March 8th in Seville

March 8th is International Women's Day. It is celebrated everyone around the world on this day every year. In America, and at least in Arizona where I am from, it is not common for there to be marches or protests or people walking the streets dressed in all purple carrying signs. In Spain, this is what I got to experience this year, 2023, on March 8th in the amazing city of Seville.

A fun fact that I learned by attending International Women's Day was that the color of feminism is purple; I did not know that before I studied abroad. The reason that the color of feminism is purple is because when you mix blue (societal standard color for boys) and pink (standard for girls), the resulting color is purple!! When I learned this I thought it was the most amazing thing! Even the color for feminism shows that women want equality of the sexes.

I have always been a feminist and to me it does not mean that I hate men, that is a completely incorrect way to describe someone who supports feminism. I want to be respected and treated the way the patriarchy has treated men for the past hundreds of years. Women have been oppressed their whole lives and we are fighting back, and we will never stop fighting. Some of the most amazing people I have met in my life have been strong, independent, intelligent women.

On the night of March 8th, I went out with a couple of my friends, to march with others through the city center. When we arrived at the meeting point we saw a ton of people dressed in purple and many carrying signs that had words and phrases on them about feminism. There were men and women who joined in on marching in favor of feminism. It is always nice to see men being supportive in this way because I think if some men show they care about women and feminism, then more and more men will follow behind them. Men can be feminists too!

We marched for about an hour, chanting and walking together through the streets of Seville. There were multiple marches going on, but the reason I was with this specific crowd was because my Spanish Culture and Society professor had given our class a flyer with this march on it so thats the one I decided to attend.