Women take part in a demonstration against the proposed pensions overhaul on International Women's Day in Marseille, France, on Wednesday.

MADRID — Women hit the streets en masse across the globe on Wednesday to mark International Women's Day.

Capitals across the world hosted marches, rallies and demonstrations, including Madrid, where broad treelined boulevards are regularly packed with a sea of purple, a color often associated with women's rights.

Marches took place on Wednesday in Thailand and Indonesia, where a few dozen women gathered in front of the country's parliament to urge lawmakers to pass a long-awaited bill to protect domestic workers and some chanted "long live Indonesian women".

Global progress on women's rights is "vanishing before our eyes", UN chief Antonio Guterres warned on Monday, saying gender equality would take another three centuries to achieve.

"Women's rights are being abused, threatened, and violated around the world," he added.

On the eve of International Women's Day, the European Union imposed sanctions on individuals and entities deemed to be responsible for violence and rights abuses against women.

In Europe, marches will take place in many countries, including France, where demonstrators will demand "equality both at work and in life" in around 150 towns and cities, a far higher number than in previous years, organizers say.

Unfair reform

The protests will focus on the fight against France's deeply unpopular pensions reform which, critics say, is unfair to women.

In London, the Madame Tussauds museum will mark the day by unveiling a new waxwork of suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst, who began an intense struggle 120 years ago that won women's right to vote.

In Cambodia, the annual Women Run 10K returned on Wednesday after a hiatus in the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a sports official said.

National Olympic Committee of Cambodia Secretary-General Vath Chamroeun said more than 1,500 local and foreign runners took part in the event, with 10 kilometers and 4 km categories.

"The Women Run 10K is not only to celebrate International Women's Day but also to promote healthy living, encouraging women to play sports," he told reporters.

International Women's Day is an annual event held to celebrate the achievements of women and push for rights progress. It has roots in the US socialist and labor movements of the early 20th century, particularly as women were fighting for better working conditions and the right to vote.

The first recorded celebration was in 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland when over a million people rallied to support women's rights.