It was 2:02 p.m. when the first drops of rain were felt. Bad luck for the demonstration for women’s rights which started right at that time, this March 8 in Paris, at the call of more than 50 associations, feminist collectives and unions. But the good mood is there, and the joy of meeting between demonstrators of all ages compensated for the bad weather.
Because the traditional raout of feminists organized every year on the same date for more than forty years is precisely the opportunity to get out of one’s generational circle a little. “Today is a good time for women of different ages to meet, demonstrations are always like that! We share,” exclaims Claudine Schalck, a 63-year-old midwife and psychologist, who took charge of the battalion of the Stop VOG association (Stop Obstetrical & Gynecological Violence).
This thinking and militant head is full of praise for the new generation, which she perceives as much more sensitive than hers to respecting women’s privacy: “The new generation has an awareness that the old ones don’t have not. She immediately asks herself the right questions”. At his side, Sophie, 20, agrees. “As for the doctors, it’s true that the words of seniors are absent, it’s the patients who taught me a lot through their testimonies. »
“All our references come from somewhere”
Fortunately, there are also plenty of examples of successful generational transmission, especially through parents or teachers. At 68, Olga already has a long militant career behind her, notably as a union representative at the CGT. This former university teacher naturally attaches great importance to the transmission of struggles, by virtue of her profession. “Transmission is essential, and it also means defending values in relation to our model of society. The choice to teach at Paris-8 is also a way of transmitting things through the behavior we adopt within the university”, says the one who has shown herself to be attentive to the problems of sexism and harassment which could affect his students or colleagues. “
Precisely, one of his students is there, a few meters from the stand of La France insoumise where Olga tows. At 20, Ana has already received many of her elders, starting with her mother, without whom, she tells us without hesitation, she would not be here today: “It was my mother above all who passed on this sensitivity. All our references come from somewhere: either they are our parents, or we construct them. I’ll pass that on to my children and I’m already passing it on to my friends, because it’s also interesting to try to mobilize people our age,” she says.
Parents, the first links of transmission
Many are the demonstrators with whom 20 minutes discussed who emphasize the role of their parents in their activism. This is the case of Zoé, 21, whom her mother took to demonstrations or to the cinema “to see all the films about the suffragettes”.
The parents present in the procession are also keen to pass on these values to their children, like Laure, mother of an 8-year-old girl: “I take them to demonstrations and I also read them a lot of children’s books. I feel like I was always a feminist but didn’t need to protest until she was born. “My mum tells me that there are too many men who think they are the kings of the world,” confirms little Celeste, at the same time protecting the telephone on which we are taking notes from the rain. “It was Macron who decided the weather! says Céleste, who already has a strong sense of humor. At his side, Charles, of the same age, is living proof that demonstrations are effective for militant education: “I was told that men attacked women,” he told us. And when asked where he got this scoop from: “I saw that in the protest signs. »
The role of social networks
When parents, or sisters, or friends, or even teachers, have not transmitted the basics of feminism to the youngest, social networks remain, which are put forward by many of our interviewees and interviewees as a means essential for training. This is also how Zoé’s feminism differed a little from that of her parents, “more inclined to the right to vote” when she describes her own feminism as “intersectional” – understand, who also encompasses LGBT and anti-racist struggles, in particular “It was with social networks that I learned to make up my own mind,” she says, following accounts more in her generation.
But even for the young Zoé, the transmission remains crucial: “I have a 17-year-old brother, and I take him back when he says borderline things. It is necessary to educate the youngest, and especially the brothers and the sons! »