Women's Day rallies highlight inequality amid pandemic
From Germany to Mexico to Pakistan, women around the world have marked the International Women's day with rallies as they protested amplified gender inequality during the COVID-19 crisis.
Germany: Demanding better equality
Hundreds of protesters called for gender equality as they marched to the historic Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, local media reported. A study showed that, in recent months, women held proportionally less management positions in German companies than men. More women have faced challenges to advance their careers while they take care of their children in lockdown.
Ukraine: 'The pandemic has a woman's face'
Ukraine's capital Kyiv was rocked by protests as thousands of women marched to highlight domestic violence. With banners saying "the pandemic has a woman's face," protesters aimed to draw attention to how women suffered during the COVID crisis. Cases of domestic violence have risen worldwide during the coronavirus pandemic, as isolation and confinement prompted sexual and gender-based violence.
Philippines: Down with Duterte
Hundreds of women rallied in the capital Manila protesting President Rodrigo Duterte for alleged abuses against women. The president has angered women's rights groups since he took office in 2016 as he has repeatedly made jokes about rape. Protesters smashed an effigy of Duterte with sledgehammers.
Turkey: Calling for an end to femicide
Rallies took to the streets in Istanbul to protest violence against women. A day before the protests, Turkish authorities announced the arrest of a man who appeared to beat his wife on the streets in a widely circulated video on social media. Turkey has one of the highest femicide rates in the world. Last year, at least 300 women were murdered, according to a rights group.
Pakistan: Defying Islamism
Pakistani women rallied around the country's major cities in defiance of Islamist hardliners, who had attacked the march with stones last year. Dancing, chanting and marching, protesters demanded reform in the healthcare system, highlighting how the pandemic struck women the most. Women around the world suffered to access reproductive and sexual healthcare during the coronavirus crisis.
Mexico: Remembering victims
Women placed flowers and wrote the names of victims of violence on a fence set at the presidential palace in Mexico City. In the last five years, femicide rates rose to almost 130% in Mexico.