When Cecilia Palmeiro began organising "Ni Una Menos" (not one less), a campaign against femicide in Argentina, in 2015, she wondered what power a women's strike could have.
It wasn't until the following year, after witnessing Polish women striking for abortion
access, as well as hearing reports about the rape and murder of a
16-year-old Argentine girl, that the strike she thought about in 2015
became a reality.
On October 19, 2016, Palmeiro and her colleagues at
Ni Una Menos organised the first National Women's strike. Since then,
Ni Una Menos has played a key role in the Argentine feminist movement
and continued to lead public protests like the international women's
strike.
On Monday June 03,2019, thousands of Argentine women took to the streets of Buenos Aires again with the similar aim of past actions: to draw attention to an economic crisis and call for women's rights, in this case, the right to economic security and abortion.
With presidential elections approaching in October, Argentina has been consumed by frustration with the current administration, led by President Mauricio Macri and debate over which candidate will best alleviate rising inflation and a debilitating national debt. Argentina received a $56bn loan from the IMF in October 2018 and the National Congress passed an austerity budget to comply with the terms of the loan for 2019.
For Ni Una Menos, the national debt and austerity budget aren't just the source of economic woes, but feminist concerns as well.
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