News Agencies – November 25, 2010
French women were called on to perform the “militant act” of wearing a skirt to protest violence against women. At least 135,000 women are taking part in the protest, according to its Facebook page, organised by rights group Neither Whores Nor Submissives (NPNS) as part of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
“Wearing a skirt is a militant act, in daily life, at the workplace, in the street, at home, because today everywhere is a place of danger for women,” said Sihem Habchi, who heads the NPNS. NPNS mainly defends the rights of women in France’s occasionally tense suburbs, where “the skirt is definitely a symbol of resistance,” said Habchi. It can be difficult for young women to wear skirts in some suburbs because of male jibes and occasional attacks which make the garment a symbol of standing up for women’s rights, NPNS says.
Statistics show that in 2009, 654,000 Frenchwomen said they were victims of physical or sexual violence, a 15-percent increase since 2007, Habchi said.
