1 of 3 | World Champion Gymnast Aly Raisman speaks at the International Women’s Day 2025 keynote event titled “For Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment” at the United Nations General Assembly building in New York City on Thursday. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
March 7 (UPI) — The United Nations on Thursday marked the upcoming International Women’s Day with a call for feminine equality under a banner of rights and empowerment.
The event is observed worldwide on Saturday.
“This year’s theme calls for action that can unlock equal rights, power and opportunities for all and a feminist future where no one is left behind,” a release from the United Nations said. “Central to this vision is empowering the next generation — youth, particularly young women and adolescent girls — as catalysts for lasting change.”
International Women’s Day bills itself as being inclusive for all and calls on participants to make a difference for females worldwide.
Women called for equal pay, reproductive rights, education, justice and decision-making jobs during demonstrations worldwide, stretching from the United States to Tokyo to Mexico, a country celebrating its first female president, Claudia Scheinbaum.
International Women’s Day has its origins in the early 20th century with the American Socialist Party in 1909, but it gained stature the following year when a German feminist urged a global commemoration during an international conference of socialist women held in 1910 in Copenhagen.
It gained even more traction when women protested the armed conflict in World War I from 1914 to 1918. The United Nations began commemorating it as an official event in 1975.
International Women’s Day is observed on March 8, traced to a massive women’s protest in 1917 that eventually led to Russia’s withdrawal from the war.
“The authorities weren’t able to stop them, and then, once the men saw that the women were out on the streets, all of the workers started coming and joining the women,” said Kristen Ghodsee, professor and chair of Russian and East European studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
The event has taken on increasing prominence and become in recent years with high high-profile protests in the Middle East and an attempt by Turkey to ban demonstrations in 2023. Marchers in Istanbul withstood tear gas attacks, arrests and other strong arm measures by street police to shut down the event.
A girl or woman is killed every 10 minutes by a family member or friend, according to UN data.
