France has inscribed the guaranteed right to abortion in its constitution, a powerful message of support for women’s rights on International Women’s Day.

Women across the world will demand equal pay, reproductive rights, education, justice, decision-making jobs and other essential needs during demonstrations marking International Women’s Day Friday.

International Women's Day is a day that recognizes and upholds the achievements of women around the world, as well as promotes gender equality.

Honduras has one of the world’s strictest abortion bans, with a constitutional prohibition on terminating pregnancy in all cases.

First lady Jill Biden visited a medical center in New Orleans to stress the importance of cancer research.

Pakistani police say they are investigating officers after violence at a women's march in the capital, Islamabad.

In observance of International Women’s Day, 50 women participated in Wednesday’s naturalization ceremony at city hall.

Women have braved an official ban on an International Women’s Day march in Istanbul, Turkey, demonstrating for about two hours before police used tear gas to disperse them and detained people.

Ukraine’s first lady has offered spirited support to her nation’s people while visiting the United Arab Emirates, a country that still remains open to Russia despite Western sanctions.

Tens of thousands of people have marched in Paris and in other cities across the country to denounce the government’s pension plan as unfair to female workers.

Riot police set up barricades and fired pepper gas to block demonstrators from joining an International Women’s Day march in central Istanbul.

The European Union’s executive arm wants to harmonize the criminalization of rape across the 27-nation bloc on the strict basis of lack of consent.

President Joe Biden says he's asking Congress for $2.6 billion for foreign aid programs that promote gender equality around the world.

International Women's Day is a global day to celebrate women, but many fleeing Ukraine felt only the stress of finding a new life for their children as husbands, brothers and fathers stayed behind to defend their country from Russia’s invasion.

Air Force Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost has became only the second woman to lead one of the Pentagon’s 11 so-called combatant commands that spearhead the military’s worldwide operations.

France will offer free birth control to all women up to age 25 starting next year.

(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)ISTANBUL – Turkey withdrew early Saturday from a landmark European treaty protecting women from violence that it was the first country to sign 10 years ago and which bears the name of its largest city. The Istanbul Convention states that men and women have equal rights and obliges state authorities to take steps to prevent gender-based violence against women, protect victims and prosecute perpetrators. “We were struggling every day so the Istanbul Convention would be implemented and women would live. We now hear that the Istanbul Convention has been completely repealed,” Dilan Akyuz, 30, who joined other women demonstrating in Istanbul. Numerous women's rights groups slammed the decision, saying laws protecting women are inadequately enforced.

In this photo dated Monday, March 8, 2021, protesters chant slogans during a march to mark International Women's Day in Istanbul. According information from Istanbul governor's office, Thursday March 11, 2021, Turkish police detained 13 people who participated in a Women's Day march on Monday for allegedly insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)ANKARA – Turkish police have detained 13 people who participated in a Women’s Day march for allegedly insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, officials and news reports said Thursday. The Cumhuriyet newspaper and other media said the suspects were detained for questioning over slogans deemed to be insulting to Erdogan. Insulting the president is a crime in Turkey, punishable by up to four years in prison.

A woman waves a feminist flag as demonstrators attempt to storm the National Palace during a march to commemorate International Women's Day and protesting against gender violence, in Mexico City, Monday, March 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)CAMEROON – U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on International Women’s Day that the COVID-19 pandemic has seen “a rollback in hard-won advances in women’s rights” even as calls for women's empowerment echoed around the globe, from Myanmar and Afghanistan to Saudi Arabia and the United States. “We stand at a crossroads as we ponder the recovery from a pandemic that has had a disproportionate impact on women and girls, ” said UN Women’s Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka at the U.N. observance of International Women’s Day. AdAround the world, there were expressions of concern at the state of women’s rights. According to Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission, 65 women were killed and 95 wounded in targeted attacks in 2020.

Protesters chant slogans during a rally to mark International Women's Day in Istanbul, Monday, March 8, 2021.Thousands of people joined the march to denounce violence against women in Turkey, where more than 400 women were killed last year. The demonstrators are demanding strong measures to stop attacks on women by former partners or family members as well as government commitment to a European treaty on combatting violence against women. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)ISTANBUL – Thousands of people joined a Women’s Day march in central Istanbul on Monday to denounce violence against women in Turkey, where more than 400 women were killed last year. The demonstrators are demanding strong measures to stop attacks on women by former partners or family members as well as government commitment to a European treaty on combating violence against women. AdA total of 68 women were killed in the country since the start of the year, according to the We Will Stop Femicide Platform.

Thousands of women marched in Mexico City Monday to mark Women’s Day, focusing the spotlight on López Obrador’s contradictions. “He should start really fighting, but for the women of Mexico,” said marcher Ana De la Toba, a 39-year old Mexico City lawyer. “Half of the cabinet are women,” López Obrador said at his daily morning news conference. Attention focused on the barricades erected in fronts of the colonial-era National Palace where López Obrador lives and works. “The barricades were put up because the conservatives are very upset,” López Obrador said.

The title of the most-decorated athlete ever belongs to United States swimmer Michael Phelps, who won 28 medals competing in five different Summer Olympics from 2000 to 2016. But there are so many highly decorated female Olympians, too.

People take part in a protest on International Women's Day in Warsaw, Poland, Monday March 8, 2021. Womens rights activists in Poland marked International Womens Day on Monday caught between reasons to celebrate and a heavy sense that they are facing a long battle ahead. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)WARSAW – Women's rights activists in Poland marked International Women's Day on Monday caught between reasons to celebrate and a heavy sense that they are facing a long battle ahead. Monday's protest focuses on abortion rights, but also included calls for greater state support for in vitro procedures and sexual education. Around her, supporters of the Women's Strike poured into its Warsaw office, preparing banners and other materials for their “Women's Day Without Compromises” protest hours later.

Activists shouts slogans at a rally on the occasion of the International Women's Day in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 8, 2021. Millions across the globe are marking International Women's Day by demanding a gender-balanced world amid persistent salary gap, violence and widespread inequality. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)KYIV – Thousands of women marched through the center of Ukraine's capital on International Women's Day to draw attention to domestic violence, which has risen sharply amid restrictions imposed to block the spread of coronavirus. During the pandemic, cases of domestic violence in Ukraine increased by almost half. Over the past year, the police received 174,386 statements of domestic violence.

While staying at a distance from each other, women attend an International Women's Day gathering at an avenue in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, March 8, 2021. Women in Spain are marking this year's International Women's Day with static protests, bicycle fun-rides and small-sized events to prevent gatherings that could trigger a new spike of coronavirus infections. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)MADRID – Women in Spain on Monday marked this year’s International Women's Day with static protests, pot-banging, bicycle fun rides and other small-sized events to prevent gatherings that could trigger a new spike of coronavirus infections. Spain's thriving feminist movement has claimed a few victories in recent years, including the adoption of gender violence laws and forcing judicial reforms regarding sexual abuse. Far-right activists, meanwhile, have campaigned against gender violence laws that they say discriminate against men and lambasted the government’s push to make consent in sexual relations legally mandatory.