The 8th of March 2026, is International Women’s Day. This year’s global call by the UN and UN Women is direct: “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls.” It’s a reminder that equality isn’t just about celebrating progress. It’s about securing the conditions that make rights real in everyday life.

A key message behind the theme is that legal equality remains unfinished worldwide. Current estimates show that, globally, women hold about 64% of the legal rights men do. The meaning behind this is that across fundamental areas of life, the law still too often works unevenly. There is a clear gap between “having rights” and “being able to use them.”

International Women’s Day 2026 focuses attention on the barriers that keep rights from being enforced, exercised, and fully enjoyed. The focus centres especially where the stakes are highest for daily life and long-term security. UN framing for this year highlights how disadvantage shows up in core domains such as:

• work and pay
• access to money and resources
• safety and protection from violence
• family and caregiving rights
• property and inheritance
• freedom of movement
• ability to start and run a business
• retirement and social protection

The point is not only that gaps exist, but that they persist through a mix of discriminatory laws, weak legal protections, and harmful practices and social norms. This creates a combination that makes “equal rights” feel distant for many women and girls.

What you can do on 8 March
International Women’s Day is a moment to move beyond awareness and into action: amplify credible information, support organisations working on legal equality, and push for policies that protect rights in practice, not just on paper.