10 Women’s Rights Wins To Celebrate This International Women’s Day 2026
From Italy to Zambia, countries around the world have made bold moves to advance women’s rights in the past year.
This International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating the progress the world has made in the fight for gender equality.
From Italy to Zambia, countries around the world have made bold moves to advance women’s rights in the past year.
Change is possible when we stand up for equality. Happy International Womens Day.
France and Norway both passed an “Only Yes Means Yes” law clearly defining rape as sex without consent
Previously, rape in France had been defined mainly by the presence of violence, coercion, threats or surprise.
Now, according to the new law the parliament passed on Wednesday, Oct. 29, all sexual acts without consent constitute rape.
Norway also has passed a “only yes means yes” law that clearly defines rape as sex without consent.
Italy made femicide — the murder of a woman or girl due to her gender — a crime
The move came after Giulia Cecchettin, a 22-year-old student was stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend, in 2023.
On Nov. 25, 2025 — the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women — the parliament unanimously approved the law to include femicide in Italy’s criminal law.
The law legally defines femicide as "an act of hatred, discrimination, domination, control, or subjugation of a woman as a woman."
A court in India ruled that trans women are legally women
In the past, Indian law defined a woman as someone who could get pregnant.
On June 16, 2025, a high court in India ruled that the definition was “completely incorrect and legally unsustainable”, adding it goes against the Indian constitution and amounts to discrimination.
Zambia freed a woman who was jailed for seven years for ending her own pregnancy
Violet Zulu, a 24-year-old domestic worker and mother of two, had been sentenced in 2024 after terminating her pregnancy herself.
Women’s rights groups later took up her case, arguing that she had pleaded guilty without fully understanding the legal consequences.
On Jan. 16, 2026, A Court in Zambia overturned Zulu’s seven-year sentence, ruling that the Court failed to properly explain the charges to Zulu before she accepted her guilty plea.
Japan will now allow women to buy the morning-after pill over the counter for the first time
Previously, women in Japan had to go to a clinic or hospital in order to get a prescription for emergency contraception, even if they have been sexually assaulted.
In 2023, Japan began a trial that allowed pharmacies with trained pharmacists and private rooms to sell the morning-after pill.
The change means the morning-after pill can now be bought at pharmacies without a prescription, age limit, or parental consent.
The move came after the country finally approved the abortion pill in April 2023.
Japan elected its first woman prime minister
Japan has elected hardline conservative politician Takaichi Sanae as its first woman prime minister, a historic moment in a country long dominated by male leaders.
Denmark formally apologized to thousands of women and girls in Greenland for forcibly inserting birth control devices into their bodies without their consent
Between around 1966 and 1975, the Danish government had directed Danish doctors to insert intrauterine devices (IUD) into thousands of Greenlandic Inuit girls and women.
The story first came to light in 2017, when a Greenlandic woman named Naja Lyberth shared on Facebook that at the age 13 in 1976, she was forcibly fitted with an intrauterine device (IUD) without her or her parents' consent after a school medical exam.
On Aug. 27, 2025, Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen finally issued a public apology, calling the practice “systematic discrimination” and promising compensation for the women affected.
Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the apology did not mean acceptance of what happened but was a step toward reconciliation.
Malta made period products free for all students in middle and high school
The government of Malta will install some 142 vending machines with two types of sanitary pads and one type of tampon across 58 schools across the country.
The government said the plan, which it is investing €439,000 into, will help to eliminate stigma, normalize open discussions about periods and menstrual health and ensure no student has to miss out on educational opportunities because they don't have access to period products.
This is another step in the global effort to reduce “period poverty,” when people cannot access basic sanitary products when they need them.
For the first time in history, the church of England named a woman as the archbishop of Canterbury
Dame Sarah Elisabeth Mullally was appointed as the Church’s highest-ranking cleric, in a first in its nearly 500 year history.
63-year-old Mullally trained as a nurse and later made history as the youngest ever Chief Nursing Officer for England.
In 2018, she became the third woman ever to serve as Bishop of London.
On Oct. 3, she was named as Archbishop of Canterbury, a post that has been empty since January 2025 following the resignation of Justin Welby, who stepped down after an investigation revealed he covered up a prolific sex abuse scandal.
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