A crowd on Friday marched through Valletta streets behind a banner reading "united for collective liberation" marking International Women's Day.

Some carried placards reading 'If you don't fight for all women, you fight for no women', 'pro-women is not anti-men' and 'destroy the patriarchy'. 

Others held posters that paid tribute to Bernice Cilia and Sion Grech, protesting delayed or denied justice.

The march, organised by Moviment Graffitti, Young Progressive Beings, and MGRM, was endorsed by several other organisations that support gender equality and women’s rights.

The participants said in a joint statement ahead of the march that Women’s Day served as a reminder of the battles feminists fought to achieve the rights they now enjoyed.

"It is not a celebration, but a manifestation of the political and cultural struggle that women go through daily."

On Friday they called on politicians to legislate in favour of the right for women and other pregnant people to decide for themselves whether they wanted to continue with a pregnancy or terminate it.

"Last year, politicians betrayed women by amending the law and making it even more difficult for women and other people to terminate a pregnancy, even if their life is at risk."

Recent legislative changes allow doctors to terminate a pregnancy in limited circumstances. Professionals have argued that the amendment that was greenlighted by parliament last year was "regressive", with doctors now needing to wait for a woman’s life to be in jeopardy to take action.

Furthermore, it now also takes three specialists to say an infection is life-threatening while in the past, the consultant would discuss the seriousness of the situation with their own team.

Andorra and Malta are the only European countries that prohibit abortion in all situations. Having an abortion or helping someone get an abortion in Malta is punishable by up to three years in prison.

It is estimated that some 500 Maltese women purchase abortion pills online every year.

On Friday,  MGRM coordinator Cynthia Chircop was among those who addressed the crowd outside parliament following the march.

They said that trans women continued to be demonised and face hate speech, discrimination, violence and harassment.

"Trans and non-binary people experience discrimination and exclusion in their everyday lives, at schools, at work, and in sports because they do not seem to conform to the social expectations of men and women.

"The truth is, when trans and non-binary people are oppressed, women will suffer too. These actions reject bodily autonomy and reinforce the gender stereotypes at the foundation of women’s oppression," Chircop added.

In their address, Chircop said people had been waiting for nearly a decade for the Equality Act which, once enacted, would tackle loopholes in anti-discrimination laws linked to employment and the provision of goods and services.

"Until this bill becomes law, [minority] groups will continue to be discriminated against and oppressed," Chircop said.

They warned that while the community could celebrate the progress linked to LGBTIQ and women's rights, such rights must not take these rights for granted.

"History and current events in Europe and the US have shown us that progress is fragile. And it will crumble when we are complacent and ignore the rise of political forces who will chip away at women’s rights, LGBTIQ rights, freedoms and democracy.

"That is why it is important to go out and vote in the upcoming European Parliament elections... Not voting means you are giving up your voice, and allowing someone else’s to matter more. No one should lose their freedom and rights, in Europe, Malta or anywhere else, because as long as some of us are not free, none of us are free."

Angele Deguara, from Moviment Graffitti, also decried the "state of limbo" of the Equality Act.

"I live in a society that will crucify me if people get to know that I went through an abortion. I live in a country where reproductive services are nearly nonexistent.

"I live in a country where a person is jailed or has her passport confiscated if the authorities suspect they're going abroad for an abortion. I live in a country where not even female politicians fight for women's rights," she added.

"I live in a country where a woman is valued less than an embryo by Maltese governments and the Church."

Deguara also lamented lower wages for women, short maternity and paternity leave and no protection for women exploited by the industry that ran massage parlours and gentlemen's clubs.

The march was endorsed by aditus foundation, Antide Malta, Doctors for Choice, Humanists Malta, IVY Malta - Interrupting Violence towards Youth, Malta Dance Beyond Borders, Malta LGBT Rights Movement MGRM, Men Against Violence, Migrant Women Association, Moviment Graffitti, The Gender and Sexualities Department at the University of Malta, The Malta Women's Lobby, Women for Women, Women’s Rights Foundation, YMCA Malta and Young Progressive Beings.