ISTANBUL/Mexico City: On Wednesday, rallies to commemorate International Women's Day were held all over the world, with Iran, which has seen widespread protests regarding women's rights in recent months, and Afghanistan, where girls do not have the right to an education, as the primary targets.
Demonstrations were staged by activists in purple from Jakarta and Singapore to Istanbul, Berlin, Caracas, and Montevideo.
After the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion ruling in the United States was overturned last year and abortion was severely restricted in a lot of Latin America, reproductive rights were a big topic in the Americas. Women have also demanded that something be done about the high number of unsolved murders of women and girls.
Silvia Vargas, 67, said she had been attending demonstrations in Mexico City since her lesbian daughter Maria Fernanda was killed in 2014.
She stated, "Not everyone gets human rights, governments and institutions determine them," claiming that authorities had made her believe that the sexuality of her daughter and her daughter's murder were shameful. I'm returning to an absence that will haunt me for the rest of my life."
From Montevideo on the Atlantic coast to Quito in the Andes, thousands of people, including students, workers, and indigenous people, took to the streets across South America.
Women in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, demanded that abortion be legalized and that action be taken against femicide. In Santiago, Chile, protesters, dancers, artists, and even pets crowded the streets.
In Manila, protesters who wanted equal rights and higher wages got into a fight with police who were stopping them. One poster read, "Girls just want to have fun... sexual rights." In Istanbul, protesters were dispersed by Turkish police who used pepper spray.
Women in Tel Aviv formed human chains to protest against a judicial overhaul that they fear will harm civil liberties, and demonstrators marched in Paris to demand better pensions for women who work part-time.
In several Spanish cities, protesters poured onto the streets to demand equal rights and the end of "machismo." However, the feminist movement was divided on issues like transgender rights and prostitution, which led to competing rallies.
Many fights remembered calls for fortitude with individuals for Iran and Afghanistan.
"It has been distressing to witness their methodical, deliberate, and systematic efforts to push Afghan women and girls out of the public sphere," Roza Otunbayeva, head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, said in a statement marking the day. "Afghanistan under the Taliban remains the most repressive country in the world regarding women's rights."
In London, dissidents walked to the Iranian consulate in ensembles motivated by the novel and TV series "The Handmaid's Story", while in Valencia, Spain, ladies trim their hair on the side of Iranian ladies.
The largest anti-government demonstrations in Iran in a number of years were sparked when Mahsa Amini, 23, was killed in September while being held by morality police in Tehran.
As of late, Iran's administrative rulers have confronted reestablished tension as open displeasure was intensified by a flood of poisonings influencing young ladies in many schools. Iran has detained a number of individuals it claims to have been involved in the poisonings and accused some of having ties to "foreign-based dissident media."
In honor of International Women's Day, the United States of America imposed sanctions on two senior Iranian prison officials it accused of committing serious violations of women's and girls' human rights.
On Tuesday, the EU announced new sanctions, while Britain also announced a package of sanctions against "global violators of women's rights."
New commitments Some governments marked Wednesday by making commitments or changes to domestic legislation.
Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, stated that he supports the inclusion of the right to abortion in the constitution. Ireland also announced a referendum to remove outmoded references to women from its constitution. Canada's historic anti-abortion and indecency laws were also repealed.
Giorgia Meloni, Italy's first female prime minister, stated that state-owned businesses should have at least one female leader.
Hirokazu Matsuno, chief cabinet secretary, stated that women's working conditions had improved, but more needed to be done, in Japan, which ranked 116th out of 146 countries in a World Economic Forum global report from last year.
He stated, "The situation for women, who are trying to balance responsibilities at home and at work, is quite difficult." The steps taken to address this issue are only half complete.
The head of Russia's upper house of parliament took advantage of International Women's Day, which is one of the most widely observed public holidays, to launch a vehement attack on LGBT lifestyles.
In a blog post that was published on the website of the Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko stated, "Men and women are the biological, social, and cultural backbones of communities."
"As a result, our nation has never had dangerous gender games and never will. We should let the West carry out this risky experiment on its own.
Paulina, a 45-year-old psychologist who did not provide her name, stated that "invisible violence" was a problem for women everywhere in Bogota, the capital of Colombia.
"They say, "You had a skirt on, a shirt showing cleavage, you were looking for it, right?" even as we are victims of abuse."
