On Sunday, March 8, women in El Salvador joined celebrations around the world to mark International Women’s Day, gathering on Constitution Boulevard in the capital city of San Salvador to honor women’s struggles and victories and demand that their social, political and labor rights be respected.

Groups like Las Dignas and the "Prudencia Ayala" Feminist Coalition hailed recent legislation like the mandatory quotas for women candidacies in the new Political Parties Law and recent laws to guarantee gender equity, equality, nondiscrimination and a life free from violence against women. They also called on the Attorney General to ensure the full application of these new legal tools to fight violence against women in all its forms, and repeated their demands for reproductive justice and the pardon of the remaining 15 women currently imprisoned in El Salvador for abortion.

Minister of Labor Sandra Guevara (center)
photo: Transparencia Activa

Minister of Labor Sandra Guevara, herself a longtime feminist organizer, marked the date by announcing that the Ministry has collected over $376,000 in fines from companies for violations of women’s labor rights. The Minister highlighted recent advances such as workplace enforcement of the Law to Support and Protect Breastfeeding Mothers and the certification of the domestic workers’ union SIMUTHERES. “We are acting progressively to guarantee that in all of the economic activities in which women participate, they do so in dignified conditions, free from violence and discrimination,” said Guevara.

More images from the International Women's Day celebration below:

"Careful! Machismo Kills!"
photo: Marlen Argueta

photo: Marlen Argueta

"Street Harassment Disgusts Me" - photo: Marlen Argueta