White, green, purple… Very symbolic colors that parliamentarians wore during the vote on abortion.

Green dress, white suit, purple pants… The colors of some lawmakers on Monday, the day of the Congressional vote to include the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) in the Constitution, were especially symbolic and recalled the historical colors of various feminist movements around the world. Explanations.

White for the suffragettes

In a photo posted Monday by environmental lawmaker Sandrine Rousseau, we see several elected officials dressed in white. The photograph is accompanied by the caption “Spirit of the Suffragettes.” The suffragettes were British activists who protested for women’s right to vote in the early 20th century and wore white clothing during their demonstrations.

During the suffrage era, “white cloth was relatively affordable, meaning women of different backgrounds could participate,” The Conversation article explains, “the color’s association with purity also helped participants present themselves as respectable and worthy women.” »

“I dressed in white, I know there are others who will dress in white,” said warned on Monday morning on Franceinfo Sandrine Rousseau. She explains that she chose the outfit “in solidarity with the American Democratic lawmakers who entered Congress wearing white in memory of the suffragettes.” This is a kind of international feminist.”

Green for abortion rights in Argentina

Several elected officials also wore green scarves on Monday. Matilda Pano, president of the LFI group in the National Assembly, wore an all-green dress. This is a tribute to the “green tide” in Argentina. This movement saw many women take to the streets in 2018 and subsequent years to gain the right to abortion, wearing the green scarf as their emblem.

This color is known as the color of hope. The scarf is a reference to the white scarf of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, who fight to find their children who disappeared in Argentina during the Videla dictatorship (1976-1983).

Greene was taken up in other countries where women were also demanding abortion rights, such as Colombia. “In Colombia, in Argentina, here or anywhere else, there is always a crowd behind the law. A wave of women dressed in green or purple.” launched Matilda Pano in February 2022., during a debate about increasing abortion in France. She already had a green scarf on her wrist.

Purple for feminist activists

The color purple was also present in the outfits of some parliamentarians. This color is often found among feminist activists. Along with white and green, it is also part of the tricolor suffragette flag Women’s Social and Political Union, resembles the British Parliament. The color purple “symbolizes dignity and is associated with the green of hope and white of purity,” Christine Bard, a professor of modern history at the University of Angers, explained to AFP last March.

In France, the Women’s Liberation Movement (MLF) used this color in the 1970s, and current feminist movements also use this color, such as the #NousToutes collective or the Women’s Fund.