On the occasion of Sunday, March 8, socialist activists marched alongside member associations of the Departmental Collective for Women’s Rights (CDDF) of Alpes-Maritimes.
On this occasion, streets were renamed after women who distinguished themselves through their struggles and/or achievements.
The Socialist Party chose to rename a street after Simone Veil because, although this choice may seem “easy”, it carries a particularly strong symbolism for them as a party that rejects sectarianism.
The Veil Law, it should be remembered, was promulgated on January 17, 1975. The debates began on November 26, 1974, on a day when the then Minister of Health, Madame Simone Veil (who was 47 at the time), the only female minister, in front of only 9 women and 469 men, some of whom were very hostile, defended with dignity and courage a text to “share a woman’s conviction.”
She even “apologized for doing this in front of an almost exclusively male assembly.” She was about to have the law on the right to abortion passed. A law that would change women’s lives.
It is an important law symbolizing a major achievement in women’s emancipation and was passed thanks to a rare cross-party consensus.
40 years after the adoption of the law legalizing voluntary termination of pregnancy (IVG), it is an urgent necessity to continue this fight.
The political year 2015 will observe further progress in this fight, with women entering departmental assemblies at 50%.
Fouzia AYOUB, delegate for Equality within the PS of AM.
