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« Elles » (women’s rights week)

« Elles » (women’s rights week) represents a prolongation in Blois of International Women’s Rights Day. Workshops, films, concerts, exhibits and debates are featured in a program highlighting the ongoing fight against discrimination and for equality of the sexes.

grands évènements culturels égalité des droits

Address:Throughout Blois

Organized by: Ville de Blois et associations

A theme of universal import

Women’s rights is a subject that should impel each and every one of us to think and eventually discuss. With that in mind, women’s rights week was open – with no restriction – to the general public. It was also open to different event formats: concerts, theater, cinema, conferences, etc. It was adapted to different tastes and designed to mobilize widespread participation.

The mobilization of Blois-based associations

Women’s rights week was initially created so as to federate associations in Blois around a common subject. In addition to local associations with specialized interest in the theme, a number of non-specialized associations wished to take part, and their energies were enlisted. They contributed different regards and modes of expression, thereby helping to reach a wider and more diversified public.

Themes from the preceding years

Thematic constants were present from the beginning:

  • in 2017, harassment of women on the street was at the heart of public debate, and the theme was: “the place of women in public space”
  • in 2018, the theme was: “combats in the world for women’s rights”
  • in 2019, the week was about “women’s bodies, expression of emancipation”. The “Me Too” movement opened the way to talk about women’s bodies, of what it represents and how it is objectified
  • in 2020, the theme was: “women in history, stories of women”, but the week had to be canceled due to Covid-19
  • in 2021, the theme was: “women: heroines, heralds, messengers of all times”

While these themes did not limit the scope of the events that could be organized, they provided the concerned associations with a connecting thread fostering group-wide emulation.