Handmaids fill the streets for International Women’s Day

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

On March 8, hundreds of women in red capes and white bonnets marched through Quebec City for International Women’s Day, at Laurier Québec in Sainte-Foy, in front of the U.S. Consulate in Old Quebec and in a march that ended at the Palais de Justice de Québec on Boul. Jean-Lesage. Similar protests took place at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa and in 14 cities and towns across Quebec, including Montreal, Sherbrooke and Frelighsburg, on the U.S.-Canada border.

The capes and bonnets are taken from Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale, set in a dystopian world in the near future, where women are stripped of their rights to read, write and control their reproductive choices. Handmaids – lower-class women whose red dresses and capes and white bonnets make them stand out – are forced to give birth to the babies of higher-class families, who wear green. The book was adapted into a popular TV series in 2017.

Inspired by the story, the Regroupement des groupes de femmes de la région de la Cap- itale-Nationale dressed in red capes and white bonnets for their protests on International Women’s Day. One red-clad group of protesters surprised shoppers at Laurier Québec around noon by walking in tight unison into the atrium with signs bearing misogynistic quotes from public figures.

Less than an hour later, the women attracted a rather large crowd when they assembled at the corner of Avenue Sainte- Geneviève and Place Terrasse-Dufferin in front of the U.S. consulate, protesting the rise of anti-feminist sentiment in the United States under President Donald Trump.

At 2 p.m., these women joined the crowd at the Centre résidentiel et communautaire Jacques-Cartier in Lower Town.

The year 2025 is the 30th anniversary of the of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a sweeping inter- national plan to achieve a better world for women and girls. To mark this milestone, feminist groups around the world, including in Quebec City, marched under the theme of “Still Fighting.” The local groups chanted in French, “Still fighting to end violence against women! Still fighting against the poverty experi- enced by women! Still fighting for feminist climate justice!”

“With everything that’s going on right now, it’s really a good

time to come together and feel less alone,” said activist Maria Tremblay. “It is not a question of gaining something over men, but equal to men. Some toxic masculine-misogynistic groups are growing in popular- ity, mainly in the States, and passing laws there that are removing the rights of women. We hear not only men but also women speak about how women must become wives, mothers and even servants to men. That boggles our minds. It is exactly what Margaret Atwood wrote about 40 years ago.”

The march ended in front of the Palais de Justice in Saint- Roch, where the handmaids in red raised their white bonnets and chanted along with the crowd, “Mother, daughter, sister, never again in fear.”

With files from Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter