Thousands of women stage mass scream to protest gender violence, pay gap in Switzerland

KARACHI: Have you ever been so frustrated you just want to scream?

Around 2,000 women in Switzerland staged a protest on Sunday against gender violence and unequal pay in an unusual way: collectively screaming on top of their lungs for 60 seconds.

The protest was part of the annual Women’s Strike, known nationally as the Frauenstreik. The screamed was staged at 3:24 pm – which marks the time of day when women work ‘for free’ as a result of the gender wage gap.

Protesters also held a minute’s silence for victims of domestic violence.

“For me it is emotional. Because I scream for me, but I also scream for my sisters and brothers, I scream for all the other children who lost a mother or a father, and I also scream for my mother, who would have screamed if she was still here,” said Roxanne Errico, a 19-year-old student who said her mother was killed by her violent boyfriend, according to the Guardian.

The first Women’s Strike in Switzerland began in 1991, according to Elle.