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| Protesters take part in a demonstration for women’s rights, on International Women’s Day in Oviedo |
Women across Spain went on strike and held street protests against gender inequality on Thursday, including midnight pot-banging rallies, bike demos and demonstrations under the rain in city squares.
Authorities did not say how many participated in Spainโs first-ever women nationwide strike held on International Womenโs Day, but the countryโs two largest unions said more than 5 million women took part.
โI lived under the dictatorship, I lived under democracy and we havenโt made much headway. A lot remains to be done and we, in the education sector, have a big role to play,โ said 50-year-old teacher Concha Noverges on a picket line at a public school in Madrid.
Hundreds had kicked off the action in the capital with a pot banging protest at midnight on the Puerta del Sol central square.
Spain ranked 27th in a list of 188 countries in the United Nationsโ latest Gender Inequality Index. However, Spanish womenโs access to the labour market remains well below the European average because the lack of state support and because Spanish โmachoโ culture often pushes them to leave their jobs to care for their children or ageing parents.
Several more protests were held in Madrid and Barcelona throughout the day and rallies were also due to take place on Thursday night in Spainโs main cities.
In Bilbao in northern Spain thousands of women gathered near the cityโs famous Guggenheim museum, holding signs with slogans such as โJustice!โ, โFight like a girlโ and โRevolution.โ
