Over ten thousand women took to the streets between Friday the 20th and Saturday the 21st to protest the lack of resources given to victims of domestic and sexual violence in France. Activists marched to urge the government to increase funding for programs and emergency resources to help support survivors and reduce the likelihood of any future incidents of violence against women.
Along with protests for the end of sexism and violence against women, activists had political demands for French politicians, such as increasing accessible resources for survivors of domestic and sexual abuse. After the French Police reported that over 150 people had been killed by their partners in 2019 and 124 people in 2020, well-known feminists across the country began discussing what politicians needed to prioritize for a safe future for women and girls in France. One of these demands was to increase the annual amount of money dedicated to stopping domestic and sexual violence under French President Emmanuel Macron.
Activists hope to increase this amount from 360 million euros ($406 million) to 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) to increase access to resources. One such resource would be a type of public phone for those in immediate danger. According to the Justice Ministry in France, there are only 2,500 of these phones in service across the country, which, according to French activists, is not nearly enough.
During the beginning of the French equivalent of the #MeToo Movement in 2017, #BalanceTonPorc (Squeal on your pig), few men accused of rape, sexual assault, or harassment were met with the punishment of any kind, neither judicial nor social. Eventually, the #BalanceTonPorc movement climaxed in 2020 and started a chain reaction leading up to the protests of last week. The conversation around violence against women has become more mainstream in both social and political circles.
The protests that spread throughout France last week were fierce yet, above all, they were peaceful. Women gathered from across the country hand in hand to protest the oppressive system in which they navigate, one that historically refused to prioritize their safety over the comfort of their abusers. After years of being silenced and ignored by French policy actors and many influential faces in French media, the activists from last weekend created an environment that empowered other women within their communities to stand up for themselves and their peers against the devaluing of women’s safety and well-being.
As a result of these protests, France began the process of launching a new process that will allow women to report domestic or sexual abuse while avoiding the police, thus allowing women to find the resources they need in an environment that will make them feel reinforced and validated in their experiences. This small change is nowhere near the 594 million euro increase that feminist activists were demanding, but it is a start to a brighter and more just future for women in France.
