In France we notice a paradoxical situation concerning violence made to women, indeed the feminist fights since the 70s allowed to vote for laws which improved the taking into consideration of this violence: for example: rape is at last considered as a crime, harassment at work is finally condemned, nevertheless violence continues, worse it does not decline.
We think that in spite of the recognition of their existence by law, only isolated acts are often seen by people in the news items. The sexist character of this violence is disputed, denied. We think and make people know, that sexism and male domination are an oppression system and that violence made to women is the roughest symbol of the existing disparity in our societies.
To measure the importance of the problems, let me remind you some figures:

50 000 women among the 20 to 59 years old group undergo a rape each year. 

• 10 % of the women living in couple underwent violence from their fellow partner.
• A woman dies every three days as the result of violence from her companion (2006 survey)

It is interesting to underline that violence made to women happens in all social backgrounds; whatever their age or their background. This violence takes place mostly within the family or the couple.                            

To this already mentioned violence a large number of women suffer from specific violence: the migrant women may have less protection because they are liable under the laws and the customs of their countries of origin and adding to that liable to isolation and racism. As for lesbian women homophobia is added to everyday sexism.

The National Committee for Women's Rights, of which the FCP is part, has been elaborating for 2 years a framework law bill against violence made to women inspired by the Spanish law. This bill is published and circulated today to popularize our propositions.
Demonstrations took place and debates were organized. During an election campaign the candidates were not able to ignore the subject, but indeed few candidates clearly took into account the fight against sexism and against the violence that is associated to it. The FCP militate for this bill, Marie-Georges Buffet, is to my knowledge the only one who declares that she would apply the completeness of the text.

Far from being an end in itself, fighting for a framework law reminds us that the fight of the women for their rights is constant because our rights are never definitively acquired.

From our feminist and communist activists point of view there is no better society if discriminations are not fought against, and if women keeps on being dominated. 
We measure in France every day how much the right of women to own and control their own body, thanks to the rights for free abortion and for free contraception is degrading constantly due to the lack of financial means abortion centres and hospital departments reduce the number of available places making abortion impossible within the legal the time period. This obliged lots of women to go to private clinics or abroad (and those who cannot afford it cannot have abortion).
We measure the lack of job security, which affects more and more women to whom it is suggested choosing between a badly paid part-time job, or staying at home since the first childbirth with a " survival allowance". This allows limiting the necessary state budgets for child welfare. These attacks of our rights enter a liberal context, which keeps on limiting public spending and breaking down social benefits, but the peculiarity today are the comments relayed by the right-wind as well as by well thinking left-wing ideologies of  "guilt inducing family values", ideology which mixes culture and religion always to the detriment of women's freedom. Ideology, which reminds us the "Pétain-iste" time, associated to "Family and Homeland" with the blessing of the Catholic Church.
Those attempts on returning to reactionary values are dangerous for women emancipation and remind us how much religions are used to maintain the disparities between women and men. It is for this reason that we are strongly attached to secularism, of which we think is inseparable of our fights. We pay very much attention and we contribute to make known the situation of the women in Poland, we are appalled by the intervention of the Roman Catholic Church in Italy on the question of the Pacs *.
In France we fight the government policies, which abandon the population in certain districts in front of huge difficulties and of racism, contributing in this way to develop breeding grounds for the more or less masked fundamentalists who destroy people's life and especially of women forced to follow religious prescriptions not to be rejected by their communities. Our former home secretary N. Sarkosi chose to confide the "social peace" to Islamist associations but at what price for the liberties?

We condemn in the same way the fundamentalist Catholics and their anti-abortion commando groups.

More than ever, our political parties have to carry the burden of women's struggles for their rights, for equality and against all discriminations. Violence is structural of patriarchy, together we have to oppose to it with our solidarity and our determination. Let us demand a laic Europe. Let us fight together nationalism and fundamentalists in all Europe. Let us organize common reactions.

* Pacs : Contact for people in long-term relationship. (short for: "Pacte civil de solidarité") civil solidarity pact (bill introduced in the French parliament in 1998 extending the legal rights of married couples to unmarried heterosexual couples and to homosexual couples, particularly with regard to inheritance and taxation)