Thousands of women are protesting in the streets this Wednesday to denounce a global offensive against their rights and demand an end to discrimination and femicides, which are on the rise in several countries.
In the context of International Women’s Day, events and demonstrations are organized in various cities around the world.
The reasons for the mobilization are many: the discrimination imposed in Afghanistan since the return of the Taliban to power, the repression of protests in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, the end of the right to abortion in the United States and the consequences of the war in Ukraine for women women.
In Brazil, protests in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro will denounce the “cuts to women’s protection policies” and the “staggering growth of machismo and misogyny” during Jair Bolsonaro’s term (2019-2022), Junéia affirmed Batista, of the Single Workers’ Central (CUT).
The current left-wing president, Lula da Silva, will participate in Brasilia in launching programs for women and in establishing the Marielle Franco National Day Against Political Violence, in honor of the councilor who was murdered in 2018.
“The progress made in decades is evaporating before our eyes,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned Monday.
“At the current rate, UN Women calculates it will take 300 years” to achieve gender equality, he added, after recalling the situation in Afghanistan, where women and girls have been “erased from public life.” since the return of the Taliban to power in August 2021.
Afghan universities reopened on Monday after the winter break, but only men were allowed to attend classes.
The European Union (EU) on Tuesday adopted sanctions against Taliban higher education minister Neda Mohammed Nadeem, “responsible for the widespread violation of women’s right to education”.
Other individuals or entities responsible for violations of women’s rights in Iran, Russia, South Sudan, Myanmar and Syria are also subject to sanctions.
Prohibited demonstrations
Women’s demonstrations have been banned in several countries, such as Pakistan, where authorities have accused the “controversial posters” that protesters often carry with claims of divorce or sexual harassment.
Independent feminist organizations in Cuba, which called for a “virtual march” on social media to raise awareness of gender-based violence and femicides, were also denied permission to protest.
Another central theme of the 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 decision that guaranteed access at the federal level.
In Europe, this right is also weakened in Hungary and Poland.
“We are fighting against a patriarchy (…) that fights to the death for our rights – such as abortion – that we have overcome by fighting,” says the manifesto of the march that will take place in Madrid.
Demonstrations for “equality in work and life” were organized in France. The country is in turmoil over strikes and protests against pension reforms by Emmanuel Macron’s liberal government, which critics say are having harmful effects on women.
There are also planned protests in major cities in Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela.
Source: DN
