International Women's Day 2025: Women worldwide demand end to oppression and exploitation amid backlash on women’s rights
On March 8 2025, trade unions, anti-fascist and feminist groups, and peace movements worldwide took to the streets demanding an end to oppression and exploitation. International Women's Day, or International Working Women's Day, has been observed since the early 20th century, with women workers from trade unions mobilising for their rights. Many of today’s protests - from Greece to India and beyond - continue in this tradition, focusing on the existing economic system, which they argue forces women into precarious working conditions, long hours, and underpaid or unpaid care work.
In Germany, where Equal Pay Day fell just one day before International Women’s Day, the trade union Verdi called for strikes in daycare centres and other social institutions. Meanwhile, in Turkey, a labour union urged women across the country to strike on March 8 in protest of "gender-based discrimination in all aspects of life." In Italy, unions organised a nationwide strike to bring attention to persistent gender inequalities and the urgent need for systemic changes.
The protests also stood against the current backlash on women’s rights, as highlighted by a recent UN Women report, which warns that women’s and girls’ rights are facing unprecedented threats worldwide and that gender discrimination remains deeply embedded in all economies and societies.