International Desk, Mar 8 (EFE). – Thousands of people conmemorated International Women’s Day in several countries on Saturday with demonstrations and feminist actions to demand a stop to gender violence, equal rights and opportunities, and socioeconomic well-being.
In the Americas, the first events began on Friday, when thousands of women marched in La Paz to demand respect for their rights and to protest impunity in cases of gender violence.
One of the most chanted slogans was: “What’s the big deal? They kill us and rape us and the state does nothing,” which grew louder as the march ed by the headquarters of the courts and prosecutors in La Paz.
Activists gathered in Manila, Philipines, on Saturday to commemorate International Women’s Day, ing global demonstrations advocating for gender equality and women’s rights.
Demonstrators marched in Islamabad, Pakistan, despite local authorities denying their request for permission to hold the protest, known as the Aurat March or Women’s March because it coincided with the holy month of Ramadan.
Nevertheless, dozens of women gathered at the National Press Club to march towards the emblematic D-Chowk, chanting slogans and demanding equal rights.
Tunisia commemorated International Women’s Day with an exhibition in Tunis called “Dare to Care,” which highlights that women in the country spend up to 12 hours on domestic work compared to 45 minutes for men, an unpaid job that prevents them from seeking economic autonomy.
“Our study showed that young Tunisians have a more conservative mentality than adults, with a significant gap between men and women,” Boutheina Hammadi, coordinator of the UN Women Tunisia project that organized this artistic proposal, told EFE.
In Spain, thousands marched through downtown Madrid under heavy rain during the first demonstrations called for Saturday, as the feminist movement remains divided, and there were two different protests on Saturday.
The march was festive and ended with organizers warning of the threat to women’s rights posed by the advance of the far right around the world.
In Italy, thousands of people marched in the main cities to denounce male violence and the patriarchy amid the debate on the law against feminicide proposed Friday by the far-right government of Giorgia Meloni.
In Portugal, hundreds of women and the odd man marched through the center of Lisbon to demand equal rights as they chanted: “We are not a commodity.”
Participants carried signs with messages such as “they wanted to burn us, we became fire,” “without feminism, there is no revolution,” “reproductive work is work,” “equality, union, and inclusion,” or “1975-2025, 50 years on parole.”
In Paris, demonstrators criticized right-wing and authoritarian governments with Nazi salutes of “Heil Trump,” “Heil Putin,” or even “Heil Meloni.
French demonstrations also took the opportunity to denounce the situation in some countries, such as Afghanistan, to which a message of was sent from the Eiffel Tower.
In Brussels, thousands of people demonstrated in the center of the capital to defend women’s rights in the face of the “worrying setbacks” seen in different parts of the world. EFE
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