© UN Women/Joe Saade
Brilio.net/en - Imagine the world without women... you probably cant as the human race would be extinct. But the world with persecuted women is equally horrible. Thus, as today is the time celebrate the International Womens Day, lets pay tribute to women who have changed the course of history, sometimes in the face of seemingly unbeatable obstacles.
Teachers, law enforcers, politicians, farmers, businesswomen, artists, atlhetes, medical workers, volunteers, bomb defuser, mothers... women and girls around the globe contribute every day in many visible and invisible ways. These amazing photographs give us a glimpse into their daily lives.
1. Colombia
Image byUN Women/Ryan Brown
In the port city of Tumaco in southwestern Colombia, women manage a street-stall specializing in fried fish. Women in the country continue to earn less, have fewer assets, and are largely employed in vulnerable and low-paying activities. 65% of womens employment in developing regions is informal and unprotected.
2. Mali
Image byUN Photo/Marco Dormino
In one of Africas oldest trading centers, Gao in Mali, a teenage girl practice basketball at sunset. During the Jihadist occupation in 2012, girls were forbidden to practice sports and to wear shorts. The denial of women in sports extends beyond national borders. For example, women competed for the first time only at the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, with women from all nations participating just a few years back in 2012.
3. Vietnam
Image by UNDP/Canh Tang
A farmer and her daughter traverse a field of wild flowers at their homeland in a northern Vietnam province, carrying a heavy load of dried corn crop leaves. Climate change is bringing new difficulties for women and children bearing the burden of the negative impacts of fuel and water collection and transport. Women in many developing countries spend from one to four hours a day collecting biomass for fuel.
4. Turkmenistan
Image by The World Bank
Female statisticians enter data for processing and analysis in Turkmenistan. Information communications technologies have great potential to empower women and girls all around the world. Social media, in particular, is a facility where womens voices and gender equality issues have been brought to the surface.
5. China
Image byUNAIDS
A female Chinese instructor engages her students while raising awareness on HIV and AIDS to an important demographic: youth. Focused and adequate education about the deadly sexually transmitted diseases is critical to restrict infection rates. Worldwide, almost 1,000 young women are newly infected with HIV per day. Yet, only 21% of female teenager aged 15-19 have comprehensive knowledge of HIV.
6. Switzerland
Image byWorld Economic Forum/Remy Steinegger
Leaders in Switzerland, including Christine Lagarde, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, and Sheryl Sandberg discuss about the global growth at the World Economic Forum in Davon. Its the worlds premier political and business leaders meeting. Women are an inevitable key to economic growth. If women play an identical role in labour markets to that of men, as much as US$28 trillion could be added to global annual GDP by 2025. Yet gaps remain women currently hold only 20 CEO positions in the Fortune 500 companies.
7. Afghanistan
Image by UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein
This photo shows women parliamentarians of the Afghan Lower House in Kabul, Afghanistans capital. The fundamentals of women participation in politics, statecraft and government is to represent peoples needs and building sustainable democracies. Globally, the percentage of women in parliament has doubled in the last 20 years, but that is still a notoriously low: its only 22% today.
8. Mauritania
Image by UNICEF/Agron Dragaj
Mauritanian mothers gather to attend a session on early childhood development in the capital of Brakna, in southwest Mauritania. Sustainable development and economic growth rely heavily on strong foundation of learning and good health of the children. Poverty however can impede such progress, and girls often bear the brunt becoming an after-thought in a poor family. Today, 836 million of worlds population still live in extreme poverty.
9. Thailand
Image byUN Women/Montira Narkvichien
Female police cadets in Thailand enjoy a relax for a moment as they attend a training on ending violence against women and girls. According to data from 40 countries, there is a positive correlation between the proportion of female police and reporting rates of sexual assault.
10. Germany
Image by Ryan Langhorst
A female dentist examines her patient at a dental clinic at the Ramstein Air Base in south-western Germany; a headquarter of US Air Forces in the Europe. As numbers of female medical worker grow within the past few years, women are a growing segment of the medical profession. In Central and Eastern Europe, women make up 40% of researchers in science, including medical and health sciences 10 percentage points higher than the world average.
11. United States
Image byRyan Brown
In the USAs most populous city of New York, women make their way through the early-morning rush hour. Whether in bustling cities or rural villages, womens income contributes to families, communities and societies. Yet, women on average are paid 24% less than men globally for the same work. They also spend more than twice as much time on unpaid care and domestic tasks as men.
12. Brazil
Image byUN Women/Lianne Milton
An all-female dancing group performs an Afro-Indigenous dance in Brazils northeast state Pernambuco. This dance traditionally done by men during the nations popular annual festival Carnival. Women in the world harness their art form to to change public speech, whether in arts, media or enternainment. They also shape perceptions on equality.
13. Lebanon
Image by UN Women/Joe Saade
A female young entrepreneur crafts artisanal goods through carpentry in Lebanons capital Beirut, in a shared art studio space provided through a cooperative. Cooperatives bear an important role in womens economic development, giving better access to resources and womens opportunities, as well as reinforcing economies.
14. South Sudan
Image byUNMAS/Elena Rice
Women de-miners are not uncommon in South Sudan and they deal with the legacy of landmines from Sudans civil war. The picture shows an all-female de-mining team, and women like them are working on the numerous minefield from Bosnia to Iraq, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan and other countries. The job involves searching for deadly explosives that remain on land after the battles end while strapping on 25 kilograms of equipment.
15. India
Image byUN Women/Shaista Chishty
A mother shares the joy learning as she helps her son with his homework at their home in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan. A child born to a literate mother is 50% more likely to survive. Every year of education beyond grade four that a woman receives, reduces risks of her child dying by 10%.
Source: UN Women
(brl/tis)
