Sima Bahous
UN Women Executive Director
This year, International Women’s Day is a call to ‘Rights. Justice. Action.’ For every woman and girl, everywhere.
Justice is where gender equality is decided, and today, it is still too often denied for women and girls.
When the rule of law fails girls and women
Not a single country fully guarantees women and girls equal protection under the law. Globally, women enjoy just 64%1 of the legal rights of men. In half of all countries,1 rape laws still do not require consent. In three-quarters,1 child marriage remains legal in all or some circumstances, a violation that continues to steal the futures of millions of girls.
Justice begins with the rule of law grounded in equality. When laws change, lives change. For example, family law reforms have delivered economic opportunity to more than 600 million women,1 benefiting not only them but their families, communities and nations. This is the power of justice that works.
The paradox of our moment is that at a time when the progress of the last generation and more has brought us closer to equality than ever before, we are also at our greatest risk of losing it. There is a virulent backlash to the shared achievements of feminism and the women’s movement. We see repression, censorship, impunity and justice denied. This is increasingly the reality for women and girls in too many parts of the world.
We must deliver justice, for every woman and girl, everywhere, and we must deliver it now.
Resisting and protesting threats against feminism and women’s rights
Women and girls are rising to meet the challenge. They are resisting, protesting and leading with courage.
UN Women stands with them. We stand with women’s movements, and with women and girls everywhere. We work to ensure that justice systems truly deliver justice to them, as is their right.
This year’s 70th Commission on the Status of Women, the world’s annual high-level meeting on gender equality, is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. We can agree on what needs to be done, codify it as an international agreement and commit to making it a reality in women’s and girls’ lives.
This is our moment to turn the tide. UN Women is calling for an end to silence, impunity and inequality in law and in life. We are calling for funding for women’s rights movements and their crucial and tireless work. We must deliver justice, for every woman and girl, everywhere, and we must deliver it now.
[1] UN. (2026). Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls.
