Women worldwide are taking to the streets to end discrimination

Thousands of women around the world took to the streets of major cities to raise their voices to demand an end to discrimination and femicide.

Women’s rights have been compromised in recent years in countries such as Afghanistan, with the restrictions imposed by the Taliban on their return, limiting their access to education and freedom of movement, much like in Iran the repression that led to the death of Mahsa Amini.

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Violence against women has also been reported in Ukraine during the conflict with Russia and in the United States there are questions about the right to abortion.

Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky paid tribute in a video to “all the women who work, teach, study, save, care and fight” for the country, as well as those who have “sacrificed their lives” since the beginning of the invasion. year ago.

On the other hand, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, sent a message to women who are “performing their duty” in the service of the nation.

The protests took place in Madrid and Barcelona, ​​in the latter city several participants were run over by a driver and several women were injured.

In Pakistan, on the other hand, women had to defy authorities’ attempts to stop the marches. “We will no longer be silent. It is our day, it is our moment,” said Rabail Akhtar, a teacher who joined the 2,000 women who gathered in Lahore.

In a symbolic gesture on the eve of March 8, the European Union (EU) adopted sanctions against nine officials and three official bodies from six countries, including Afghanistan, Russia and South Sudan, for incidents of sexual violence and abuse against women.

In France, demonstrations for “equality at work and in life” were held in some 150 cities.

Another central theme of the global protests will be the defense of abortion rights, weakened in the United States by the Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn the 1973 ruling that guaranteed it at the federal level.

In Europe, that right was also weakened in Hungary and Poland.

“We are fighting against a patriarchy (…) that challenges to the point of exhaustion our rights – such as abortion – that we have obtained by fighting,” proclaims the manifesto of the march that began in Madrid.