The Gender Violence Forum of Lanzarote commemorated the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day last Monday, and focused its demands on the eradication of sexist violence, as well as on other issues such as social networks, unemployment and the crisis. This forum prepared a manifesto together with the CCOO and UGT unions, which was read at 8:00 p.m. in front of the Old Cabildo of Arrecife.
According to this platform, during the concentration there was "a lot of feeling", expressed in the form of looks, applause, art and dance. "Feelings and sensations that emerge when women reflect on the struggle initiated by those pioneering women, courageous women who confronted the whole society to demand their labor and social rights."
Specifically, in the manifesto, it was advocated the elimination of all forms of "discrimination" against women in order to advance "towards a more just and democratic society." In this sense, they showed that in a year marked by the crisis "women continue to have the lowest rates of activity and employment, as well as the highest rates of unemployment and temporality."
To fight against this situation, both unions that adhered to the manifesto proposed to increase and improve female employment as an alternative "to the rejection of the delay to the retirement age." Currently in the Canary Islands the male employment rate is 52.67%, while the female rate is 39.14%.
