Some years this is a day for celebrating gains and achievements. Some years it’s for celebrating the courage of women under fire, the bravery of women who are facing terrible tyranny. Some years it’s for grieving the loss of rights, and the loss of lives to discrimination and gender apartheid. Some years it’s for calling for action for what we know needs to change. 

This year, it’s for all of those things and one more. It’s for reflecting on our own agency in the face of a crisis: a crisis of rights, justice,  women’s status, and dignity that is undeniably the gravest such crisis in the world today.

In honor of International Women’s Day 2023, we invite you to click below to hear a video message from CW4WAfghan’s Executive Director, Lauryn Oates.