Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality will organise a wide range of activities to mark 8 March, International Women Workers’ Day—from legal support and the groundbreaking of a new women’s centre to neighbourhood visits and district-wide meetings.

8 March International Women Workers’ Day—won through women’s struggle for equality and freedom—is once again being marked this year with various actions and events. The Municipality’s Department of Women’s Policies will host a series of activities to amplify women’s voices on this significant day and to take a strong stand against gender inequality.

Protocol to be signed with the Bar Association

The programme will begin on 24 February with the signing of a “Legal Aid Protocol” with the Women’s Rights Centre of the Diyarbakır Bar Association. The protocol is expected to be an important step towards enabling women to access their legal rights more easily and ensuring that justice functions equally for all women. On the same day, the foundation stone will be laid for a Women’s Life Centre in Kayapınar district. The centre will create an important space where women can come together in solidarity and pursue a collective struggle against all forms of violence and discrimination.

Awareness-raising activities

Fieldwork will focus on listening to women’s voices. In this context, home visits will be carried out in Kaynartepe and Oğlaklı neighbourhoods in Bağlar district, and in Dicle (Fiskaya) neighbourhood in Yenişehir district. In addition, brochure distribution campaigns will be held to raise awareness of the significance of 8 March in Mevlana Halit neighbourhood (Bağlar), Şehitlik neighbourhood (Yenişehir), Quça and Diclekent neighbourhoods (Kayapınar), and in Çermik district.

Women’s meetings in Hazro and Eğil

Women’s meetings to be held in Hazro on 25 February and in Eğil on 4 March will deliver strong messages emphasising that every step women take for their rights and freedoms forms part of the wider struggle to build a more just and equal society.

Visits to women-run businesses in Sur

Women-run businesses in Sur district will also be visited, with the aim of supporting women who have established their own enterprises in defiance of the male-dominated economic order.