Position Paper 3: Depictions of Women and Minorities

The Women in the Yellow Vests

The yellow vests movement is a movement in France that protests for economic justice and equality. The protests started after rising fuel costs and a raised cost of living sparked an online petition that argued that these costs mostly fall upon the middle and lower classes. The protests call for a raised minimum wage, lower fuel taxes, a solidarity tax on wealth, and the resignation of President Macron.

A French law requires a yellow safety vest to be in every vehicle, which is why it was chosen for the symbol of the movement as it is highly recognizable and accessible to virtually everyone. In fact, just yesterday (November 17th) was the one year anniversary of the yellow vests movement, in which a protest was held in honor of the movements birthday.

A subsidiary of the yellow vest movement, which will be the focus of this paper, is the women in the yellow vests movement.

Women have been involved in the yellow vests movement since the movement first began in late 2018. Women are more greatly affected by poverty in France than their male counterparts, in part because many women, who often serve as the head of the household, must take time off for unpaid maternity leave. Compared to similar protests, women have found a larger role in this particular movement, due to specific effect on women in lower economic classes or location.

Priscillia Ludosky was one of the first people involved in the yellow vest movement after starting an online petition that outlined the basic requests of the movement. Jacline Mouraud was also one of the first people involved in the movement after posting a video about the taxes in France.

The women in the yellow vests movement has been divided into multiple 'Acts' that have been characterized by major events involving the political movement.

Act I saw the organization of local marches specifically for women involved in the movement. Act II saw continued involvement of women, but a protest that blocked a road led to violence against specifically women of color, which became another point of emphasis for the treatment of women in the yellow vest movement. During a protest in Act III, an 80 year old woman who was not involved in the protests was killed after being hit with a tear gas canister. The previous two weeks, two more people had died as a result of the protests which involved over 100,000 people. During this time, research was published that said poor working women in France grew by 2% over the previous two years. During Act IV, President Macron made a comment about the yellow vest movement, specifically about the women, which gained national attention. Act VI was characterized by a female Holocaust survivor being harassed on the Paris metro.. Act VII saw the first of the yellow vest women's march taking place on January 6th.

After reading about this movement for the first time, I drew heavy comparisons to the #MeToo movement, which is also ongoing around the world, but specifically in the United States. This gender specific movement has also been characterized by major events (which could be sorted into Acts) that have lead to the progression of the voice of the movement. The phrase 'Me Too' was first coined in 2006, but the movement didn't officially begin until 2017 when Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual assault by Ashley Judd.

I'm aware of how women involved in the #MeToo movement are treated here. They're often not believed or called liars who only want to tear down masculinity, or something like that. I won't really share my thoughts on the movement, because that's not important. What's important is how the people respond to these protests, and they're often not very kind. Similar to the 'Black Lives Matter' movement, there is always some controversy that comes with a rally or protest. How does this stack up against the women in yellow vests?

Surprisingly, not too much controversy comes from these protests, at least not from the protesting side. The movement actually led to the creation of two political parties, something we could use more of here in the U.S. After reading some news articles on the movements, they refer to the movement as whole, and not as often as a women specific movement. It's almost like the movement as a whole has a subsidiary in the women's movement, which is not a bad thing, especially if everyone gets what they want.

The women's movement isn't really talked down upon, though there was some controversy when President Macron refused to respond to the platform of the movement. In fact, it seems to be agreed upon that the movement was a success, even if it's still relatively new.

I wonder if it will make it's way here?