While Patricia Arquette made a rallying cry for equal pay for women during her Oscars acceptance speech last weekend, a separate social media campaign was gathering pace.
The women's rights group Equality Now has launched a new drive against 44 governments who have laws that discriminate against women, which they accompanied with a global petition and the hastag #UnSexyLaws.
They listed the top 10 most discriminatory laws against women from around the world, which included women being banned from working at night in Madagascar, females in Russia prevented from taking employment as a plumber and the fact that marital rape is legal in the Bahamas.
The women's rights group Equality Now has launched a new drive against 44 governments who have laws that discriminate against women. Pictured: One of the images group's campaign images
According to the leading campaign group, the brutal truth is that globally, the list of anti-women laws still in existence is truly shocking.
In 1994, 189 countries agreed to the Beijing Platform for Action, which aimed to progress women's rights on a global scale.
But according to Equality Now, little has been done to promote this gender equality in the past two decades.
They have now reignited the fight to revoke any remaining laws globally that discriminate on the basis of sex, with the campaign specifically targeting 44 countries that it says continues to discriminate against women.
Equality Now shines a light on countries that still discriminate against women including Saudi Arabia which refuses women a driving licence
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The list includes well-documented laws such as women being unable to drive in Saudi Arabia alongside lesser known anti-women legislation.
For example, in Russia, Article 253 of the country's Labor Code bars women from working in 456 types of work including driving a train or being a professional sailor.
In Tunisia, women's inheritance rights are limited; a son will inherit twice as much as a female offspring.
And even the UK features on the list; for its ruling that women can't join the Royal Marines.
And shocking legislation relating to domestic violence and rape continues to be at the fore of the group's campaign with countries including India, the Bahamas and Singapore still rarely prosecuting marital rape - and often with girls in their early teens the victims.
Another of the campaign images released by Equality Now in conjunction with their campaign, which aims to end discrimination against women globally
Jacqui Hunt, the London director of Equality Now, told Marie Claire magazine: 'Justice is the foundation stone for equality and without it, women and girls are enormously disadvantaged politically, economically and socially.'
'At a minimum, legal equality gives women and girls a level playing field from which to build their capabilities and make meaningful contributions to society.
'Not allowing half of the human race to do this is a serious human rights violation.
'But governments should also be fully aware that without ensuring equality under the law and equality of opportunity, countries will not be able to make significant progress on any level.'
Twenty years after the Beijing Platform for Action pursued better rights for women... here are some of the draconian laws that still exist around the world
1. Women can't drive trucks in Russia
Women wishing to drive a train, tractor or truck in Russia will find their ambition stilled by Resolution No.162 of the Labor Code which lists 456 types of work women may not engage in. Other forbidden careers include firefighting, plumbing and carpentry.
2. A husband can rape his wife in the Bahamas
The Bahamas may be a popular tourist idyll but the country's laws on rape continue to be condemned. Within marriage, it's legal for a man to sexually assault his wife if she is over the age of 14. Other countries with similarly dismal records on marital rape include India, Palestine and Singapore.
3. Women's words matter less than men's in Pakistan
In some civil matters, the testimony of a woman is considered exactly half as valuable as that of a man's.
Not after dark: women in Madagascar are not permitted to work anywhere at night unless it's within their own family business
4. Women can't get a divorce under rabbinical law
Under Jewish law, only the male in a marriage can decide to divorce.
5. Women can't join the Royal Marines in the UK
The Revised Employment Policy for Women in the Army discriminates against women joining the Royal Marines saying 'In a small corps, in times of crisis and manpower shortage, all Royal Marines must be capable at any time of serving at their rank and skill level in a commando unit... Employment of women in the Royal Marines will not allow for interoperability.'
6. Domestic violence is still permitted in Nigeria
Under the Penal Code of Northern Nigeria, the assault of a woman is entirely legal provided the injuries are not considered 'grievous' and are inflicted by her husband.
7. Women in Afghanistan need their husband's permission to leave the house
In both Afghanistan and the Yemen, a man has the law on his side if he chooses to restrict his wife from leaving the marital home.
8. Female abduction in Malta is permitted...if marriage follows
Thousands of holidaymakers flock to this popular isle, without realising that this European destination harbours a hardly believable law that enables a man to kidnap, rape or commit statutory rape, as long as he marries his victim afterwards.
9. Driving is forbidden in Saudi Arabia
The Middle Eastern country has a well documented 'Fatwa on Women's Driving of Automobiles'.
10. Women can't work at night in Madagascar
Only females working in a family-owned business are allowed to take on night shift employment. Article 85 of Madagascar’s Labor Code states: 'Women, regardless of age, shall not be employed at night in any industrial establishment of any kind, public or private, secular or religious...'
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