March 8th around the world: Blow after blow to women’s rights
March 8, International Day of Working Women, is celebrated this year in the shadow of processes in which women’s rights have been severely injured in many countries.
International Day of Working Women, which originated in New York in 1908 with thousands of workers demanding more rights, is today, more than 100 years later, a day when women demand rights and protest against violence instead of A celebration. In a statement issued on March 8, the United Nations stressed that the world is still 300 years away from gender equality and that hard-won gains are gradually being lost.
In 2022, decisions and practices that trample on women’s rights in three different countries became the world’s agenda:
Women-led revolt in Iran
The wave of protests that began in Iran after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September after being detained for “not wearing the hijab correctly” has grown into the country’s largest anti-government rebellion. Notably, women led the demonstrations for the first time in months and the headscarf requirement came to the fore.
The government’s reaction to the demonstrations, in which women removed their headscarves and protested against the Islamic Republic, was harsh. Hundreds of people lost their lives, thousands were arrested.
Women cut their hair at demonstrations held in different countries to support Iranian women.
Recently, cases of poisoning in schools where female students are trained have also left their mark on the country’s agenda. The poisoning of more than 5,000 school-age girls is believed to be linked to the women’s protests.
Afghan women’s earnings were snatched one by one
Returning to power in Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban group turned the country into an open-air prison for women by reversing their promises on women’s rights at first.
Afghan women took to the streets for their rights despite oppression and police violence.
Last year, girls were banned from secondary school, then the obligation to wear a burqa and a curfew were introduced without the permission of the boys. Finally, Afghan women were prevented from receiving a university education.
The UN warns that the Taliban’s decisions against women could be seen as a “crime against humanity”.
Revolt for the right to abortion in the US
In the US, considered one of the most developed countries in the world, 2022 has been a difficult year for women.
The decision of the United States Supreme Court to annul the abortion law, which has been in force for 50 years, caused great reactions in the country.
Americans filled the streets for days for abortion rights.
The 1973 ruling “Roe v. Wade”, the states of the country have the right to restrict, prohibit and even penalize abortion, and some enact the ban.
Massive protests were held in the country after the decision, to which US President Joe Biden also reacted. As a 10-year-old rape victim has to go to another state to get an abortion, American women have been fighting for abortion rights for months.