TENS of thousands of women marched through Paris on Saturday ahead of tomorrow’s United Nations Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

The rally was the largest worldwide, though demonstrations took place in many cities across the glove, with big protests in many Mexican cities against epidemic femicide rates — 10 women are murdered every day in the country.

French marchers bore purple flags and signs reading Not One More, Sick of Rape and End Femicide as they honoured the memories of 130 women killed in France by a current or former partner so far this year.

Many of those women had previously sought help from the police, campaigners said, warning that French police responses to reported crimes and threats against women were inadequate.

Nous Toutes (All of Us) activist Beatrice Donnard said that “an entire system” of patriarchy and male violence needed to be “taken down,” adding: “Each woman you talk to — ask your mother or your sister — has a story of sexual violence in one way or another. This has to stop. I think men understand that and many of them are here with us, and welcome.”

Surveys indicate that 26 per cent of French women have reported being abused “physically or sexually, by a partner at some point, which is well above the European Union average and double the figure in Spain, where a series of legal and educational measures against domestic abuse were implemented in 2004.

President Emmanuel Macron has called the killings “France’s shame” and his government says new measures to counter violence against women will be unveiled today. These are anticipated to include retraining police officers to no longer treat reports of abuse as private family matters and the confiscation of guns from men suspected of abuse. But feminist groups have said that past promises of extra funding to counter abuse turned out to be a gloss on pre-existing budget commitments — and that, in many areas, funding has fallen because of the Macron government’s attacks on public spending.

Osez le Feminisme (Dare Feminism) spokeswoman Alyssa Ahrabare added that more funds are needed for women’s shelters. Despite calling femicide his “great cause,” Mr Macron was called out by feminist groups last year for having cut funding for women’s refuges by 25 per cent.

In Mexico, women strung flowers into wreaths for necklaces and donned shredded fabric to represent the tattered lives of femicide victims. A performance was held in honour of one murdered woman, Briseida Carreno, that involved women walking barefoot over hot asphalt in ripped pink and yellow organza. Twenty of Mexico’s 31 federal entities have declared emergencies over femicide levels.