NEW YORK (NY)
The Associated Press
March 8, 2018
The Latest on International Women’s Day:
Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon says the Time’s Up campaign launched by women in Hollywood to combat sexual harassment raised $20 million in 10 days and has helped 1,500 women with harassment suits against their employers.
Witherspoon spoke at an event marking International Women’s Day on Thursday at U.N. headquarters.
She says the response to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund is “incredible” and shows “how many more people are going to need these services.”
The “Big Little Lies” star, who told the audience that she was assaulted by a director when she was 16-years-old, says that women deserve 50 percent of the representation and 50 percent of the salaries. She says women “will no longer continue to do work without being paid properly for it.”
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Tens of thousands of people marched in Argentina’s capital on International Women’s Day to condemn violence against women and to demand equal rights and legalized abortion.
The demonstrators Thursday banged on drums, chanted slogans and carried flags and banners along the streets of Buenos Aires, marching in front of the Congress building. Many women wore green handkerchiefs symbolizing the abortion rights movement.
Argentina allows abortion only in cases of rape or risk to a woman’s health. But dozens of Argentine lawmakers from several political parties presented a bill Tuesday that would legalize elective abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.
Some demonstrators lay on the streets motionless while wearing white shirts stained with red paint to look like blood. The banners next to them read: “While you debate, we die.”
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Hundreds of Brazilian women are marching to demand equal rights and protest gender-based violence to mark International Women’s Day.
Marchers in Sao Paulo on Thursday were drawing attention to issues as varied as the wage gap, abortion rights, sexual harassment in the workplace and sexual assault on the streets. Groups are also marching in Rio de Janeiro.
Brazil has one of the world’s highest homicide rates for women, and stories of sexual assault against women on public transport frequently made news in the past year.
Christiane Correia de Souza derided the fact that many stores were handing out flowers to their female customers on Thursday. The 31-year-old factory worker said the practice glossed over the serious issues facing women, like unequal salaries and sexual assault on buses.
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