Today marks International Women’s Day for another year and we will once again hear well-intentioned phrases against sexism, discrimination and lack of equality. It is good to remember and value the feminist struggle, but 8-M must last 365 days a year. We must all be self-critical, and whoever signs this is the first, because there is still a long way to go in defense of equality. This year, in addition, there are worrying data on the increase in anti-feminist and sexist attitudes, and, what is more serious, they occur among the youngest. And the increasingly larger fracture between feminists against the trans law and those in favor of the diversity and plurality of feminisms is not a positive thing either. Our loyal readers know what I mean because this disparity in criteria has been openly reflected in the Opinion section.
That said, La Vanguardia wanted to direct its gaze in this protest day towards the situation of women on an international scale. If you allow me personal relief, I have to admit that, of all the injustices that shake me daily, the medieval situation suffered by many women in many countries around the globe especially upsets me. Our colleagues from the International section have made an effort to bring you closer to the reality of some of them in Afghanistan or Iran, or those who are suffering the consequences of the war in Ukraine or Gaza.
Thus, an educator from a clandestine organization that risks her life to educate Afghan girls explains that the Taliban only allows them to attend class up to the age of 12. From that moment on, they can no longer access any university degree. Their future is to live under a burqa. Surely, discrimination against women in Afghanistan is much more serious than that which occurs in other Arab countries, but it is striking how these humiliating attitudes not only do not stop, but continue to increase.
For all these reasons, it is worth commemorating this day for another year and regretting that there is so much work left to do. As our editorial says, the feminist struggle continues.
