Women around the world have come together to mark International Women’s Day by taking to the streets in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. They demand an end to gender-based violence and inequality.
In cities like Buenos Aires, Argentina, protesters are speaking out against austerity plans proposed by President Javier Milei, which they argue will reduce services for women. Milei’s government has closed the Ministry of Women, Genders and Diversity and plans to eliminate “femicide” from the penal code, claiming the term distorts the concept of equality.
Demonstrators in Buenos Aires say this move is especially harmful as one woman is killed every 30 hours in the country. A UN report from last year found that about 60% of women and girls killed in 2023 were murdered by their intimate partners or close relatives.
In Ecuador, hundreds of women marched in Quito opposing violence and the patriarchal system, demanding justice for women who have been killed in recent years. In Bolivia, thousands of women protested late into the night, calling for their rights to be respected and denouncing impunity in femicides.
Women in various European countries also protested against violence and demanded better access to gender-specific healthcare, equal pay, and other issues where disparities with men still exist. In Poland, activists opened a center in Warsaw where women can have medical abortions, challenging the country’s restrictive abortion laws.
In Madrid, Spain, protesters held up pictures of Gisele Pelicot, a French woman who was drugged by her ex-husband and raped by multiple men while unconscious. Pelicot has become a symbol for women across Europe in the fight against sexual violence.
In Lagos, Nigeria, thousands of women gathered at the Mobolaji Johnson Stadium, dressed in purple to celebrate their womanhood. In Russia, women’s day celebrations had official tones, with honor guard soldiers presenting yellow tulips to girls and women in St Petersburg. In Ukraine, a ceremony in Kharkiv honored female soldiers who had died fighting Russia’s invasion.
