This Sunday is International Women’s Day. Held each year on the 8 March, the day celebrates women’s achievements whilst also drawing attention to the discrimination and barriers they face. The 2026 theme is Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL women and girls. At Putney High and across the UK, we receive many rights and freedoms still not accessible to ALL women and girls. Meanwhile in Afghanistan, girls our age are denied the right to speak, learn, or participate freely in society. This contrast exemplifies why, this International Women’s Day, we must commit to a future where equality is not determined by circumstance or by geography, and most importantly, where it is enforced. This is the crux of the issue: rights on paper versus rights in practice.
Throughout US history, this divide is clear. During the1930’s Great Depression women were largely unable to receive the benefits of economic support programmes. For example, they were excluded from the Civilian Conservation Corps, which provided work for unemployed young men. This theme continues into the 1960s and 1970s. In the UK, despite the introduction of the Equal Pay Act in 1970, the gender pay gap remains at 15% and the significant cost of childcare means many mothers are unable to afford to work. Ultimately, rights ‘on paper’ failed to support all women.
In many low-income countries, a right only exists if you can physically reach a courtroom. Are rights really rights if they have a cost? In sub-Saharan Africa, women often live more than 50km from the nearest legal centre. Yes, they have the legal protection to report domestic violence, but that right diminishes if a round-trip bus fare to the police station costs two days’ wages. Additionally, formal childcare support only meets 1% of demand in some regions, encroaching on a woman’s “right” to work if she can’t afford this support. Due to low-income women being pushed into informal, dangerous workplaces, they are also less able to report or resist sexual harassment for fear of losing their income. To close this gap between principle and practice, justice must become a global right rather than a luxury.
The UN theme, emphasising rights for ALL women and girls, draws attention to the barriers transgender women face. In many regions, even where a “right to work” is legislated, these women struggle to access it, lacking legal identity documents that match their gender. Without matching ID, transwomen are barred from opening bank accounts or signing leases. In several countries, the “right” to legal gender recognition is only granted if the individual undergoes expensive, invasive medical procedures- reiterating the fact that law is a luxury many cannot afford.
Whilst we must make further progress to enforce protections for ALL women and girls, we should recognise our significant advancements, from the near global criminalisation of domestic violence to the gradual dismantling of barriers preventing women from owning land or starting businesses. The core of the issue now lies in enforcing equality to achieve rights, justice and action for every woman regardless of ethnicity or circumstance. As Putney students, we have a responsibility to uproot what is ingrained, normalised and accepted to close that perilous gap between rights on paper and rights in practice.