ROME, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Women played a key role in the making of post-war Italy but much still needs to be done to achieve gender equality, Italian President Sergio Mattarella said during a ceremony commemorating International Women's Day, which is celebrated around the world on March 8.

"There are still barriers to overcome, gaps to be filled," said Mattarella, including "hateful discrimination" against women in the workplace, gender pay gaps, and the fact that male employment outstrips female employment by 20 percent.

Mattarella also took aim at the "unacceptable reality" of "sexual harassment and physical and moral violence in the workplace as well as at the home".

Italian women first obtained the right to vote in 1946, right after World War II. They were first allowed to become judges and diplomats in 1963, and it wasn't until 1999 that they were admitted into the armed forces, the president of the republic said.

Mattarella made a point of sending a greeting to 106-year-old Luisa Zappitelli, "who turned out to vote (in the general election) last Sunday as she has done for the past 72 years -- she is an example to us all."

He then listed a number of female politicians who introduced key reforms, such as protections for working mothers (1950) and making it illegal to fire women just because they got married (1963).

Italy's national health service became a reality in 1978 thanks to the country's first female government minister, Tina Anselmi, who pulled bickering political parties together to make this happen, said Mattarella. Anselmi was an example of "placing the interests of the country and its citizens first," he said.