"25,000 people demonstrate in Barcelona on International Women's Day, claiming 'care sustains life'"

Rally-goers call for better recognition and fair compensation for care work

Around 25,000 people, according to local police, wearing purple colored clothes gathered in Barcelona's city center to demonstrated on International Women's Day, on March 8, demanding better recognition and fair compensation for care work. 

Rally-goers met at Plaça Universitat before 6 pm, ahead of a two-hour march that took them to Arc de Triomf, on Passeig Lluís Companys.

Aside from Barcelona, protesters also rallied in major cities across Catalonia such as Girona, Tarragona, and Lleida under the slogan ''care sustains life,'' emphasizing the essential, yet undervalued role of care work in society. While on Friday, hundreds of students took to the streets, on Saturday there were feminist organizations, labor unions, and many social activists.

Among the attendees, there were people of all ages and genders, including newborn babies to old women defending for what they "believe in," as María told Catalan News.

She was protesting for "equality on all levels," including work, as, despite not being her "problem" as she earns the same as her colleagues, there are "many cases where men earn more just for being men, and that cannot be the case," she said. [...]

Demonstrators released a manifesto before the rally highlighting the importance of care work and its exploitation under the current economic and political system. It argues that both paid and unpaid care work is a fundamental source of social and genders inequality, calling for collective responsibility from men, governments, and society. 

The key points of this year are topics such as: recognition of care work, criticism of the economic system, environmental justice, labor rights and migration, public services, and feminist and climate justice.  

The manifesto ultimately calls for a systemic transformation that centers justice, sustainability, and feminist values in all aspects of life.