Why women are on the front line of the pension rebellion

As the march against Emmanuel Macron's pension reforms made its way along the Grands Boulevards A north of Paris, a group of women began singing and dancing in the dense crowd.

- Kim Willsher

Above the sound of police sirens, protester chants, and the clatter of teargas grenades, the music was familiar; the words were not. A female activist group calling itself Les Rosies - after Rosie the Riveter, a feminist symbol of working women - had rewritten the 1990s hit Freed from Desire by the Italian singer Gala with French lyrics.

"Women on Fire! The government is failing Women on Fire! We're in the fight. NaNaNa Na Na Na Na ... stop your blah blah," they sang.

A law progressively raising the retirement age to 64, and increasing the contributions necessary for a full pension, has sparked angry protests, strikes, blockades, and violence across France for weeks. And women are on the front line.

Female workers, especially those in poorly paid jobs, say they will bear the brunt of the legislation and have to work even longer than their male colleagues for lower pensions.

"If you're a woman in France, you should be out on the streets said Fabienne Oudart, who joined last Thursday's march in Paris. "Already we earn less than men and that means lower pensions. This reform shows no respect for those women working in low-paid and often part-time jobs."

Pierrette Gobinot, who is retraining as an auxiliary nurse, agreed. "Putting the retirement age up to 64 is doubly penalising for us. Even these days, many women stop work to look after our children... We have to work even longer to make up for that to get a full pension, and, because our salaries are lower, our pensions are lower."