Across the globe, people have gathered to celebrate the achievements of women, bask in intersectional feminism, and make political statements in protest.
By Carson Leigh Brown
International Women’s Day was first marked in 1911, and is celebrated March 8th every year with thousands of events around the world. Over 50 countries participated in today’s celebrations, calling attention to a host of women’s issues, from gender parity to matters of class and religion.Across the globe, today’s theme recalled the oft-repeated phrase from last year’s campaign trail: “women’s rights are human rights.”
Starting the day in Melbourne: Thousands of demonstrators attended a rally for International Women’s Day this morning in Melbourne, Australia. The sign in the back on the far right says, “This hijab is a feminist statement!” (Photos: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
Marchers were calling for de-colonization of Australia, an end to racism, economic justice for all women, and reproductive justice, as well as supporting the struggle for the liberation of all women around the world, inclusive of trans women and sex workers. (Photo: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
In Bulacan, Philippines: Activists and residents of urban poor communities from Manila set-up a barricade as they occupy a government housing project. Thousands of women, together with their families, from various urban poor communities led a coordinated occupation of vacant and idle government housing units in Bulacan province, north of Manila to assert their rights for free and mass housing which the group says the Duterte government failed to implement to date. Less than 16 percent of those housing units are occupied, according to authorities. (Photos: Jes Aznar/Getty Images)
In Palestine, girls walk holding hands at sunset on the beach in Gaza City as people around the world mark International Women’s Day. (Photo: Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images)
A Parisian man holds a sign reading “The revolution will be feminist or won’t be” during a demonstration. (Photo: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images)
Crowds also gathered south of Paris, in Marseille. On the left is a woman dressed as Marianne, a national symbol of the French Republic, and on the right is a woman with the female gender pictogram drawn on her face. (Photos: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty Images)
Stateside, United Nations officials held the International Women’s Day commemoration at their New York headquarters, inviting gender experts, activists, and celebrities to speak. On the left, Prime Minister of Iceland Bjarni Benediktsson holds up a “HeForShe Toolbox.” New York’s WABC news anchor Sade Baderinwa stands at the lectern, and, on the right, Women Goodwill Ambassador Anne Hathaway waits to speak. (Photos: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images)
In Honduras, hundreds took part in today’s march to call for justice and remembrance. (Photos: Orlando Sierra/AFP/Getty Images)
In Nairobi, women in traditional regalia sing to welcome the U.N. Secretary-General, and Kenya’s first-lady. (Photo: Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images)
Activists protest the Trump administration and rally for women’s rights during a march in Washington, D.C. Critiques were widely leveled at the Trump administration, and themes of solidarity persisted. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)
A group of women who stopped their working day in the Dominican Republic take part in a demonstration in the Superior Electoral Court in Santo Domingo. (Photo: Erika Santelices/AFP/Getty Images)
Meanwhile in Poland, the streets of Warsaw were also filled with protesters. (Photo: Janek Skarzynski/AFP/Getty Images)
Indian women perform a demonstration in self-defense today. Delhi police joined with World Vision India to train 200 women in self-defense. (Photo: Money Sharma/AFP/Getty Images)
A driver with the women-only Paxi Pakistan taxi company sits in a Pink Taxi during a launching ceremony in Karachi. Paxi Pakistan started with 10 drivers, referred to as pilots, but intends to expand to Lahore and Islamabad in the next few months. (Photo: Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images)
And in Diyarbakir, Turkey, women flash victory signs during today’s demonstration. (Photo: Ilyas Akengin/AFP/Getty Images)
