Article by Sheridan Choi
On March 8th, thousands of people around the world celebrated International Women’s Day, a day that has acknowledged accomplishments by women for more than 100 years. Some led peaceful demonstrations while others marched to protest feminist issues, including gender pay gap, abortion rights, and femicide.
In Brazil, people organized on the streets of nine cities to call for an end to violence against women. In Spain, women took to the streets wearing purple, the color of women’s rights protestors, to campaign for gender equality, and around 6 million people went on strike in support of equal pay for women. In Turkey, hundreds rallied to demand the release of Syrian women in jail, but were broken up when police fired tear gas into the crowd marching at the edge of Istanbul’s Taksim Square.
In Sudan, President Omar al-Bashir ordered the release of women detained for their participation in anti-government protests. People have protested against Bashir since December 19th, demanding he step down. The International Criminal Court charged Bashir for planning genocide in the Darfur region. An estimated 150 women are in prison for participating in anti-government demonstrations, and hundreds gathered to protest under the theme of International Women’s Day.