This year\u2019s commemoration centred on the theme \u201cRights, Justice, Action\u201d, with speakers urging stronger efforts to dismantle discrimination and secure justice for women and girls worldwide.<\/p>\n
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UN Secretary\u2011General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres warned that progress on gender equality is stagnating or reversing in many parts of the world. He highlighted findings showing that women still hold only 64% of the legal rights enjoyed by men globally. \u201cWe must not allow rollbacks. We must dismantle discriminatory laws and defend hard\u2011won gains,\u201d he told delegates.<\/p>\n
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The event drew high\u2011profile participation, including actor and UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Anne Hathaway, who joined global leaders, activists and civil society representatives. Grammy\u2011winning artist Michelle Williams delivered a musical performance honouring women and girls fighting for their rights.<\/p>\n
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One of the strongest messages of the day came from advocates speaking about Afghanistan, where the Taliban\u2019s sweeping restrictions continue to erase women and girls from public life. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai said Afghan women were living under \u201cgender apartheid\u201d and urged world leaders not to normalise or legitimise the regime\u2019s policies.<\/p>\n
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Afghan student Sunbul Reha delivered an emotional plea on behalf of millions of girls barred from secondary school and university. \u201cDo not forget us,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are counting on the international community to defend our right to learn, to dream and to live freely.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Speakers emphasised that the global push for gender equality demands concrete action, including legal reforms, investment in justice systems, and stronger protection for women facing violence and discrimination.<\/p>\n
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The UN leaders said the international community must turn commitments into real change.<\/p>\n
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\u201cOn International Women\u2019s Day, we celebrate progress,\u201d Guterres said. \u201cBut above all, we recommit to a world where every woman and girl can live with dignity, equality and justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
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–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":28167,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-28166","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Leaders, advocates and youth activists gathered at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York to mark International Women\u2019s Day ahead of the opening of the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the organisation\u2019s largest annual forum on gender equality, taking place March 9-19.\u00a0","published_date":"","news_description":"Leaders, advocates and youth activists gathered at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York to mark International Women\u2019s Day ahead of the opening of the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the organisation\u2019s largest annual forum on gender equality, taking place March 9-19.\u00a0","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28168,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28166\/revisions\/28168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=28166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}