WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton honored International Women's Day on Sunday, celebrating untapped potential but lamenting how "no nation in the world has yet achieved full equality for women."

The international community has little hope of combatting the complex slew of challenges in the 21st century without the full participation of women, said Clinton.

Equality "is a matter of enhancing global peace, progress, and prosperity for generations to come," she added, as women worldwide rallied to demand equal rights and protest domestic violence.

"Women still comprise the majority of the world's poor, unfed, and unschooled," Clinton noted in a statement issued by the State Department.

"Like all people, women deserve to live free from violence and fear. To create peaceful, thriving communities, women must be equal partners."

Women have a crucial role in tackling major issues such as the global economic crisis, sectarian warfare and terrorism, she said.

"Ensuring the rights of women and girls is not only a matter of justice. It is a matter of enhancing global peace, progress, and prosperity for generations to come."

AFP, March 9, 2009