International Women's Day

Typically on 8 March, International Women's Day, WILPF delivers a speech in the Conference on Disarmament. However, as we no longer monitor that forum due to its 20-year stalemate, this year we reached out to women taking action around the world. 

We would like to pay tribute for women human rights defenders undergoing arduous battles and insurmountable challenges in combatting gender inequality and constructing solid grounds for a sustainable peace in their communities. Check out our interviews with Oula from Syria and Asmaa from Iraq!

Our Secretary General, Madeleine Rees, also did a Tedx talk on gender, war, and peace. That will be available later this month, but in the meantime, she's written an article about it for openDemocracy! She writes, "The global movement of feminism has a vision; it’s an old one, but even more valid in our current state of the world: equality and an end to violence. It’s a jigsaw as to how we get there. Each of us has to bring our pieces to the table and look up to see how they fit to build that vision into reality."

This month and next we will be participating in activities around the Commission on the Status of Women, the Global Days of Action on Military Spending, and the CCW meeting of experts on lethal autonomous weapons. There are many ways for women, men, and others to challenge militarism, patriarchy, and inequality - join us!