Yesterday marked International Women’s Day 2026 (IWD 2026), under the theme ‘Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls’.
The theme calls for action to dismantle all barriers to equal justice: discriminatory laws, weak legal protections and harmful practices and social norms which erode the rights of women and girls.
Women have only 64% of the legal rights that men hold worldwide. If progress continues at its current pace, it will take 286 years to close legal protection gaps.
The latest UN Gender Report, ‘Ensuring and Strengthening Access to Justice for All Women and Girls’, warns that the very systems meant to protect women and girls are failing them -leaving them exposed to abuse, injustice and impunity amid a growing backlash against gender equity and increasing violations of their fundamental rights.
Despite women’s increased engagement in public life, they remain significantly underrepresented in decision-making positions. In fact, a relatively small number of women have been, or are part of, the judiciary, particularly at senior judicial leadership positions.
Women’s representation in the judiciary is key to ensuring that courts represent their citizens, address their concerns and hand down sound judgments.
The entry of women judges into spaces from which they had historically been excluded has been a positive step in the direction of judiciaries being perceived as being more transparent, inclusive and representative of the people whose lives they affect.
Women in the criminal justice system can act as agents of change and contribute to greater accountability. Women judges bring different perspectives and experiences, strengthening judicial systems.
By investing in women’s advancement and women justice leaders, we can help ensure that justice is better served and that women and all members of our societies are met with fairness and equity before the law, for the benefit of all.
International Women’s Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender equity.
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