\u201cInternational Women\u2019s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality\u201d (International Women\u2019s Day). International Women\u2019s Day (IWD) has been commemorated for over a century since its first occurrence in 1911. For decades, the holiday has celebrated women\u2019s successes while simultaneously bringing attention to the existing gaps in gender equality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To the United Nations Commision on the Status of Women, Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres remarked, \u201c[The annual event] takes on even greater significance at a time when women\u2019s rights are being abused, threatened, and violated around the world.\u201d He continued, \u201cProgress won over decades is vanishing before our eyes.\u201d In Afghanistan, women and girls have continued to be greatly oppressed since the Taliban takeover in 2021. In the United States, womens\u2019 abortion rights have been stripped following the overturning of Roe v. Wade last June. As for the rest of the world, women continue to face gender based discrimination in classrooms, the workplace, and almost all other aspects of daily life. In 2022 in the United States, women earned 82% of what their male counterparts earned, a statistic which has remained relatively stable for over two decades. In Spain, women face an even greater disadvantage, earning about 78% of what men earn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Spain has made some advancements in abortion access, parental leave, and menstrual leave, further action and change from lawmakers is being demanded. As in years past, more than one million demonstrators marched through Spanish cities for IWD, or as it is better known here, 8M. From Barcelona and Madrid to the smallest towns and communities, the need for progress was felt throughout the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the once united Spanish feminist movement has been weakened by its division over two pieces of legislation. In Madrid, the 8M Commission stood in support of the new trans rights legislation and is against the reform of the rape law, also known as the \u201conly yes means yes\u201d law. The opposing group, Madrid\u2019s Feminist Movement has taken a strong stance against the \u201ctransgender law,\u201d reasoning it would be an \u201cerasure of women.\u201d The other dividing piece of legislation is the \u201conly yes means yes\u201d reform. What started as an effort to better define consent and protect women has many believing it\u2019s done just the opposite. The law merged the meanings of \u201cassault\u201d and \u201cabuse,\u201d resulting in reduced jail sentences and the release of hundreds of sex offenders since last fall. Madrid\u2019s Feminist Movement is calling for the reform of this law while the 8M Commision is not. The influential Spanish feminist movement has brought the issue of divisions amongst feminist groups to the international stage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nevertheless, one thing is clear: we need change. Women are not equal to men in any country, and so the fight for gender equality continues. As Women\u2019s History Month comes to a close, it\u2019s important to recognize and appreciate the great progress made by women, for women, but also to understand the need for greater change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bibliography:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
International Women’s Day 2023<\/em>, https:\/\/www.internationalwomensday.com\/. Accessed 12 March 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arag\u00e3o, Carolina. \u201cGender pay gap remained stable over past 20 years in US.\u201d Pew Research Center<\/em>, 1 March 2023, https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2023\/03\/01\/gender-pay-gap-facts\/. Accessed 12 March 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGender pay gap statistics – Statistics Explained.\u201d European Commission<\/em>, 7 March 2023, https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/eurostat\/statistics-explained\/index.php?title=Gender_pay_gap_statistics#Gender_pay_gap_levels_vary_significantly_across_EU. Accessed 12 March 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Llach, Laura. \u201cSpain’s powerful feminist movement split over trans and rape laws.\u201d Euronews<\/em>, 9 March 2023, https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2023\/03\/09\/spains-powerful-feminist-movement-split-over-trans-and-rape-laws. Accessed 12 March 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSecretary-General’s remarks to the Commission on the Status of Women | United Nations Secretary-General.\u201d the United Nations<\/em>, 6 March 2023, https:\/\/www.un.org\/sg\/en\/content\/sg\/speeches\/2023-03-06\/secretary-generals-remarks-the-commission-the-status-of-women. Accessed 12 March 2023.\u201cThousands march for International Women’s Day in Spain.\u201d Euronews<\/em>, 9 March 2023, https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2023\/03\/09\/thousands-march-for-international-womens-day-in-spain-as-lawmakers-debate-sexual-consent-l. Accessed 12 March 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cInternational Women\u2019s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=779"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":781,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779\/revisions\/781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}