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.

International Women's Day​ is commemorated in different ways and to varying degrees in places around the world.

The day, celebrated annually on March 8, is dedicated to the advancement of women and equality for all genders. The holiday was first celebrated on March 19, 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland, with more than one million men and women attending rallies, the website says.