IWPR celebrates women’s achievements around the world, as we work to highlight inequalities and raise awareness of gender discrimination.
The Fight Continues
Billions around the world embody the power and potential of change, but the struggle remains long.
International Women’s Day celebrates those fighting for gender equality globally, and there could be no more appropriate symbol of this than 29-year-old Ukrainian medic Yana Rakhlitska.
An HR officer at a Ukrainian IT firm who had been travelling in Brazil when Russia launched its full-scale invasion, she returned to volunteer, helping raise funds and distribute humanitarian aid. She then joined the army, working to evacuate wounded soldiers from the besieged city of Bakhmut. She married another soldier two months ago.
A few days ago, Yana was killed by a shell as she was moving between the field hospital and the frontline, another tragic death that underlines the uniquely close links between the army and civilian population in this war of national survival.
Yana embodied equality and inclusion, bringing her huge energy and commitment to bear in one of the most dangerous locations in the world to help the wounded and save lives.
Billions around the world are embodying this power and potential – from grassroots women’s rights activists in Iran and the Middle East to entrepreneurs in Europe, journalists in Asia to politicians in Africa.
At this time, the deteriorating position of women in Afghanistan highlights that change is not always positive, and that the fight remains long.
Yet in the sorrow of her young death, Yana revealed a life and a spirit to celebrate. International Women’s Day will be a success when the equity and equality it demands becomes an everyday matter. Until then the struggle continues.
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A woman holds her child in the remote village of Burog, in Bamban, Tarlac province, Philippines. © Ezra Acayan/Getty Images