Spain marks International Women's Day with five million on strike
Friday, March 9, 2018 @ 9:36 AM
OVER five million workers in Spain have downed tools today (Thursday) for the International Women's Day strike – around a third of the country's workforce – including a number of men.
International Women's Day, first celebrated in 1911, is marked this year in 177 countries worldwide with 41 of them going on strike.
In the West, where issues such as female genital mutilation (FGM), child marriage and being barred from education, employment or freedom of movement without a male relative as a companion are extremely limited and generally outlawed, March 8 is partly about celebrating women's achievements throughout history and partly about calling for solutions to aspects of gender equality that remain unresolved.
Figures show that on average, across European countries including the UK and Spain, it will take until the 22ndcentury before the gender pay gap is closed, based upon progress to date.
Statistics for Spain show that, according to region, between a third and a half of women who work are in part-time jobs – either because they need to in order to look after children and other dependents, or because they cannot find a full-time job – that the number of women unemployed exceeds that of men, and that on average, ladies earn 30% less than their male counterparts.
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