International Women’s Day reminds us we still have a long way to go on gender equality

Editorial: The process has hardly begun, in the sense of female emancipation, parity of esteem and equality on a global scale

Too many women in too many societies face sexism, misogyny and fearsome inequalities (EPA)

International Women’s Day is more than a celebration of all that women can and have done for the world, and more even than a “moment” to reflect on the formidable obstacles to true equality that still remain.

It is also that rarest of global phenomena, something that belongs to no single individual, government, country or even international organisation. There is no chief executive, no board of directors, and apparently little in the way of infrastructure beyond sponsorship by the United Nations. It is a day for all of humanity to shape as they wish.

It is about imagination, too, of a world that is both tantalisingly near – because equality is and should be the natural order of things – but painfully distant, with so many women still facing oppression and the denial of their human rights.