International Women's Day commemorates every March 8 the struggle of women for their participation in society and for their development as equal persons with men.
Originally, demands for equality were linked to the labor movement of the mid-nineteenth century, when women did not have the right to vote, education, or management of their own economic resources, and their life expectancy was much lower than that of men.
In 1945, when the United Nations was created after the devastation of World War II, the United Nations Charter was the first international agreement to claim and institute the principle of equality between women and men.
Thirty years later, in 1975, coinciding with International Women's Year, the UN established March 8 as International Women's Day for the first time.
The objective of International Women's Day continues to be to promote, develop and strengthen support for women's rights and their participation in all spheres: political, social, cultural and economic.
1. In Spain, according to 2016 data (INE), women work daily for 4.5 hours on household chores and care for minors, the elderly or dependent family members, while men spend two and a half hours on these same chores.
2. In 40% of the world's countries, women do not have the same access to financial services as men. And only in 42% of countries do women have the same access to property.
3. In the European Union, between 45 and 55 percent of women have experienced sexual harassment, according to a survey conducted by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.
4. According to UN Women, one in three women has experienced physical or sexual violence, usually by her partner, and one in two women killed worldwide is by a family member.
5. Seven out of ten victims of human trafficking are women and girls, and more than three out of four are trafficked for sexual exploitation.
6. According to the World Bank, each year in sub-Saharan Africa, 3.4 million girls are forced into marriage. Globally, the number of women married as children peaked in 2015 at 13 million.
7. According to UNICEF, at least 200 million women and girls have undergone female genital mutilation.
Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Future
Every year, International Women's Day is celebrated under its own motto. On March 8, 2023, it will be "#EmbraceEquity". The initiators are calling for distributive justice between the sexes and to embrace it.
The 8M movement grows stronger and more powerful every year, like each of the women who make it up. Various groups, associations, foundations, NGOs and women continue to fight permanently to end harassment, murders, gender violence, wage gap and inequalities in all its forms.
Many men are also joining the cause, because gender equality benefits global society as a whole. Because the destinies of men and women are linked.
Until effective gender equality on the agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals is achieved, International Women’s Day must be continued to celebrate.