As every year, International Women’s Day takes place on March 8. But this year, the “Lien Horizon Danses” association based in the Bellefontaine district of Toulouse is organizing a rather unusual event: a musical stroll by women from the district, to differ from the traditional mobilizations in the city center.
Reclaiming the public sphere
The participants will parade with placards to claim their rights: the right to respect, to work, to equal pay, to contraception, to divorce… And the right, too, to occupy public space. Which is not always easy in the neighborhoods. Daniella Young-Martinez is a social mediator at “Lien Horizon Danses”: _”In the neighborhood, the café terraces are 98 or 99% occupied by men. We see the women coming out of school, they take care of the children, go to the market, but they’re not used to walking around, strolling around and to feel legitimate on the outside. Women who would go for a coffee on the terrace would be perceived as having an attitude of availability, which is frowned upon. We therefore wanted to organize a festive moment so that they could feel good, so that they could feel legitimate on the outside. By extension, they will feel right at home_, at home, and they will pass on these same values to her daughters. It’s important: these are things that can be learned.”
Ingrained habits
A problem of which Jasmouna is well aware. This student lives in Bellefontaine and is currently doing an internship at the association: “It’s important because you don’t see a lot of women in the neighborhood. You see them when they pick up the children, near schools. But much less in cafes or grocery stores. Personally, I would say that they are afraid of the gaze of men. A woman sitting in a cafe can be likened to an easy girl. They don’t necessarily manage to detach themselves from this idea. This demonstration will serve to show that there are women in the neighborhood and that they have rights. It can perhaps encourage other women to say to themselves ‘Yes, we can do it. If others are doing it, why not us?’ “
The start of the event will be given at 1:30 p.m. from the Grand M media library. The arrival is scheduled for 3 p.m. in front of the Alban Minville cultural center where a percussion show will be held by the group Amanita Muscaria, composed only of musicians.
A café on the terrace every first Tuesday of the month
The “Lien Horizon Danses” association organizes an operation “All at our café terraces” every first Tuesday of the month. She invites women from the neighborhood to come and share a drink and chat in cafes “so that gender equality is part of the norm and that women and men naturally find themselves in the same public space.”
– Association “Link Horizon Dances