This year the United Nations has chosen Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls as the theme for International Women’s Day. These three words, deliberately separated by a period, identify the mandate.
Rights: Did you know that women have only 64 per cent of the legal rights that men hold worldwide?
Justice: “In fundamental areas of life, including work, money, safety, family, property, mobility, business, and retirement – the law systematically disadvantages women. From harmful social norms to discriminatory laws, women and girls continue to face entrenched obstacles – even pushback – to equal justice. If progress continues at its current pace, it will take 286 years to close legal protection gaps. That is not a timeline, it’s surrender. Without justice systems that work for women, rights become a promise that never arrives.”
Action: This year, IWD 2026 calls for action to dismantle the structural barriers to equal justice: discriminatory laws, weak legal protections, and harmful practices and social norms that erode the rights of women and girls.
So why do we celebrate International Days? To educate the public, to mobilize political will and to secure resources to address problems. International Days remind us that these are global issues the world that these are shared responsibilities and humanity’s common future.
They also remind us to look no further that home on some of these issues and to reinforce in us the need to create RESOLUTIONS to address inequity.
I am including in this a memo I sent on January 20th regarding World Day of Social Justice which amplifies the fact that women in Canada receive less pay than men for equal work.
The UN will soon launch a campaign with engaging materials and key information to spread the word and call for equal rights for all women and girls. Stay tuned to the website below for further information
https://www.un.org/en/observances/womens-day
- sent to us from the BC/Yukon CWL Social Justice Chair, March 2026
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