Women chant slogans during a protest marking International Women's Day in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)2025-03-08T12:39:23Z ISTANBUL (AP) Women took to the streets of cities across Europe, Africa, South America and elsewhere to mark International Womens Day with demands for ending inequality and gender-based violence. On the Asian side of Turkeys biggest city Istanbul, a rally in Kadikoy saw members of dozens of womens groups listen to speeches, dance and sing in the spring sunshine. The colorful protest was overseen by a large police presence, including officers in riot gear and a water cannon truck.The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared 2025 the Year of the Family. Protestors pushed back against the idea of womens role being confined to marriage and motherhood, carrying banners reading Family will not bind us to life and We will not be sacrificed to the family. People march in support of women on the International Womens Day in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic) People march in support of women on the International Womens Day in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Women take part in a Transfeminist strike on International Womens Day, in Rome, Saturday, March 8, 2025 (Valentina Stefanelli/LaPresse via AP) Women take part in a Transfeminist strike on International Womens Day, in Rome, Saturday, March 8, 2025 (Valentina Stefanelli/LaPresse via AP) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Critics have accused the government of overseeing restrictions on womens rights and not doing enough to tackle violence against women. Erdogan in 2021 withdrew Turkey from a European treaty, dubbed the Istanbul Convention, that protects women from domestic violence. Turkeys We Will Stop Femicides Platform says 394 women were killed by men in 2024.There is bullying at work, pressure from husbands and fathers at home and pressure from patriarchal society. We demand that this pressure be reduced even further, Yaz Gulgun, 52, said. Women across Europe and Africa march against discriminationIn many other European countries, women also protested against violence, for better access to gender-specific health care, equal pay and other issues in which they dont get the same treatment as men.In Poland, activists opened a center across from the parliament building in Warsaw where women can go to have abortions with pills, either alone or with other women.Opening the center on International Womens Day across from the legislature was a symbolic challenge to authorities in the traditionally Roman Catholic nation, which has one of Europes most restrictive abortion laws. People take part in the 18th annual Million Women Rise march on International Womens Day, in central London, Saturday March 8, 2025. (James Manning/PA via AP) People take part in the 18th annual Million Women Rise march on International Womens Day, in central London, Saturday March 8, 2025. (James Manning/PA via AP) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Honour guard soldiers present flowers to girls and women during International Women's Day celebration in St. Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky) Honour guard soldiers present flowers to girls and women during International Women's Day celebration in St. Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More A man carries a bouquet of fresh flowers from a flower market on International Women's Day, in Vilnius, Lithuania, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis) A man carries a bouquet of fresh flowers from a flower market on International Women's Day, in Vilnius, Lithuania, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More From Athens to Madrid, Paris, Munich, Zurich and Belgrade and in many more cities across the continent, women marched to demand an end to treatment as second-class citizens in society, politics, family and at work.In Madrid, protesters held up big hand-drawn pictures depicting Gisele Plicot, the woman who was drugged by her now ex-husband in France over the course of a decade so that she could be raped by dozens of men while unconscious. Plicot has become a symbol for women all over Europe in the fight against sexual violence.In the Nigerian capital of Lagos, thousands of women gathered at the Mobolaji Johnson Stadium, dancing and signing and celebrating their womanhood. Many were dressed in purple the traditional color of the womens liberation movement.In Russia, the womens day celebrations had a more official tone, with honor guard soldiers presenting yellow tulips to girls and women during a celebration in St. Petersburg. Germanys president warns of backlash against progress already madeIn Berlin, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for stronger efforts to achieve equality and warned against tendencies to roll back progress already made.Globally, we are seeing populist parties trying to create the impression that equality is something like a fixed idea of progressive forces, he said. He gave an example of " large tech companies that have long prided themselves on their modernity and are now, at the behest of a new American administration, setting up diversity programs and raving about a new masculine energy in companies and society. Women chant slogans during a protest marking International Womens Day in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) Women chant slogans during a protest marking International Womens Day in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Demonstrators rally during an International Womens Day protest in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) Demonstrators rally during an International Womens Day protest in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Marchers in South America denounce femicidesIn South America, some of the marches were organized by groups protesting the killings of women known as femicides. Hundreds of women in Ecuador marched through the streets of Quito to steady drumbeats and held signs that opposed violence and the patriarchal system.Justice for our daughters! some demonstrators yelled in support of women slain in recent years.In Bolivia, thousands of women began marching late Friday, with some scrawling graffiti on the walls of courthouses demanding that their rights be respected and denouncing impunity in femicides, with less than half of those cases reaching a sentencing. ___Associated Press writer Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.