CLEVELAND, Ohio- Nearly 400 people participated in a rally and march in downtown Cleveland, Ohio at the Free Stamp next to Cleveland City Hall on Wednesday, March 8, 2017 (pictured) for the first time to celebrate International Women's Day and this year marks Cleveland's seventh annual march. It will be held Wednesday, March 8, 2023 beginning with a 5 pm rally on the steps of Cleveland City Hall and will be followed by a 6 pm march, organizers said. The international theme for International Women's Day is #Embrace Equity.

Windsong Cleveland feminist choir will perform at the event.

International Women's Day is a global day of celebration on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive and voting rights, and violence and abuse against women. Speakers for the March 8 event in Cleveland include Cleveland Councilpersons Joe Jones and Stephanie Howse, Cleveland Housing Court Magistrate Jeff Johnson, CAIR Cleveland Executive Director Sr. Faten Odeh, Elaine Gohlstin of the Black Women's PAC of Ohio, and community activists Cheryl Lessin, Genevieve Mitchell, Maosha Maybach, Mattie Hayes, Latorya Witcher, Don Bryant, and Alfred Porter Jr.

"We invite everybody to join us as we continue our fight for reproductive and Civil Rights for women and against violence against women," said International Women's Day March Cleveland head organizer Kathy Coleman, who also leads the grassroots groups Imperial Women Coalition and Women's March Cleveland. She said that two young women who led Women's March Cleveland's Jan 21, 2023 anniversary march will lead the International Women's Day march on March 8 and that they will also help MC at the rally, before the march.

Coleman has been the lead organizer of every International Women's Day march in Cleveland since the first one in 2017 that drew roughly 400 people. She said that a nice crowd is expected this year even in cold weather, and given that women's reproductive and Civil Rights are severely under attack and violence against women and girls is escalating nationwide and internationally. And Black women, she said, are getting raped and murdered at a disproportionate rate, data show.

Other activists groups supporting the event include the Black Women's PAC of Ohio, Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, Cuyahoga Democratic Women's Caucus, Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support network, Peace Action, Black on Black Crime Inc, Peace in the Hood, League of Voters East Cleveland Chapter, protect choice Ohio, Stand Up 4 Abortion Rights, CAIR-Cleveland and the Black Women's Army.