Violence against women: why purple is the color of demonstrations and the fight against femicide

Signs, clothing, banners… why the demonstrations against violence against women, organized each year around November 25, are adorned with purple.

“This color has become the symbol of feminism since the end of the 19th century, particularly in the United States where it was adopted by women who demanded the right to vote. Between the two wars, the Suffragettes in turn integrated purple in their protest palette and combine it with green on their posters. In France, this color appears on the scarves, t-shirts or blouses of feminists demanding the right to abortion and to dispose of their bodies for years. 70”recalls Ina, the national audiovisual institute.

The Aliens, a feminist association, also delves into history to explain this choice: the Suffragettes, therefore, with a very political variation for the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), which sports three colors, purple, white and green, during the first rally organized in London, in June 1908.

“Symbol you sang royal”

WSPU member Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence explains that “purple as the dominant color symbolizes the royal blood, which flows in the veins of every woman fighting for the right to vote, the awareness of freedom and dignity. White symbolizes honorability in the private and political sphere; finally, green, the hope of a new beginning.”

Since then, the color has been regularly worn during special events: in February 2014, in Madrid, in a demonstration against a bill restricting access to abortion. Or even Kamala Harris, in 2021, for the inauguration of Joe Biden.