Taliban in power in Afghanistan, massive repression of the protest provoked in Iran by the death of Mahsa Amini, questioning of the right to abortion in the United States, consequences of the war in Ukraine on women: the reasons for mobilization are many on this day of March 8. Officially recognized by the United Nations in 1977, the International Day of Struggle for Women’s Rights is celebrated around the world.

Women “remain the first victims of wars and underrepresented in diplomatic negotiations”, officials denounced Tuesday, March 7 before the UN Security Council. “Gender equality is getting further and further away” and “at the current pace, [the organization] UN Women sets it at 300 years from now,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday, taking the example of Afghanistan where “women and girls have been erased from public life”. “Investing in women and girls is the surest way to improve the situation of all people, all communities and all countries,” Guterres tweeted Wednesday.

“Widespread Violation of Women’s Rights”

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Manua) on Wednesday called on the Taliban to “immediately” end the “draconian restrictions”. “Afghanistan under the Taliban remains the most repressive country in the world when it comes to women’s rights”, denounced the head of the mission, Rosa Otunbayeva. Universities reopened in this country on Monday, after the long winter break, but only men were able to cross their threshold, women no longer being allowed to study since the return to power of the Taliban in August 2021.

In a symbolic and unprecedented move on the eve of March 8, the EU adopted sanctions against the Taliban Minister of Higher Education, Neda Mohammad Nadeem, “responsible for the widespread violation of women’s right to education”. Other individuals or entities responsible for violations of women’s rights in Iran, Russia, South Sudan, Burma or Syria have also been targeted by these sanctions, initially initiated by the Netherlands.

Prohibited gatherings, taboo subjects, virtual demonstration

Elsewhere in London, Madame Tussauds will mark the day by unveiling a new wax statue of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst who, in 1903, founded the Women’s Social and Political Union, to demand the right to vote for women. Across Europe, rallies are scheduled for Wednesday in several countries such as France, where protests demanding “equality at work and in life” are being held in around 150 cities. A number significantly higher than in previous years, according to the organizers. The protest will be placed in particular under the sign of the fight against the pension reform, accused of being unfair to women.

Demonstrations, on the other hand, were banned in Pakistan, a conservative and patriarchal country, after the authorities in Lahore, in the east of the country, considered that the signs and banners held up by the demonstrators were “controversial”. The topics discussed such as divorce, sexual harassment or menstruation, being taboo.

In Cuba, for lack of being able to demonstrate freely, independent feminist organizations will for their part bypass the official celebrations by mobilizing via a “virtual demonstration” on social networks where they will raise awareness in particular on feminicides. In Mexico, protesters will march through major cities across the country, where 969 feminicides were recorded in 2022, under the slogans “Not one more murdered woman” and “Against male violence and precarious work”, figures show. officials.

In Colombia, rallies are planned to demand action against the increase in the number of femicides, which rose from 182 in 2020 to 614 last year, according to data from the public ministry.

“We are fighting against…a patriarchy…that fights relentlessly against our rights”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and First Lady Jill Biden will present Washington with the Contribution to a “Brighter Future” award to “eleven extraordinary women from around the world”. Feminists will also mobilize in particular in the United States to defend the right to abortion, called into question in the country by the decision of the Supreme Court in June to revoke the judgment “Roe v. Wade’ of 1973 guaranteeing this right. In Europe too, this right has recently been weakened in Hungary and Poland.

On this International Women’s Rights Day, a multitude of rallies are planned in major cities around the world, including Madrid, which is usually the scene of a gigantic purple tide. “We are fighting against […] a patriarchy […] which fights relentlessly against our rights, such as abortion, which we have obtained by fighting,” says the manifesto of the Madrid march, which is will launch at 6 p.m. (GMT).