Women’s Day
From taking the plunge in the sea to mass marches in cities, millions across the world unite in the call for gender equality
HUNDREDS of people took to the streets of Scotland’s two largest cities yesterday to mark International Women’s Day.
Marchers in Edinburgh and Glasgow walked through the cities in a call for increased gender equality.
Roads were closed in the capital as protestors met at Bistro Square and marched towards George IV Bridge before heading down the Mound and on to Princes Street.
The Glasgow crowd met at La Pasionaria statue on the banks of the River Clyde, before marching to Buchanan Street.
They carried signs stating “feminism is for everybody”, “unapologetically feminist” and “men have had their shot and look at what we’ve got”.
Several participants also posted about the event on social media.
Heather Clark wrote on Twitter: “A proper international and inclusive crowd at the Edinburgh International Women’s Day March. Even some stray French rugby supporters joined the ranks. Well done to the organisers.”
Ruby Zajac also tweeted: “Powerful turnout for #Internationalwomensday March in #Edinburgh!”
While Dr Nicky Hogan added: “Sisters together in Edinburgh today. Not equal yet.”
Several other events also took place across Scotland yesterday to mark the day, including a quiz to raise funds for Glasgow Rape Crisis in the city’s
BAAD centre and a tour dedicated to the women of the closes in Edinburgh, including tales of Mary Queen of Scots and Mary King.
Wanderwomen Scotland also hosted a celebration of womanhood with a beach bonfire and swim at Portobello beach.
In Dundee, the Women Making Waves festival also runs until March 14, raising awareness of great female achievements.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the UK, hundreds marched down Whitehall in London to mark the day, including Scottish singer Emeli Sande.
The musician joined other stars including Natalie Dormer, Sandi Toksvig and Nicola Coughlan at the #March4women event campaigning for climate justice and gender equality.
She told how climate change is having an impact on her family in Zambia, particularly the women.
“My heritage is Zambian and I have a lot of family over there,” she said. “All my dad’s family are in Zambia, and just over the past year I’ve been reading about how the climate crisis has really been affecting a lot of sub-saharan countries, Zambia included, and often it’s the women who are already [victims of] social injustice and are already up against so much; they are being left completely vulnerable in this crisis.
“I think that was another reason that I really wanted to get involved because I don’t think the media has really covered it to the extent it should be – the emergency a lot of people are finding themselves in – I think more people should be aware of it.”
She added: “I think it’s wonderful, all the online movements, Metoo and people realising there’s connections we can have through the internet, but for me nothing is more powerful than physical presence.
“I think just having all the women together and us all being able to communicate and network with one another and show physical presence and really demand what we think is fair, I think it’s so essential that we can do that and it goes beyond just one day.
“There are so many appalling injustices that women face around the world and just kind of raising my voice for this day is wonderful and then, if we can echo that throughout the year, it would be really powerful.”
Former Great British Bake Off presenter Ms Toksvig said she was “getting impatient” at the slow rate of change in both achieving gender equality and tackling the climate crisis.
She added: “I celebrate International Women’s Day every year but I don’t see big movement.
“We need change and we need it now. We need change in terms of how we deal with the climate, we need change in terms of domestic violence, we need change in terms of education and health and I’m getting more and more impatient.”
Earlier in the day, protesters from Extinction Rebellion staged a topless demonstration across Waterloo Bridge.
A total of 31 women gathered on the bridge – sometimes known as the Ladies’ Bridge, in honour of the female construction workers who helped build it – with the words “climate rape”, “climate murder”, “climate abuse”, “climate inequality” and “climate justice” written on their bodies.
A spokeswoman for the group said: “It’s mainly women in poorer countries in the global south that are experiencing the increase in violence but this will be the reality for all women if the climate and ecological crisis continues to go unaddressed.
“We are here to raise the alarm about what is happening to our sisters around the world and to tell women in the UK the climate and ecological emergency is your issue – it will affect you if we do not persuade government to take action.”
There are so many appalling injustices that women face around the world... just raising my voice for this day is wonderful