2018 Chilean feminist protests and strikes

The 2018 feminist demonstrations in Chile — nicknamed the Chilean feminist wave or Chilean feminist revolution - correspond to a series of demonstrations and mobilisations in Chile that demanded a process of social change to eradicate - From the feminist point of view - the prevailing machismo and the patriarchal system that has been structural in that country, with a view to guiding the Chilean State towards the pillars of feminism. These premises are based on denouncing the situation of inequality in which women find themselves, criticizing the widespread education and making gender issues visible, including repeated harassment and abuse throughout the country's history.[1]

The mobilisation had been developing at first due to the international context. The Ni una menos and Me Too movements arrived in Chile and, based on the case of Nabila Riffo, generated marches in Santiago in November 2016 and March and October 2017 demanding an end to violence against women. The matter was exacerbated when in April 2018 there were massive complaints of harassment and abuse against teachers and students in different universities in the country, which in the face of deficient processes and lacking response, motivated takeovers and stoppages that by June 2018 already added to 32 universities, producing a massive feminist student mobilisation throughout the country.[2]

Along with these events, various television and theater actresses began in April 2018 to report cases of harassment and abuse by the renowned television director Herval Abreu, which generated in Chile a phenomenon similar to the Weinstein Effect in the United States, where various public figures came out with the banner of feminism to denounce these situations. Other actresses, for their part, decided to make public the large wage gap between men and women that has not changed to date. According to renowned historians and sociologists, such as María José Cumplido, María Emilia Tijoux and Teresa Valdés, it would be the largest feminist rebellion in the history of the country, as well as the consecration of the third feminist wave in Chile. The Plaza Pública de Cadem showed that there was a majority supporting the mobilisations: 68% of those surveyed were in favor of feminist mobilisations and 69% in favor of women's marches on public roads.[3]

The 2018 feminist student mobilisation in Chile, also known as the feminist tomas de 2018 or the New Chilean feminist wave, corresponds to a series of demonstrations carried out by university and high school students from Chile that began in April 2018. The movement's demands include taking measures against academics accused of abuse, eliminating abuse from education, making changes to the curriculum, and training on gender equality among others.[4]