Today, International Women's Day, is an opportune time to recognize the progress that has been made around the world in the sphere of women's rights. In far too many places around the world, however, women remain victims of serious human rights abuses, Freedom House said today.

"Women confront a particular set of challenges in achieving their full human rights. While we applaud the important advances that have been made, those who care about human rights anywhere need to remain focused on the obstacles that women still face around the world," said Jennifer Windsor, Executive Director of Freedom House.

Problems women face include discrimination in family laws and in the workplace, gender-based violence that often occurs in family settings, exclusion from political life, and government authorities that are unresponsive to women's issues. "Improving women's access to justice should be a priority for all governments. Freedom House is committed to supporting the non-governmental advocates working for change within their societies," Windsor added.

As part of its global evaluation of a range of democratic and human rights, Freedom House regularly evaluates the state of women's rights in countries around the world. In regions as diverse as Latin America, South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, gender inequality is compounded by unresponsive governments, patriarchal traditions, and high levels of illiteracy among women. These factors contribute to environments where women are sometimes unaware of their rights and have inadequate recourse to judicial remedies.

In Latin America, despite the impressive gains in freedom in the last decades, women continue to confront serious, often institutionalized human rights abuse.

In Guatemala and Mexico, for instance, women frequently face high levels of physical and psychological abuse. Indigenous women and female migrant workers, in particular, suffer discrimination and violence, often at the hands of state police. While many governments have taken important legislative steps toward solving the problem of violence against women, including the appointment of special prosecutors and government offices designed to take into consideration the issues and obstacles faced when investigating crimes against women, much more needs to be done, especially in areas of prevention and the prosecution of perpetrators.