In the weeks leading up to International Women's Day, our hearts have been quickened by the rising tempo of women's voices calling out and being heard. From the mouths of the young at the UN Commission on the Status of Women and the bullhorns on the streets of Tehran, where 33 brave leaders were arrested on Sunday for their demonstration, we are hearing a crescendo that cannot be silenced. From Mexico to Turkey to Kenya, women and men are uniting to stamp out gender-based violence — knowing that together we are transforming society and creating a better world.

For this special edition we share the words, gatherings and calls to action that have particularly inspired us as we listen with mounting excitement. We also turn our Spotlight to Iran, with breaking coverage of the government's recent crackdown on rights activists leading up to this day. We stand in awe of these determined women, and applaud their courageous stance.

Arash Ashoorinia

International Women's Day: A Call to Action in Iran, by The Organization for Women's Liberation-Iran

We are going to celebrate International Women's Day by organizing gatherings, demonstrations and declaring "NO to women's oppression!," "No to the veil!," "No to gender apartheid" and "Long live women's liberation." Let's declare that we will not stop until our demands are met.

News

Global: "Listen to Us," Teenagers Tell UN Meeting (Mail & Guardian)

We call on governments to hear the ideas and concerns of the girls and boys themselves ... Children have strong opinions on how we want to shape our future. It is time to listen to us and to act upon it. — Quilinta Nepaul

Nadav Neuhaus/WPN

Mexico: Mexico Replies to Juarez with Anti-Violence Law (Women's eNews)

Mexico has implemented sweeping national legislation aimed at stamping out widespread violence against women. Advocates see the law as a response to the scores of unsolved Juarez slayings.

Reuters

India: Women Leaders Give a Better Life (Reuters)

In 2004, a newly elected village council, or panchayat, in Kanaipur included for the first time a representative number of women — and resulted in a mini social revolution.

Turkey: It Takes a Country: Turkey's Concerted Efforts to Stop Violence Against Women (UNFPA)

If you want to change the mentality of a country, you need to involve many social actors... You need the government to enact and implement legislation, you need NGOs and other civil society and social actors, and you need the support of the private sector. — Meltem Agduk, UNFPA gender and advocacy program coordinator

AFP Photo

Burkina Faso: Festival Brings Attention to Female Filmmakers' Challenges in Africa (VOA)

Female moviemakers say associations of African women in film, cheaper digital technology...and the increased use of television for film distribution have also created more opportunities for women.

Commentary

Global: Women UNLimited: Women Blog the Commission on the Status of Women

Blogger Solana Larsen interviewed a girl-ambassador of Malawi - one of the 200 invited at the United Nations to discuss their situation in their own countries.

Associated Press

Chad: Justice for Darfur, by Angelina Jolie (Washington Post)

It has become clear to me that there will be no enduring peace without justice. This might be the moment we stop the cycle of violence and end our tolerance for crimes against humanity.

Iraq: Misogynist Parties Exploiting Women's Sufferings for Their Political Purposes: About the Rape of Sabrine, by Yanar Mohammed (OWFI)

Women of Iraq cannot live secure under the occupation and the government of ethnic and sectarian division which has no respect for human and women's rights. The only hope lies in the people's strive to create [an] alternative...of freedom and equality.

Netherlands: A Hague Prosecutor Focuses on her Native Africa, by Marlise Simons (International Herald Tribune)

The windows of Fatou Bensouda's office high up in the International Criminal Court's headquarters in The Hague offer her a sweeping view of orderly Dutch flatlands. But her attention is turned to her native Africa, on the chaos and killing at the heart of the court's first atrocities cases.

Shai Ignatz

Israel: Making Waves, by Neri Livneh (Haaretz)

Last September, 5-year-old Loures brought apples and honey to share with her classmates at the Lycée Français. The teachers were taken aback...But "for Louri, it doesn't matter which religion God belongs to, a holiday is a holiday." — Maysa Baransi-Siniora, co-director of Radio All For Peace

Featured Voice

FEMNET

Kenya: Gender Based Violence: Kenyan Men Take Action, by Kennedy Odhiambo Otina, coordinator, Men for Gender Equality Now

For the love of my daughter, I started looking at women differently, creating a platform for change of attitude towards women, starting with my wife. However, the world outside my home is still violent to women and girls; therefore, I need to make the world of my daughter safer. Until this happens, the struggle continues.