International Women's Day: UN Chief Says Gender Equality 'Slow and Uneven', Celebrities Show Support
International Women's Day on Sunday, March 8 encouraged more than 1,000 women and men to come out and march for equality at the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan, New York City. Celebrities also took to Instagram and other social media to share their support.
New York City's First Lady Chirlane McCray, 60, a self-proclaimed feminist, addressed that crowd. "Today, you are marching in the footsteps of generations of feminists. This march started more than a century ago, but we still have a long way to go before we get to equality,' added Ms McCray, who is married to New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.
She noted that International Women's Day commemorates the day in 1908 when thousands of women marched through the city demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said the progress in achieving gender equality has been "slow and uneven" as he called on the international community to make concerted efforts to ensure total equality in the next 15 years.
"When you hold back half of our population, we cannot realise 100 per cent of our potential," Ban said at a march held here yesterday from the UN headquarters to Times Square in commemoration of International Women's Day.
"We have to fully respect and use the potential of all of our women," the UN Secretary General said.
A website devoted to International Women's Day declares that it is now an official holiday in countries from A to Z - from Afghanistan to Zambia, where hard-fought battles on behalf of women have been won.
Meanwhile, celebrities including Kerry Washington, Lena Dunham, Pink and Madonna have shown their support on social media using the hashtag #InternationalWomensDay.
A photo posted by Kerry Washington (@kerrywashington) on Mar 8, 2015 at 2:06pm PDT
