• Sudanese woman builds a life without hands

    Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah / Reuters

    Hokom Al, a disabled woman, uses her foot to pour coffee which she prepared for neighbours at her home in a rural area near Khartoum, Sudan, on March 7, 2012. The 45 year old was born without hands.

    Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah / Reuters

    Hokom Al, a disabled woman, uses her foot to hold a spoon of sugar as she makes coffee for neighbors.

    Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah / Reuters

    Hokom Al, a disabled woman, uses her mouth to hang clothes to dry in a rural area in Khartoum on March 7.

    Slideshow: International Women’s Day

    Oswaldo Rivas / Reuters

    Observed since the early 1900s, International Women's Day is used to celebrate the progress of women, or to point out inequalities that still exist throughout the world.

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  • Women in wheelchairs call for equal rights on International Women's Day

    By Carissa Ray

    It's pretty interesting that International Women's Day and events like the Carnival celebration pictured in the previous post are happening simultaneously. See more images from International Women's Day here, and video from Andrea Mitchell and Nightly News below.

    Mariana Bazo / Reuters

    Women in wheelchairs attend a demonstration calling for equal rights in issues such as employment and access to public transportation, on International Women's Day in Lima, March 8.

    Dina Habib Powell of The Goldman Sachs Group and Divya Keshav, who owns a manufacturing plant in India, talk about the centennial celebration and the efforts to educate women around the world.

    On the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, it was clear that gender equality still has a long way to go in Egypt, as a "million woman march" attracted only a few hundred people. NBC's Anne Thompson reports from Tahrir Square in Cairo.

  • Women around the world mark International Women's Day

    Vincenzo Pinto / AFP - Getty Images

    Women activists in front of a banner that reads "8th every year" demonstrate in downtown Rome to mark the International Women's Day on March 8. The International Women's Day is celebrated annually on March 8, this year marks the centenial of its creation.

    Jayanta Dey / Reuters

    Women labourers work in a brick factory on International Women's Day in Jirania village on the outskirts of Agartala, capital of India's northeastern state of Tripura March 8.

    Joseph Eid / AFP - Getty Images

    A Lebanese woman working at an advertising company dressed, along with other colleagues, like men and poses for pictures to make a statement about gender inequalities in Lebanon as they mark the International Women's Day in Beirut on March 8. Women in Lebanon are still discriminated against in the Nationality Law, Personal Status Law, Penal Law, and Labour and Social Security laws.

    Romeo Ranoco / Reuters

    Private 1st class Rona Operio, the first female marine drill instructor from the first batch of female enlisted marines, command her troops during a drill inside the marine headquarters at Fort Bonifacio military headquarters in Taguig city, south of Manila March 8,

    Narendra Shrestha / EPA

    A Nepalese Indigenous woman of the Rajbansi community gets help putting on traditional jewelry before attending a women's day rally in Kathmandu, Nepal, 08 March. Rallies and various functions are being held in Kathmandu to marking the 100th International women’s day. Hundreds of women who have family member that have disappeared during 11 years long Maoist insurgency in Nepal are also staging protests rallies on women’s day demanding to know the whereabouts of their loved once.

    Shakil Adil / AP

    A Pakistani woman waits for customers to sell nuts and earn a living for her family in Karachi, Pakistan on Tuesday, March 8. The head of the new U.N. women's agency said Tuesday there has been "remarkable progress" since International Women's Day was first celebrated a century ago but gender equality remains a distant goal because women still suffer widespread discrimination and lack political and economic clout.

    Pervez Mashi / AP

    Pakistani female labourers crush rocks for a construction of road in Hyderabad, Pakistan on Tuesday.

    Narendra Shrestha / EPA

    A women's day rally in Kathmandu, Nepal on March 8. Rallies and various functions are being held in Kathmandu to mark the 100th International Women's Day. Hundreds of women who have family members that have disappeared during the Maoist insurgency in Nepal are also staging protest rallies on demanding to know the whereabouts of their loved ones.