Women worldwide march to demand end to violence, inequality

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Demonstrators have taken to the streets across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas to mark International Women’s Day, with many demanding an end to gender-based violence and inequality.

In cities like Buenos Aires, Argentina on Saturday, those warnings were particularly grave, as protesters railed against austerity plans put forth by President Javier Milei that they say will roll back services for women.

Milei’s government has shut down the country’s Ministry of Women, Genders and Diversity and plans to strike “femicide” – the term for the murder of women in the context of gender violence – from the country’s penal code. His justice minister has called the term a “distortion of the concept of equality”, claiming it indicates a higher value for women’s lives.

Reporting from Buenos Aires, Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo said demonstrators say the move is particularly harmful given that one woman is killed every 30 hours in the country. A UN report released last year found that about 60 percent of women and girls killed in 2023 were murdered by their intimate partner or a close relative.