08/03/2026
Right, Justice, Action. For All women and girls” : Significance of the theme of the International Women Day 2026.
International Women Day is a day commemorated every 8th of March is a day set aside to advocate for action to foster the human rights of women and girls. The Theme for this year 2026 is “Right, Justice, Action. For All women and girls”
Human Rights are the fundamental rights and freedoms to which all humans are entailed respective of their unique diversities such as gender, race, disability status, ethnicity etc without discrimination on any ground. Thus woman's rights are human Rights coupled with the fact that their identity as humans comes first before their identity as women. Despite this woman and girl across the globe often face structural barriers that prevent or restrict them from enjoying their human rights on an equal basis like men/boys. Cases in point include forced and early marriages, limited access to quality education, low political participation, domestic and community care responsibilities targeting mostly women and girls in most societies in Africa and Cameroon in particular. Most traditional societies equally restrict women ownership or control of land on the basis of their gender. For women to enjoy their human Rights, justice must be effected to ensure that the discriminatory practices experience by women are eliminated.
Justice here has to do with the fact that everyone should be given equal chances without bias. It requires equity to ensure that there is fairness from the start without which some people will always be at the disadvantage position.
In the contest of Gender justice, both men and women, boys and girls need to be treated faily and should be given opportunity to resources on equal basis as men/boys. Women are not lesser humans. Women and girls deserve economic, social,legal and political participation on an equal basis as men without any discrimination. The family, the church, society and the government need to put in place measures to ensure justice for all Women and girls through various mechanism such as education, advocacy and implementation of policies or laws validated. All these should be done taking into consideration the diverse needs and interest of women and girls since women are not a homogeneous group. For instance the needs of rural women, women with disabilities, poverty striken women/girls, women from ethnic minority groups etc These concrete action need to be taken to foster justice for women.
Action for women and girls here implies that contrete actions need to be taken to uphold, respect and protect the human Rights of women and girls. Singing the same song every year, changing themes without concrete steps to push gender equity forward is waste of time and resources. We need to work as individuals and collectively to eradicate gender based violence and foster the empowerment of women and girls. Victims of Gender Based Violence should be rehabilitated through the provision of psychosocial support. This is because domestic violence has been so common in our society as can be seen from the numerous cases of femincide witness in Cameroon within January and February 2026. Perpetrators of Gender Based Violence should also be sacttion and provided psycho-social support when need arises. The family that is supposed to be the main organ of protection is increasing becoming an area of abuse and discrimination. Women are abused and girls are discriminated regarding opportunities and distribution of chores. Safe reporting mechanisms should be put in place for cases of abuse to be reported without fear of intimidation.
Moreover, duty beares such as parents, teachers, local authorities, Non Governmental Organizations, the government, International Organization should play their roles and understand that it is for the benefit of the family, society and the nation in general when women are empowered and given opportunity to participate in society without discrimination on any ground. Women are assets that need to be utilized for our national development. An empowered woman will have the financial strength and knowledge to build a better family thereby fostering the Wellbeing of the family . Given the fact that the family is the foundation of the society, a mentally stable family will lead to a mentally stable society thereby positively influencing other aspects of national development.
Umenjoh Vania Andoumbeni
Gender and Disability advocate.
CEO Association for the Promotion of Gender and Disability Issues (APGDI Cameroon)
