A women’s rights umbrella group is urging women to go on a 48-hour general strike in 2020 to mark International Women’s Day, celebrated each year on 8 March.
The call was made on Tuesday by the Collecti.e.f 8 maars, which previously organised a one-day women’s strike in March 2019, calling on women not only to stay away from the workplace, but also to abstain from housework, consumption, studies or training on the International day.
This time around, the Collecti.e.f is urging women to go on strike on 8 and 9 March 2020 to make their demands heard. The 8th of March falls on a Sunday next year, but the work stoppage still makes sense since people work on Sundays in firms, the hospitality industry, health care, caregiving and transport. Moreover, the strike call also covers housework, which does not stop on Sundays.
The umbrella group called on women to continue the strike on Monday 9 March so that the demands can be heard in all places of work and training. It has asked trade unions to support its strike call, for example by issuing strike notice to employers.
The strike is seen as a “first phase in the building of a strong feminist movement in Belgium, aimed at a truly egalitarian society,” the organisation explained. Its goal is to give visibility to women’s realities “and the various forms of oppressions involved in them.”
Some 15,000 persons took part in a march organised in Brussels last year as part of the women’s strike, said the Collecti.e.f, which is made up of many associations united around similar demands.
The Brussels Times
