GLOBAL

International Women's Day 2023

IWPR celebrates women’s achievements around the world, as we work to highlight inequalities and raise awareness of gender discrimination.

EDITORIAL COMMENT

The Fight Continues

Billions around the world embody the power and potential of change, but the struggle remains long.

International Women’s Day celebrates those fighting for gender equality globally, and there could be no more appropriate symbol of this than 29-year-old Ukrainian medic Yana Rakhlitska.

In November 2022, RFE/RL photographer Serhiy Nuzhnenko photographed the Bakhmut field hospital where Rykhlitska worked, helping a constant stream of injured Ukrainian soldiers. © Serhiy Nuzhnenko RFE/RL

"International Women's Day will be a success when the equity and equality it demands becomes an everyday matter."

A typical homestead in North Horr. © Francis Odee

KENYA | PHOTO ESSAY

Women Bearing the Brunt of Climate Change

An ongoing drought has served to amplify historic gender inequalities in arid areas of the country.

Evgeniya Emerald has become an iconic figure in Ukraine, a symbol of how women are part of the military efforts to combat the Russian invasion of their country. © Courtesy of E. Emerald

UKRAINE

The Story of a Ukrainian Sniper

Frontline soldier became a symbol of how women are part of the military efforts to combat the Russian invasion.

"I felt the war was coming; I did not hesitate for a second."

PHILIPPINES

Single Mothers Continue to Fight Stigma

The notion of family is still strongly influenced by rigid norms in this predominantly Catholic and conservative South East Asian nation.

A woman holds her child in the remote village of Burog, in Bamban, Tarlac province, Philippines. © Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

“Instead of putting the blame on single mothers like us, know first the circumstances and learn to respect more the sacrifices we are making to raise our children.”

(L to R) Natalia Tsoi, boxing referee from Kazakstan; Farida Abdueva, Muay Thai fighter from Kyrgyzstan; Shoira Zulkaynarova, boxer from Tajikistan; Aziza Yakubova, boxer from Uzbekistan. © Courtesy of N. Tsoi, F. Abdueva, S. Zulkaynarova and A. Yakubova.

CENTRAL ASIA

Fighting, Inside and Outside the Ring

Women who dream of taking on combat disciplines have to first defy conservative traditions.

“I feel myself to be in the right place, and I am so happy.”

PHOTO ESSAY

Nagorny Karabakh’s Female Deminers

The region has the highest per capita rate in the world of accidents due to unexploded ordnance.

Shamiram Grigoryan, 39, has been working at the HALO Trust for five years. A mother-of-five, Grigoryan highly values what she does. “It is a humanitarian task, we do it for the safety of our children.’’ © Siranush Sargsyan

‘’We live in fear, not for ourselves but for our children."

Georgia and Armenia are two of the few countries where commercial surrogacy is legal, allowing a woman to be paid to carry someone else’s genetic child through IVF and embryo-transfer. © Gvantsa Seturidze

CAUCASUS