In commemoration of March 8, International Women’s Day, motivated and supported by LAC CoP Gender Justice, ACT members in Latin America and the Caribbean are publicly demonstrating in March, through ecumenical celebrations and several spaces for reflection and mobilization to reaffirm their commitment to the promotion of the rights of women and girls.

The ACT Peru Forum, whom actively participates in the mobilizations of the feminist movement for women’s rights, marched again on March 7 with the motto: “ACTing together for Gender Justice: Churches, Organizations and Faith Communities in public action for the rights of women and girls”. The EPES Foundation in Chile and The Lutheran Church of Costa Rica, members of ACT Alliance, also joined the 8M marches and held a meeting on women and their rights.

The ACT Guatemala Forum carried out an awareness campaign from March 5 to 14 to recognize the contributions of women of faith in different areas throughout history and promote the rights of girls, young and adult women.

The ACT Argentina Forum, together with sister organizations, promoted an ecumenical act to deepen the active role of religious actors in accompanying women in their demands for justice. The Forum also encourages a conversation with different churches and organizations to articulate and strengthen the work in Argentina for gender justice.

In Nicaragua, ACT member CIEETS is promoting a digital campaign to mobilize churches and faith actors in the prevention of violence against women.  The ACT Colombia Forum is making visible in social media the commitment of its members in its initiatives to incorporate the gender perspective, within the framework of its diaconal work. “We work with a cross-cutting approach to gender justice, with priority given to women who experience multiple discriminations and victimizations within the social context of their own communities”, they said.

Members of the ACT Brazil Forum are leading spaces for reflection on theology and gender. The Lutheran Foundation of Diaconia of Brazil, has started the exhibition “Not so sweet home” that seeks to make visible the violence suffered by women inside the home, and promote the right to a life free of violence for all women.

At the ACT Salvador Forum, the Central American program of the Lutheran World Federation began on March 8 with a series of seven messages from Lutheran women in the region, committed to the promotion of women through their pastoral work.

Different activities are continuing throughout March, with the purpose of deepening the visions, strategies and actions that allow the members of the Alliance and their allies, to act together and articulate in the promotion of women’s rights, which in the region is the population most affected by economic structures, the impacts of climate change, the migratory phenomenon, the decline in rights and the reduction of civil society spaces. More info in Spanish: www.actuandounidas.org