French, Spanish women protest violence, gender gap

Hundreds of people have taken to the streets in France and Spain to protest gender pay gaps and violence against women in the heart of Europe which styles itself as the champion of human rights.

Demonstrators gathered at Place de la Republique in Paris after activists called on the country's women to stop working at 4:34 p.m. on Monday to protest against gender pay gaps.

According to the latest figures provided by the European Union’s statistics agency Eurostat, women’s wages in France are some 15.1 percent less than men for the same time and type of work.

Such discrimination in salary means that women in practice are working “voluntarily” for free, the association leading the protest "Les Glorieuses" (The Glorious Women) said in a statement.

“We call on women, men, unions and feminist organizations to join the movement… and to hold events and protests in order to make income inequality a central political problem," it said.

"By tackling this subject, we’re showing that the gender pay gap is not just a ‘woman’s issue’,” it added. 

The strike came less than a month after thousands of women in Iceland downed tools for a similar cause in a bid to voice their anger against the 14 percent wage inequality in their country.  

EA