:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/I7SPQHQEDRX5OGZSOBDHAVPWR4.jpg "Women's Day comes amid rampant abuse and inequality 1")
MADRID (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of people will take part in colorful rallies, rallies and rallies around the world on Wednesday to commemorate International Women’s Day, a date set to celebrate women and demand equality for the half of the world’s population.
Although significant progress has been made in dozens of countries, the situation in places like Afghanistan and Iran and the continued crimes and rapes in almost every country in the world remind us that there is still a long way to go.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres stressed on Monday that women’s rights are “abused, threatened and violated” around the world and that at the current pace, gender equality cannot be achieved. will not be reached for 300 years. . The gains made over the decades are fading as “the patriarchy strikes back”.
The day is commemorated in different ways and to different degrees in different countries.
In Spain, more than a million people are expected to take to the streets in massive overnight protests in Madrid and Barcelona, among other cities. Large mobilizations are also expected in many other cities around the world, while some nations will only organize minority events.
The women gathered in Pakistan’s main cities, including the capital Islamabad, on Wednesday amid tight security. According to the organizers, these would be peaceful marches that would only seek to claim the rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
Last year, some conservative groups threatened to stop similar actions by force. But this time, authorities stepped up security to protect protesters. Pakistan is a conservative country where women often do not feel safe in public spaces due to harassment.
Neighboring Afghanistan has become the world’s most repressive country for women and girls since the Taliban came to power in 2021, the UN said on Wednesday.
In its statement, the UN mission noted that the new Afghan leadership has shown “an almost singular emphasis on imposing rules that de facto leave the majority of women and girls trapped in their homes.”
They banned girls’ education beyond sixth grade and banned women’s access to public spaces like parks and gymnasiums. Women are also banned from working in national and international non-governmental organizations and have been ordered to cover themselves from head to toe.
Roza Otunbayeva, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General and Head of Mission in the country, said that “it has been heartbreaking to see your methodical, deliberate and systematic efforts to push Afghan women and girls out of the public”.
In other regions, significant progress has been made in terms of equality, reproductive rights, laws to try to eliminate gender and sexual violence, as well as progress towards equal pay, parity between gender and division of domestic tasks.
Spain on Tuesday approved a new parity law that requires women — and men — to occupy at least 40% of the positions on the boards of listed companies and private companies with more than 250 employees and 50 million euros of activity. The same rule will also apply to the government of the country.
The legislation also proposes to oblige political parties to respect parity in their electoral lists, by alternating male and female candidates.
Over the past two decades, left-leaning Spanish governments have brought women’s rights to the fore with far-reaching laws on abortion, menstrual leave, and improved maternity and paternity leave, among others.
But the current left-wing government coalition – made up of 14 women and nine men – faced its toughest test in three years on Tuesday, with the two ruling parties clashing over the reform of their own groundbreaking violence law. sexual offences, which inadvertently led to reduced sentences. for more than 700 criminals and caused outrage across the country.
While many countries have made similar progress, notably in Europe, others like the United States, which removed the constitutional right to abortion last year, have seen restrictions reimposed in many states in this which many women see as a big step backwards. .
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Associated Press reporters from around the world contributed to this report.
