Women participated in marches in Cambodia, the Philippines, and Indonesia,
International Desk, Mar 8,(EFE).-
Thousands of protesters across the globe demonstrated on Sunday, International Women’s Day, to call for equality and raise awareness about violence against women, local government policies, and war, as well as the backtracking of women’s rights in several countries.
Southeast Asia
Thousands of women participated in marches in Cambodia, the Philippines, and Indonesia, among other Southeast Asian nations, to advocate for equality.
Under the slogan “Exercise freedom, justice, and dignity for girls and women,” Cambodian women participated in events in Phnom Penh to defend and expand their rights, reading speeches in favor of closing the gender gap.
Manila was also filled with women who took to the streets to demonstrate and highlight the social progress made, as well as demand greater respect in the workplace and improved access to healthcare for women, in a country where abortion and divorce are prohibited.
Europe
Thousands of women joined rallies in the main European cities, including Rome, Berlin, Lisbon, and Madrid, calling to end the war and the patriarchy.
In Turkey, thousands of women marched in Istanbul. As every year, a major protest took place at midday on the coastal esplanade of the Kadiköy district, on the Asian side of Istanbul, and on the evening other demonstration marched to Taksim Square, under slogans such as “Feminism is our salvation,”” “Jin, Jiyad, Azadi” (“Woman, life, freedom” in Kurdish), and numerous denunciations of gender-based violence.
In Portugal, demonstrators carried banners reading “We are not hysterical, we are historical,” “For the liberation of women,” and “Demure and at home?” “Rebellious and in the streets,” with many protesters wearing the well-known green scarves in support of abortion rights, as others waved Palestinian flags.
Thousands also took to the streets in numerous cities across Spain, echoing the fundamental demands of the feminist movement, and calls to end violence against women with slogans like: “We are not alone, the murdered women are missing,” and “They won’t silence us.”
This united front was further bolstered by widespread condemnation of war following the conflict in the Middle East, with banners bearing slogans such as “No to war”; “Where fascism grows, wars grow”; and “Neither wars that destroy us nor a peace that oppresses us. Women against wars.”
South America
Thousands of women took to the streets in Quito, Ecuador, to protest against the policies of President Daniel Noboa, which they labeled “imperialist” and which, they said, have led to precarious living conditions and a rollback of rights.
The protesters, dressed in purple and green, also chanted other slogans such as: “If the Pope were a woman, abortion would be legal,” “Girls are not mothers,” and “Down with the patriarchy, it’s going to fall!”
In Brazil, thousands of women gathered on the main avenue of São Paulo to protest the record number of femicides in the state, where a woman is murdered every 32 hours.
In Chile, demonstrators chanting “Not one step back,” took to the streets of Santiago, three days before the far-right President-elect Jose Antonio Kast takes office, warning of the risks that his ultraconservative Catholic convictions pose to women’s rights.
“In a few days, we will have a government that has openly declared an anti-women’s rights agenda, and we are calling for us to organize,” Vesna Madariaga, spokesperson for the 8M Coordinator, the country’s main feminist organization, told EFE.
Central America
In Mexico City, thousands of women took to the streets carrying signs with slogans such as “Not one more daughter, not one more broken mother,” to denounce gender-based violence in a country where around 10 women are murdered every day.
In El Salvador, hundreds of women and feminists marched and demanded the guarantee of their rights, as well as an end to gender-based violence and femicides.
They also remembered the women detained under the state of emergency in the country, the disappeared, and the mothers who “are still searching for their missing children.”
In Honduras, hundreds marched to denounce the persistent gender-based violence and to demand justice in emblematic cases such as that of environmental activist Berta Cáceres.
“We have serious problems with murders and reports of domestic violence,” emphasized Wendy Cruz, from the organization Vía Campesina, who highlighted that in Honduras, “almost one woman disappears every day,” with teenagers being the main victims of this phenomenon linked to human trafficking.
The activist pointed out that the cycle of violence against women in the country persists due to “structural problems,” with an impunity rate reaching 95% for these crimes. EFE
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