Five million women join Spain's first nationwide 'feminist strike' for International Women's Day

Five million women have joined Spain's first nationwide "feminist strike" to campaign for gender equality and fight gender violence.

Under the slogan If We stop, The World Stops, millions of women working both in and outside their homes, unpaid caregivers and students were called on to join the 24-hour strike by the March 8 Commission.

The movement is made up of a number of feminist organisations demanding equal opportunities for working women.

CCOO and UGT, two of the main workers' unions in Spain, called for morning and afternoon two-hour work stoppages.

In Barcelona, protesters who disrupted traffic in the city centre were seen in social media videos being pushed by anti-riot police agents.

In Madrid, mayor Manuela Carmena joined a protest outside her office. She tweeted: "The aim has been achieved.

"This isn't only about calling for true equality, but also about facing the need to change how the world treats women. It's about feminism.

A European commission report last year said the pay gap between men and women in Spain had fallen from 18.1 per cent in 2007 to 14.9 per cent in 2015.

Meanwhile a recent Spanish study found that women on average were paid 12.7 per cent less for doing the same job as male colleagues.

In the UK, businesses have been warned they could face legal action after the Government sent out letters warning them to report on their gender pay gap on Thursday.

Companies with more than 250 employees are now legally required to report their figures to the Government.

While British comedian Richard Herring showed his support for IWD, personally replying to anyone who asked "when is International Men's Day?" on Twitter.

Additional reporting by the Press Association