INTERNATIONAL WOMN’S DAY 2026 JOINT STATEMENT:

“Forge Forward, Leave No One Behind: Demanding Power, Peace, and Pleasure.”

Today, on International Women’s Day 2026, we stand at a critical crossroads. We celebrate the resilience that has carried us through decades of struggle, but we refuse to celebrate in silence while the ground beneath us burns. Under the theme “Forge Forward, Leave No One Behind,” we issue this urgent call to action: we demand a world where our rights are not negotiable, our bodies are not battlegrounds, and our identities are not up for debate.

The Political Reality: A Coordinated Assault on Existence

Globally, we are witnessing a dangerous resurgence of authoritarian populism. From the erosion of abortion rights in the Americas to the criminalization of same-sex relations in parts of Africa and Asia, the political landscape is increasingly hostile. We see feminists, environmental defenders, and LGBTQ+ advocates being jailed, silenced, or forced into exile simply for existing. The rise of anti-gender movements, fueled by well-funded conservative networks, seeks to roll back decades of progress. They target not only our legal rights but our very visibility, framing our demands for equality as a threat to the social order.

The Economic Trap: Poverty is a Feminist Issue

The economic situation for womn, particularly trans and gender-diverse individuals, remains a crisis of survival. We are still the majority of the world’s poor. In 2026, the lingering effects of the pandemic, coupled with climate shocks and the cost-of-living crisis, have pushed millions more into precarious labor. Unpaid care work, shouldered overwhelmingly by women, continues to be the invisible engine of the global economy, yet it remains unvalued and unsupported. We demand economic justice: equal pay, universal social protection, and an end to the exploitative informal labor sectors where the most marginalized are forced to work to survive.

Social Issues and the Fight for Bodily Autonomy

Our fight is intersectional. We cannot separate the struggle for women’s rights from the fight against racial capitalism, ableism, and xenophobia. We stand in solidarity with Indigenous womn protecting their ancestral lands, with disabled feminists demanding accessible healthcare, and with migrant women seeking safety and dignity. We specifically name and celebrate the courage of trans and gender-diverse womn. In a world that tries to legislate us out of existence, our very presence is an act of revolution. We reject the trans-exclusionary narratives that seek to divide our movement; our feminism is not a cis-het monolith, it is a rainbow of resistance.

The Silent Emergency: SRHR in Rural and Conflict Zones

As we celebrate, we must look to the margins where silence is loudest. In rural communities cut off from infrastructure, and in conflict zones where violence is the norm, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) are a matter of life and death.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Gaza, in Myanmar, and in the forgotten rural highlands of every continent, rape is used as a weapon of war, and maternal mortality rates are skyrocketing. For womn in these regions, a lack of access to contraceptives, safe abortion, and maternal healthcare is not an inconvenience, it is a death sentence. When health systems collapse in conflict, SRHR services are the first to be cut, leaving women to give birth in rubble or die from septic abortions performed in secret. We demand that humanitarian aid prioritize comprehensive SRHR. There is no peace without reproductive justice; there is no security without the right to choose what happens to your own body.

Our Call to Action

This International Womn’s Day, we are not asking for a seat at the table, we are demanding to rebuild the house. We call on governments to:

• Enshrine comprehensive SRHR in law, ensuring safe access for rural and conflict-affected women.
• Protect trans and gender-diverse people through explicit anti-discrimination legislation.
• Fund the care economy and social safety nets to lift women out of poverty.
• Cease the funding of anti-rights organizations that masquerade as humanitarian aid while spreading hate.

We forge forward, carrying the weight of those we have lost and the hope of those yet to come. We will not be silenced by politics, crushed by economics, or erased by hate. We are feminists. We are trans. We are gender diverse. We are rural. We are here. And we are unstoppable.

Happy International Womn’s Day. The fight continues.