International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated annually on 8 March around the world.
The 2022 UN theme for International Women’s Day is “ Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”.
ASWA marks the day since it is a focal point in the movement for women’s rights. Given that the majority of sex workers are women and many come from LGBT communities, climate change has and will continue to have, severe and lasting impacts on our environment, economic and social development, having the most vulnerable and marginalized bearing the brunt.
Additionally protecting sex workers’ rights is imperative to achieving gender equality as defined under The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
It is a moment for the Women’s movements in the African countries to meaningfully include sex workers as partners and advocate for a feminism that recognises sex workers’ rights as human rights and highlight shared areas of work under an international human rights framework.
The International Women’s Day is an opportunity to advocate for inclusion of sex workers’ rights, since there can be no gender equality if sex workers’ human rights are not fully recognised and protected.
The International Women’s Day is an opportunity to advance sex workers gender equality in the context of the climate crisis and disaster risk reduction.
When sex workers are involved in sustainability initiatives, their participation and leadership result in more effective gender equality actions. Without gender equality today, a sustainable future, and an equal future, remains beyond our reach.
The theme for International Women’s Day is aligned with the priority theme for the upcoming 66th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66): “Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes”.
The hashtag is #IWD2022 and #InternationalWomensDay.
About The Author
