International Women’s Day

What is International Women’s Day?

International Women’s Day (IWD), marked every year on 8 March, is a global moment to recognise the achievements of women and girls, while also confronting the inequalities that continue to shape their lives.

It is both a celebration and a call to action; a reminder that progress is possible, but not guaranteed. Around the world, activists, organisations, governments, and communities use this day to champion women  changemakers and push for women’s rights.

International Women’s Day also sits within Women’s History Month, a time to honour the struggles, leadership, and movements that have shaped women’s rights across generations and to recognise that today’s battles are part of a much longer journey for equality.

What’s the issue?

Thirty years after governments signed the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action,  committing to equality for women and girls, the promise remains unfulfilled.

Not a single country in the world has achieved full legal equality for women. 

In a world facing overlapping crises, from conflict and economic instability to climate change and democratic backsliding, gender equality is increasingly being sidelined, and in some places actively rolled back. This is not just unjust. It is a missed opportunity.

Discriminatory laws and legal gaps continue to expose women and girls to violence, injustice, and exclusion in their homes, workplaces, communities, and courts.

Behind every statistic are women and girls whose rights, choices, safety, and economic independence are constrained by the law or denied altogether. And when inequality is written into law, it doesn’t only harm women and girls. It holds all of us back.

Everyone needs equality now, because when women rise, we all rise.

Why does it matter now?

Gender equality is not a special interest: it is proven to be transformative, for women and girls, and for societies as a whole.

Today:

• Globally, women have less than two-thirds of the legal rights enjoyed by men.

• In 37 countries, women have less than half the legal rights of men.

• $7 trillion could be added to global GDP over the next decade if women participated equally in the workforce.

• 150 million fewer people could go hungry if women had equal access to land and financial resources.

• Peace agreements are 35% more likely to last when women are involved in negotiations.

At a time of global instability, inequality is undermining prosperity, peace, and progress. Gender equality must move from the margins to the mainstream, not someday, but now.

International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month are moments to reflect but more importantly, they are moments to act. Because equality is not inevitable. 

What is Equality Now doing?

Equality Now uses the power of the law to drive lasting change.

For more than 30 years, we have combined deep legal expertise with global reach to challenge discriminatory laws and hold governments to account. Since 1992, we have shaped international law and helped reform 135 discriminatory laws worldwide, advancing equal rights and opportunities and critical protections against sexual violence and exploitation and equal rights and opportunities for millions.

We are accelerating progress towards full legal equality, so that women and girls can live free from discrimination, exercise their rights, and shape their own futures.

Our vision is simple and ambitious: a world of possibilities, not prejudice, that is better for women and girls, better for everyone.