Argentina’s feminist movement celebrated the fifth anniversary of the first Ni Una Menos anti-gender violence march on Wednesday, with a much smaller demonstration than normal.
The annual march, which is normally attended by tens of thousands of people, first took place in 2015 as huge crowds came together to mobilse against femicide and gender violence. More than 300,000 people are estimated to have attended that first march.
This year’s edition, which fell during the coronavirus pandemic, was mostly commemorated online, with organisers broadcasting a live reading of a document of complaints and demands. Some protesters still took to the streets though, despite social isolation measures, with cries for an end to femicide and gender violence, the legalisation of abortion in Argentina and improved efforts to tackle the gender pay gap.
In several cities in provinces across the country, where conditions of the quarantine have been loosened, larger events took place, with attendees using face masks and respecting social distancing.
Many politicians expressed their support, posting messages and images on social media with the accompanying hashtags. Among them was President Alberto Fernández, who called the 2015 march a “milestone.”
“#NiUnaMenos expresses the violence and inequality that women suffer and that forces us, men in particular and society in general, to rethink roles and behaviours. From the State we must follow that path," he wrote.
The Peronist leader later came in for criticism, however, when it emerged that a meeting he held the very next day with leading business CEOs did not include a single woman.
To mark the anniversary, Women, Gender and Diversity Minister Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta and new ANSES chief Fernanda Raverta signed an agreement for a “joint action plan” that will guarantee the specific needs of LGBTI individuals are addressed in social security policies.
– TIMES/NA
Comments