Spain to see "Feminist Strike" on Women's Day

MADRID - Spain will see its first ever "Feminist Strike" on Thursday, the International Women's Day, with women from all walks of life expected to stop work demanding equal rights.

Organized by the "Comision8M," a platform made up of feminist organizations from all over Spain, the strike also has support from all of Spain's labor unions and over 300 social organizations.

Protesting against inequality facing the women from the workplace to the home, one of the main targets of the strike is the "salary gap," which according to statistics published in the Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, sees women earn around 14.9 percent less per hour than a man doing the same job.

Meanwhile a study by the BBVA Institute shows that the pension to a retired woman can be expected to be 22.5 percent lower than a man, although it has been an improvement compared with 47 percent lower 10 years ago.

In addition to the "salary gap", the "glass ceiling" referring to barriers for women trying to reach positions of power is another concern of the strike.

The importance of women in the workplace can be highlighted by the plans of the Basque Regional Authority to run a minimum service of just 30 percent on public transport on Thursday, while the hospitals in the region will run a service comparable to a public holiday.

Thursday's strike will also aim to raise the public awareness to the gender violence threatening the women.

In 2017, 48 women and eight minors died at the hands of their current or former partners in Spain.

Inequality in the division of housework is also a factor, with a study by the Spanish National Institute of Statistics showing women in Spain spend almost twice as much time doing the housework than men.

Women in "Feminist Strike" on Thursday can choose to strike for the entire day, or to take a two-hour stoppage in a more symbolic protest.

Meanwhile demonstrations are also planned for every major Spanish city, with tens of thousands of women expected to take to streets in Madrid and Barcelona.