Women in Galway are being urged to go 'on strike', wear all black, and demand the Repeal of the Eighth Amendment this week, as part of the global solidarity actions which will be taking place to mark International Women’s Day.
International Women’s Day falls on Wednesday March 8, and the Galway event - Strike 4 Repeal - is being organised by Galway Pro-Choice, the Galway Feminist Collective, the Feminist Society NUIG, and others. The 'strike' is not an industrial strike in the traditional sense but rather extends to all kinds of work, including domestic work. Those who are unable to take time off from work are encouraged to wear all-black or a black armband, or to cover shifts for striking colleagues to show solidarity with Strike 4 Repeal.
In Galway, students and staff of NUIG will walk out of classes at 12pm, to honor the 12 women who are forced to travel from Ireland every day to access abortions. The group will then march towards Eyre Square. At 12.45pm a demonstration with speakers and performers will take place, followed by a final march to the Spanish Arch. The day’s events will culminate in a strike party at The Blue Note at 8.30pm.
Similar demonstrations will be taking place in Sligo, Dublin, Mayo, Cork, Kerry, as well as Blackpool, Cambridge, Manchester, Liverpool, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Berlin, Buenos Aires, and New York.
Article 40.3.3 of the Irish Constitution, known as the Eighth Amendment, equates the life of a pregnant woman with that of an embryo or fetus, making abortion a criminal offence. “For decades, we have been urging our Government to stop criminalising and punishing women, and to instead fulfil its human rights obligations by supporting and protecting the rights of all women,” says Jacinta Fay of Galway Pro-Choice.
