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Women across the world take to the streets to mark International Women's Day

Women hold slogans during a march marking the International Women's Day near Taksim square in Istanbul.

Women hold slogans during a march marking the International Women's Day near Taksim square in Istanbul. Source: SIPA USA / AAP

Women across the world have taken to the streets to mark International Women's Day, calling for an end to inequality and discrimination. Some of the issues in focus - pay inequity, reproductive rights and gender-based violence.


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TRANSCRIPT

As night fell, thousands of women marched in Turkiye's capital, Istanbul, defying a ban on demonstrations.

Police blocked access to the city's famous Taksim square, causing protesters to flood into nearby streets.

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Rights groups say violence against women has been on the rise in the past five years, since the government withdrew from a European treaty tackling gender-based violence.

The government have argued some elements undermine 'traditional family values'.

Eylul Naz Baklaci says efforts to quell the protests haven't stopped women coming together to make their voices heard.

"Despite all the precautions, despite all the roads being closed, despite the obstacles in the streets, the women have gathered and are marching. It is impossible to break this struggle, this unity."

Women have also danced on the streets in Chile, their calls for better protection for women's rights disrupting Santiago's main avenue.

Gisela Montesinos was among protesters who expressed fear over what will come when a newly elected right-wing government takes office this week.

"Today more than ever, we have to fight so we do not lose the rights we have won. We need to speak clearly about everything that is at stake."

Rising rates of femicide were at the centre of protests in Rio de Janiero, where the alleged gang rape of a 17-year-old girl has fuelled outrage.

Adriana Da Silva Atanasio says women's calls for change and safety in her city need to be met urgently.

"We don't need flowers, we don't need a day. We need to live, we just want to live."

In France, rape survivor turned feminist icon, Gisele Pelicot also joined thousands of women, as they marched through the capital.

And in Puyo, Ecuador, Indigenous women marched against gas expansion in the Amazon rainforest.

Auneka Ushigua, and Indigenous Woman of the Zapara group says she and other women are fighting for the survival of their land.

"Right now, we women are mobilising to make our voices heard by the state and the government, because we, as women, are threatened by oil companies, because as women, every Indigenous person does not want oil companies in our territory, because our territory is our life, our dream, which feeds us everything in our jungle, from our nature."

And in Madrid, women marched in solidarity with women living under oppressive regimes, expressing fears the escalating situation in the Middle East will worsen the situation.


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