KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 — Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Malaysian women have made significant progress in raising their standing, in a brief message commemorating International Women’s Day today.

According to Dr Mahathir, women today were treated much better than their predecessors in generations before.

"Women now have achieved many improvements. Their position now is far better than previously.

"I hope that, today, women will be happy to celebrate Women’s Day,” Dr Mahathir said in a video posted on Twitter.

He went on to state his hope of seeing women and their partners continue working to improve the positions of the former, with an eye on completely eliminating gender discrimination.

International Women’s Day is celebrated annually on March 8.

This year, the theme for IWD is "I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights”.