By The Associated Press
The Latest on International Women’s Day:
Tens of thousands of people marched in Argentina’s capital on International Women’s Day to condemn violence against women and to demand equal rights and legalized abortion.
The demonstrators Thursday banged on drums, chanted slogans and carried flags and banners along the streets of Buenos Aires, marching in front of the Congress building. Many women wore green handkerchiefs symbolizing the abortion rights movement.
Argentina allows abortion only in cases of rape or risk to a woman’s health. But dozens of Argentine lawmakers from several political parties presented a bill Tuesday that would legalize elective abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.
Some demonstrators lay on the streets motionless while wearing white shirts stained with red paint to look like blood. The banners next to them read: “While you debate, we die.”
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Hundreds of Brazilian women are marching to demand equal rights and protest gender-based violence to mark International Women’s Day.
Marchers in Sao Paulo on Thursday were drawing attention to issues as varied as the wage gap, abortion rights, sexual harassment in the workplace and sexual assault on the streets. Groups are also marching in Rio de Janeiro.
Brazil has one of the world’s highest homicide rates for women, and stories of sexual assault against women on public transport frequently made news in the past year.
Christiane Correia de Souza derided the fact that many stores were handing out flowers to their female customers on Thursday. The 31-year-old factory worker said the practice glossed over the serious issues facing women, like unequal salaries and sexual assault on buses.
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Google is highlighting 12 female artists in its “doodle” to commemorate International Women’s Day, and the online search leader launched a new tool that makes it easier to find local businesses that are owned, led or founded by women.
The new tool will be a permanent feature, and is also available for people who want to find businesses friendly to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning and/or queer (LGBTQ) community.
The company also hosted a discussion with Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, the actresses Storm Reid and Gugu Mbatha-Raw and director Ava DuVernay to talk about their new film, Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time,” on YouTube.
That said, Google, like other tech companies, has been criticized for hiring too few women, especially in technical roles, and is the subject of a lawsuit alleging that it underpaid women compared with their male counterparts.
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New York City’s “Fearless Girl” statue, a tourist attraction for the last year, is donning a new outfit Thursday: a cape of blue flowers.
The cape, courtesy of retailer Old Navy, is part of the worldwide events for International Women’s Day.
Meanwhile, a replica of “Fearless Girl” was installed in Oslo, Norway. The statue’s creator, Kristen Visbal, says she’s excited we have a piece “on the other side of the world.”
The New York statue is staying put for now while city officials figure out where it’s going next to spread its message of female empowerment.
A spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday that she expects “to announce (the) next steps very soon.”
The statue’s owner, investment firm State Street Global Advisors, says the company is working with the mayor’s office “to determine a permanent solution.”
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U. N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the world is at “a pivotal moment for women’s rights” and is urging men and boys to join in making gender equality “a reality for all.”
The U. N. chief told a start-studded event at U. N. headquarters marking International Women’s Day on Thursday that “for decades, women have been calling for the equality that is their right.”
“Today, they are shaking the pillars of patriarchy,” Gutteres said. “They are insisting on lasting change. This is what women and girls want. And that is what I want.”
And to loud applause, he declared: “It is what every sensible man and boy should want.”
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The White House used International Women’s Day to announce that first lady Melania Trump will present State Department courage awards to women from around the world at a March 21 ceremony.
The award recognizes women who have shown courage and leadership in pressing for women’s rights worldwide.
“Their courage only furthers my belief in the powerful impact women can make through solidarity and support of one another,” Mrs. Trump said. “Our strength is something to be celebrated.”
Rallies and other events were being held around the world Thursday to mark International Women’s Day.
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Thousands of women are taking over the central arteries of cities across Spain for evening marches to protest against wage gaps and gender violence and to demand an end to glass ceilings for female workers.
“If we stop, the world stops” has become the slogan opening more than 300 protests.
They come after a full day of striking on Thursday to mark International Women’s Day. Some 5.3 million people participated, according to two of the country’s main workers’ unions.
The March 8 Commission, a platform of feminist organizations that organized the marches across the country, said that women working at home, unpaid caretakers and students were a main focus of this year’s protests.
Strikes were especially noticeable in media, with prominent female anchors and journalists absent from television screens and radio programs. Nearly 7,500 female journalists have signed a manifesto calling for equal pay and opportunities.
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Chanting “Women power!” and “We are defending women’s lives!” a few thousand women marched through downtown Warsaw on Thursday to mark International Women’s Day.
The demonstrators were protesting violence against women and demanding equal pay with men. Some carried black umbrellas, a symbol of their successful, massive protest in 2016 that blocked plans by the right-wing government to further tighten Poland’s strict anti-abortion law.
Similar marches were held in other cities across predominantly Catholic Poland, as well as around the world.
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Kroger says it will light up its Cincinnati headquarters for International Women’s Day, another example of how corporations are honoring the day.
The supermarket operator, which also owns the Ralphs, Owen’s and Roundy’s chains, says the 25-story building will be illuminated with the female Venus symbol Thursday night.
Many companies are trying to spotlight women for the day. McDonald’s, for example, flipped its Golden Arches logo on its website to look like a “W.”
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Black glasses covering part of her badly burned face, a victim of an acid attack joined hundreds of activists who rallied in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi on Thursday to denounce violence against women and mark International Women’s Day.
Acid attacks are not uncommon in Pakistan, where men sometimes assault women for refusing to marry them.
At Karachi’s rally, held amid tight security, hundreds of Muslims and minority Christian women stood up as a sign of respect when the acid attack victim joined them.
Victims of acid attacks tend to avoid public gatherings. They are often treated at hospitals with financial assistance from non-governmental organizations.
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McDonald’s has temporarily flipped its famous Golden Arches to look like a “W” – a move it says it made to recognize International Women’s Day.
The upside-down logo appeared Thursday on the fast-food giant’s website and social media accounts. It also flipped the arches at one restaurant in Lynwood, California. McDonald’s says that at about 100 of its 14,000 restaurants, packaging and worker uniforms will have the flipped logo.
McDonald’s also says six out of 10 of its restaurant managers are women and it wanted to honor their accomplishments.
The Oak Brook, Illinois-based company says it’s the first time it has flipped its Golden Arches logo since they debuted at a restaurant six decades ago.
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Hundreds of women have protested in Kosovo’s capital to commemorate International Women’s Day.
Some posters held up during the demonstration in Pristina said “We march, we do not celebrate” and “Job for me.”
Luljeta Aliu of the nonprofit Justice and Equality organization says that “we fight for our rights as women. We want our rights at the workplace. We don’t want to be sexually harassed.”
Kosovo’s ombudsman has acknowledged that women are still discriminated against in the property and job markets.
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Three current and former French ministers have performed in a play about women’s sexual experiences amid the French government’s push to highlight gender inequality.
The state secretary for women’s rights, Marlene Schiappa, performed in the Vagina Monologues alongside Roselyne Bachelot, health minister under conservative president Nicolas Sarkozy, and Myriam El Khomri, labor minister under Socialist president Francois Hollande.
Schiappa is currently championing a new bill targeting sexual violence and harassment.
Theater producer Jean-Marc Dumontet, who organized Wednesday’s performance in Paris, stressed the three politicians took a risk.
Dumontet told The Associated Press that “it brings women’s issues to a very prominent position. They are really speaking out.”
Bachelot said she agreed to perform the play with Schiappa because the fight for gender equality goes beyond political divides.
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Catholic women are challenging Pope Francis to give women a greater voice in Catholic Church decision-making, warning that they are leaving the church in droves because its all-male leadership refuses to change their entrenched second-class status.
Former Irish President Mary McAleese, an outspoken advocate for women’s ordination and gay rights, was the keynote speaker Thursday at an International Women’s Day conference that was moved off Vatican territory this year because a cardinal declined to sponsor it due to McAleese’s participation.
In her speech, delivered at the Rome headquarters of Francis’ Jesuit order, McAleese said “The Catholic Church has long since been a primary global carrier of the toxic virus of misogyny. Its leadership has never sought a cure for that virus though the cure is freely available: Its name is equality.”
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French President Emmanuel Macron says his government is going to name and shame companies that don’t respect the law on gender equality.
For International Women’s Day, Macron has visited a property company awarded for its efforts toward gender equality.
He said that pointing the finger at companies that don’t comply with the law “will make them change, because no one wants to be the worst student in the class.”
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe unveiled Wednesday a government plan to push for gender equality in the workplace.
One measure would sanction companies with more than 50 employees, if there is an “unjustified” gender wage gap, with a substantial financial penalty.
Statistics show at the same age and equivalent job, there is a 9 percent gap between the wages of men and women in France
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Asia Argento, an Italian actress who helped launch the #MeToo movement, is launching a new movement, #WeToo, which aims to unite women against the power imbalance in favor of men.
Argento told Radio 24 on Thursday that her aim was “to finally change the patriarchal system so rooted in our culture, not just in Italy.
