"She is beautiful when angry": Female protests that changed history
Text: Ksyusha Petrova
XX century female protests - This is not only dry pages from the history textbook, but also valuable experience that can be useful at any time. Unfortunately, the values for which feminists have fought for decades have to be defended today - it’s not for nothing that one of the most popular slogans at the last demonstrations was "I can't believe it." The events of recent years in Russia and abroad show that it is most appropriate to compare the struggle for equality with the dam, which needs to be constantly updated - otherwise, the achievements of previous generations will be swept away and carried away to sea with all of us. We talk about several iconic female protests - from the XVIII century to the present day.
Women hike to Versailles
October 5, 1789
One of the first protest actions, led by women, was the "march on Versailles," also known as the "campaign of women for bread." It took place at the dawn of the Great French Revolution, when opponents of the monarchy had already destroyed the Bastille, and the Constituent Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Despite the activeness of the revolutionaries, Louis XVI did not give up the position: using the support of the monarchist party, he refused to sanction the Declaration and other provisions of the Assembly, and also retained the right of veto, allowing the new laws to be postponed. At the same time, Paris faced a food crisis: while the king and his courtiers lived comfortably in Versailles, ordinary citizens were starving. It is not surprising that women who had to stand in queues for bread for the first time lost patience.
On the morning of October 5, 1789, hundreds of perturbed townspeople armed themselves with rolling pins, pitchforks and kitchen knives and went to the city arsenal, where weapons and ammunition were kept. Together with the men who joined them, the demonstrators seized the arsenal and went on foot to Versailles to call the king to account. To the surprise of the monarch, when a seven thousand strong crowd approached the palace, most of the soldiers of the National Guard took the side of the rebels. Together with Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette came out to the strikers - her Parisians blamed the crisis more than anyone from the king's entourage (Maria Antoinette is credited with the famous phrase "If they have no bread, let them eat cake!"). After the "campaign of women against Versailles," the king was forced not only to accept all the provisions of the Declaration and decrees of the government, but also to move with his family to Paris, as demanded by the townspeople.
While the Parisians were taking to the streets, intellectual Intellectual Olympia de Guge appeared with feminist ideas in the press: in 1791 she published the “Declaration of the Rights of a Woman and a Citizen”, in which she demanded equality. However, the revolutionaries were not ready to equalize the rights of men and women: the ideas of de Guge were recognized as dangerous, and she herself was executed.
"Black Friday" in London
November 18, 1910
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) under the leadership of the legendary Emmelin Pankhurst held a lot of actions - from peaceful pickets to smashing windows and arsons, but it was Black Friday that helped suffragistic women win the attention of the press and the sympathy of the general public. On November 18, 1910, the British Parliament was supposed to consider a bill granting the right to vote to women with a certain level of wealth - the document extended to about a million British women. The law passed the first reading, but Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith postponed further discussion of the document. In protest, about three hundred WSPU supporters went to the Palace of Westminster, where they came into conflict with the police: the constables arrested more than a hundred people, many of them were injured during the arrest.
The rude actions of the police caused a stormy reaction in the press and society: although by the order of the government the Daily Mirror room with a photo of the suffrageeist on the ground was recalled from the stores, reports of police brutality went to other newspapers and spread throughout Britain. As a result, in London and beyond its borders, the women's movement began to be treated with more sympathy.
During the war, British suffragists ceased their actions, but after it ended, they again demanded recognition of the right to vote. In 1918, parliament passed a law that allowed access to elections for women over thirty years old, who are either the head of the family or married to the head of the family, or have graduated from the university. In 1928, the women of Great Britain were fully equalized in voting rights with men.
Women's strike in Petrograd
March 8 (February 23) 1917
In Soviet textbooks, the beginning of the February revolution was most often described as the “spontaneous outburst of the masses”, caused by a complex of factors, chief among which was the food crisis. However, some modern researchers consider the February revolution in the context of "women's history", and not without reasons: the strike, which eventually launched a further wave of protests and led to the overthrow of the monarchy, began on International Women's Day, which since 1913 was celebrated by Russian working women. The chronology also speaks about the "female beginning" of the revolution: the strikes first began at the textile and cotton-spinning manufactories, where there were practically no men.
It is known that women's cells in enterprises had their own agenda, which included not only food shortages, but also unequal wages: male workers received more than their colleagues in the shop. Many historical testimonies suggest that it was women workers who organized the strike on International Women's Day and called on men to join the protests.
On March 19, 1917, a 40,000 demonstration was held in Petrograd under the slogan "Free woman in free Russia!", "Without the participation of women, the right to vote is not universal!", "The place of woman in the Constituent Assembly!". The demonstrators reached the Tauride Palace, where the Provisional Government met, and eventually received the right to participate in elections to the Constituent Assembly. And after the October Revolution in 1918, the Constitution was adopted, enshrining the legal equality of women and men.
Women's March in Pretoria
August 9, 1956
In South Africa, not only International Women's Day is celebrated, but also national - it takes place on August 9 in memory of the Women's March, which took place in Pretoria in 1956. More than twenty thousand women of different backgrounds took to the streets to oppose the passportisation law, which infringes on the rights of Africans. The passport regime, which was tightened in 1953, obliged the entire African population to constantly carry documents with them, because of which they were not allowed into the “white” areas: only service personnel working for whites could enter the forbidden territories.
The demonstration was organized by the Federation of South African women - activists managed to gather participants from all over the country, so there were African women in traditional clothes and white women in dresses on the march, many brought children with them. They decided to hold the rally on Thursday, since this day was a day off at home servants. The demonstrators marched to the government complex of Union-Buildings in Pretoria and passed through the secretary a petition intended for Prime Minister J. G. Stridzhdu. For half an hour, a crowd of thousands of people stood silently at the government building, after which the women sang the anthem "Nkosi sikeleli Afrika" ("God Bless Africa" in Spit) and the song "Wathint 'abafazi, Strijdom!", Where there is a line "To hit a woman - how to hit the rock "- it became a symbol of the struggle for the rights of African women.
Although the activists did not succeed in abolishing apartheid (the pass system was finally abolished only in 1986), on August 9, women in South Africa showed that they were an independent political force that the government and opposition leaders would have to reckon with. In 2000, a monument was erected in front of Union Building in honor of African women fighting for their rights, and in 2006, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the march, they staged a memorable demonstration in Pretoria. Veterans of 1956 took part in the celebration - now they are considered national heroines.
Women's strike in the USA
August 26, 1970
The action, timed to the 50th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment, which gave American women the voting rights, was conceived by Betty Friedan - a well-known second-wave feminist who wrote the bestseller "The Mystery of Femininity." The organization was taken up by activists from NOW (National Organization for Women), and although many doubted the success of this enterprise, the strike on August 26 became a mass one - several tens of thousands of people took part in the march. The aim of the participants was not just to celebrate the anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment, but to pay attention to the problems of modern American women: although equality existed on paper, in real life women still earned less than men, faced sexist stereotypes and career restrictions, could not legally have an abortion , get parental leave and protect yourself from sexual abuse.
This action was the culmination of a long struggle of American feminists: a mass strike was preceded by other important speeches. One of them gave rise to a stereotype about “evil feminists burning bras”: participants in a rally at the Miss America contest in 1968 ritually threw out objects symbolizing the objectification of women, including bras. The female protests of the 1960s and 1970s are dedicated to the documentary film by Mary Dore “She is Beautiful When Angry,” conveying the atmosphere of sisterhood and the revolutionary spirit that reigned in NOW. The second-wave feminists were the first to speak openly about sexuality, domestic violence, domestic sexism, and taboo topics related to women's health — and the many thousands march for equality attracted the attention of the media and the government.
"Female holiday" in Iceland
October 24, 1975
Today, Iceland is considered one of the best countries for the life of women and ranks first in the equal pay index. But this was not always the case - in 1975, Icelanders earned 40% less than men who performed similar work. In protest, women organized a mass strike called the “Female Weekend”: on October 24, they left their jobs and refused to wash, cook and do other household work until the government promised to take measures against discrimination.
The strike was attended by 90% of all Iceland. Their refusal to fulfill their work duties paralyzed the state’s economy and made the authorities pay attention to the problems of women, and five years after the strike, Vigdis Finnbogaduttir won the election - she became the first woman in the world elected to the post of constitutional head of state, and four remained as president term.
Thirty years later, women in Iceland do not plan to stop until discrimination disappears altogether: this year the protest marches started exactly on October 24 at 14:38. According to statistics, from this point until the beginning of the new year, women work for free, since men in the same position earn 18% more in a year.
Black Protest in Poland
october 2016
One of the main events of 2016 was the "black protest" in Poland - a series of demonstrations and a large-scale online campaign against a total ban on abortion, which was lobbied by the conservative party "Law and Justice" and the Catholic Church. The current laws of Poland in relation to abortions are considered to be among the strictest in the world: abortion is carried out only in cases where pregnancy has occurred as a result of rape, incest or there is a threat to the life of the mother and child. The prospect of the final deprivation of women’s right to choose was mobilized by opposition parties, feminist organizations, and ordinary margins not participating in political life.
Popular actress Kristina Janda proposed to hold not just a protest march, but a national strike of women - following the example of the Icelandic "Women's Weekend". The idea was picked up by activists and users of social networks: representatives of the new left-wing political party Razem (“Together”) suggested that the participants of protest actions should dress in black as a sign of grief over the victims of the restrictive law. The #czarnyprotest tag has become viral, women around the world have joined the action - dressing in black, users of social networks expressed their solidarity with the protesters.
October 3, 2016 in Poland was "Black Monday": thousands of women under various pretexts took time off or simply did not come to work, instead going to the demonstration. Despite the rain, the center of Warsaw, Krakow, Poznan, Szczecin and Gdansk was filled with crowds of people in black calling on the state to ensure the right of women to dispose of their bodies themselves. The scale of the protests made a strong impression on the authorities, and on October 6, the parliament decided to refuse further consideration of the draft law on the complete prohibition of abortion.
The organizers of the "black protest" do not plan to stop at what has been accomplished: the polkas are in favor of the complete legalization of abortions and want to reduce the influence of the Catholic Church on the internal policy of the state to zero.
"Women's March" against Trump
January 23, 2017
It is difficult to talk about what happened less than a month ago as a historical event - however, it would be strange not to mention “Women's March” in this list. On January 23, protests against the policy of Donald Trump were held not only in the United States, but also in other cities of the world; several million people took part in the actions. The ironic pussy hat — a pink hat with ears that refers to Trump's pussy’s offensive quote — became a symbol of the struggle for equality and hit the cover of Time magazine, and the Women's March once again showed that the feminist agenda covered many social issues, including racism and oppression of minorities. The protests were supported by thousands of ordinary people and dozens of celebrities: Gloria Stein, Scarlett Johansson, Angela Davis, Whoopi Goldberg, Cher, Madonna and other stars of the first magnitude spoke at the stands in different cities.
About why the "Women's March" should be taken seriously, Anna Narinskaya told in her column in detail. On March 8, the march organizers plan to hold a nationwide strike - we will closely monitor the events and advise you to do the same.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons (1, 2, 3), Wikipedia, Flickr (1, 2), When She's Angry / Facebook, SAHO