Thousands demonstrated in Pakistan on Wednesday, and around 20 women even gathered in the Afghan capital Kabul. In Pakistan, women in several cities had to fight in court to be allowed to take to the streets on Wednesday. Despite a ban, around 2,000 women gathered in the metropolis of Lahore.
“We will no longer sit in silence,” said teacher Raail Akhtar. “This is our day, this is our hour.” Protest marches and actions were also planned for the afternoon and evening in numerous European countries, including Spain and 150 cities and towns in France alone. In Barcelona, thousands of female students took to the streets carrying placards with slogans such as “Feminism means fighting”. In Turkey, where three women were killed on Wednesday, according to local media, a demonstration was planned on Taksim Square despite a ban.
According to the Alliance for Sexual Self-Determination, more than 10,000 people took part in a demonstration by the GEW and Verdi trade unions and a subsequent rally in Berlin. At the request of the AFP news agency, the police stated that they had counted up to 6,700 participants in the protest march.
The United Nations is currently dealing with women’s rights abuses in Afghanistan, Iran and many other countries in a two-week session of the UN Commission on Women’s Rights. At the start, UN Secretary-General António Guterres complained on Monday that real equality between women and men was “still 300 years away”.
The situation in Afghanistan is of particular concern, where the Taliban have largely banned women and girls from public life since August 2021. If the Taliban’s numerous “reprehensible measures” were not reversed, they would have “devastating and irreparable” effects on the economy and society in Afghanistan, warned a group of more than 20 countries – Austria was not among them – as well as the EU foreign policy representative .
EU imposed sanctions for violence against women
On Tuesday, the EU imposed targeted sanctions for violence against women for the first time, which are aimed at the Taliban, among others. For its part, the British government also announced punitive measures against those allegedly responsible for gender-based violence in Iran, Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.
In neighboring Ireland, the government said the people would vote on several articles of the constitution in a referendum in November. These are passages on the position of women, whose place is therefore “at home” – remnants of another era under the influence of the Catholic Church. French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that the “freedom” to choose to have an abortion will be included in the constitution.
On International Women’s Day, the Federal Government pointed out that it was increasing its funds for the international advancement of women. The Development Ministry announced that the United Nations had been promised a contribution of 26 million euros for its women’s organization UN Women for 2023, almost twice as much as two years ago. This is “money well invested,” explained department head Svenja Schulze (SPD). The money should therefore be used primarily to finance projects that serve gender equality.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took March 8 as an opportunity to honor the women “who work, teach, study, save, care for and fight for Ukraine”. He also recalled those who “sacrificed their lives” since Russia’s war of aggression began about a year ago. For his part, Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin paid tribute to women who “do their duty”, especially in the military field.
In the US, rallies were planned in particular to defend the right to abortion. In other countries in North and South America, the demonstrations are directed against the rampant violence against women and the increasing number of femicides, i.e. killings of women against the background of the partner’s or ex-partner’s fantasies of possession and power. Activists in Cuba called for a “virtual rally” on the online networks to draw attention to the murders of women.
