France, March 7 -- Rights groups have called on women in France to down tools on Friday, 8 March-International Women's Day- for a strike to mark the importance of women's labour both at work and at home. For the first time, trade unions have joined the call for what organisers hope will be France's largest ever such strike.

"When women stop, everything stops," reads the call to action from the SUD/Solidaire union, calling for women to walk off the job, even if they're at home.

Going on strike and not doing domestic work "demonstrates how all we do is essential" said Soad Baba Aissa, of Femmes Solidaires, one of 50 feminist groups at the origin of the strike call.

They have been joined by five major trade unions, including the CGT and t...