For more than 100 years, International Womens Day has celebrated the economic, social, political achievements of women and has become a time to reflect on areas where progress on gender equality has stalled.
This years theme, Pledge for Parity, calls for women and men to make a pledge to take meaningful action in these areas to help achieve gender equality at a much faster pace.
Broadening Australias approach to forced marriage, an emerging and growing problem, is the next step in empowering women and girls and advancing their rights.
In the last 18 months, the Australian Federal Police investigated 41 cases of forced marriage between 2013 and 2015. Alarmingly 32 of these investigations were related to persons under the age of 18.
While there is very little available data on the prevalence of forced marriage in Australia, the United Nations Population Fund estimates that 140 million girls around the world will become child brides by 2020.
