Join UN Women to commemorate the 20-year anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and platform for action by joining the March for Gender Equality and Women’s Rights on International Women’s Day on March 8, 2015. Click here for a map of the march.

The March for Gender Equality and Women’s Rights is being organized by UN Women in collaboration with the City of New York, NGO CSW, the Working Group on Girls, the Man Up Campaign, UN Women for Peace Association, and 2020 Women on Boards.

The march will take place on International Women’s Day March 8 and commemorate the 20-year anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. This event will celebrate the achievements women and girls have made around the world since 1995. It will also emphasize the need for political commitment to accelerate action to achieve gender equality by 2030.

We will start at the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (47th street and 2nd avenue) at 2:30 pm and end at Times Square (42nd street and 7th avenue) at 5:00 p.m.

·        Part 1—A lively start at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. The march will be flagged off by the UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka following a short program. Eminent celebrities, a New York indigenous women’s group, and a girls’ dance troupe are on the program.

·        Part 2—1.5-hour march from Dag Hammarskjold to Times Square. The march will be a celebration that will include singing, raising slogans, and showing solidarity for gender equality and women’s rights. At the same time, the march will help point out the existing gaps and barriers to achieving gender equality.

·        Part 3—Closing at Times Square. Commitment to gender equality will be renewed. The event will conclude with a song.

March participants will be divided into twelve blocks representing the 12 Critical Areas of Concern in the Beijing +20 Platform for Action.

The last march of this magnitude for gender equality in New York City took place in the 1970s.

We invite you to join the march and to spread the word through your networks and social media using the hashtags #Beijing20 and #genderequalitymarch.