.
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"At the present time, women are realizing the strength they have when they are united, and the impact they cause when they speak with one voice," a member of the coordinating body remarked. For her, the March was a means of expression: "With the return of democracy, women have felt the need to organize and the March provided the opportunity."
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Cancel the debt, eliminate violence against women! Some 5000 Congolese women marched on July 31, 2000, Pan-African Women's Day, in Kinshasa, to drive home their demands. In the Great Lakes region, women from Kivu (south and north) joined women from Burundi and Rwanda to demand an end to the murderous conflicts besetting the area.
| DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
OF THE CONGO (Kinshasa)
Above: A drawing that appeared in Le Karibu (Kivu) in December 2000. |
NIGER
Above: Women at the Washington march. (Photo: Lynette Lane)
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Eliminate from the Civil Status Code all sections that discriminate against women, particularly those concerning inheritance; make rape and genital mutilation criminal offences; guarantee education for all girls; and ensure women's participation in development programs: these were priority demands Nigerian women highlighted during the marches in the United States.
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