March 7 (UPI) — The United Nations on Thursday marked the upcoming International Women’s Day with a call for feminine equality under a banner of rights and empowerment.

.The event is observed worldwide on Saturday. “This year’s theme calls for action that can unlock equal rights, power and opportunities for all and a feminist future where no one is left behind,” a release from the United Nations said. “Central to this vision is empowering the next generation — youth, particularly young women and adolescent girls — as catalysts for lasting change.”

International Women’s Day bills itself as being inclusive for all and calls on participants to make a difference for females worldwide.

Women called for equal pay, reproductive rights, education, justice and decision-making jobs during demonstrations worldwide, stretching from the United States to Tokyo to Mexico, a country celebrating its first female president, Claudia Scheinbaum. International Women’s Day has its origins in the early 20th century with the American Socialist Party in 1909, but it gained stature the following year when a German feminist urged a global commemoration during an international conference of socialist women held in 1910 in Copenhagen.

It acquired even greater traction when women protested the armed struggle during World War I, which lasted from 1914 to 1918. In 1975, the United Nations declared it an official event. International Women’s Day is marked on March 8, commemorating a major women’s demonstration in 1917 that resulted in Russia’s withdrawal from the war. “The authorities were unable to stop them, and once the men saw the women on the streets, all of the workers began to come and join them,” said Kristen Ghodsee, professor and chair of Russian and East European studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

It acquired even greater traction when women protested the armed struggle during World War I, which lasted from 1914 to 1918. In 1975, the United Nations declared it an official event. International Women’s Day is marked on March 8, commemorating a major women’s demonstration in 1917 that resulted in Russia’s withdrawal from the war. “The authorities were unable to stop them, and once the men saw the women on the streets, all of the workers began to come and join them,” said Kristen Ghodsee, professor and chair of Russian and East European studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

It acquired even greater traction when women protested the armed struggle during World War I, which lasted from 1914 to 1918. In 1975, the United Nations declared it an official event. International Women’s Day is marked on March 8, commemorating a major women’s demonstration in 1917 that resulted in Russia’s withdrawal from the war. “The authorities were unable to stop them, and once the men saw the women on the streets, all of the workers began to come and join them,” said Kristen Ghodsee, professor and chair of Russian and East European studies at the University of Pennsylvania.