International Women's Day

Cultures around the world celebrate International Women's Day March 8. It is a day to recognize women for their contributions as well as bring attention to women's rights.

In this photograph, Pakistani working women carry placards as they shout slogans during a rally on International World Women's day in Lahore, Pakistan, March 8, 2013.

Indian women laborers work to lay a cable for an electricity company on International Women's Day in Ahmadabad, India, March 8, 2013.

Women take part in a drumming session in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa, to protest against violence against women and children March 8, 2013. As the world marks International Women's Day, South Africans are locked in public soul-searching over the high level of murders and rapes perpetrated against women.

France's President Francois Hollande shares a breakfast with minister for women's rights Najat Vallaud-Belkacem and French businesswomen Aude Carlier and Sylvie Clin to mark International Women's Day March 8, 2013, at the Elysee Presidential palace in Paris.

Female delegates arrive at the Great Hall of the People on International Women's Day before a session of the National People's Congress in Beijing March 8, 2013.

Salt worker Walbai Ayyubbhai, 70, carries a rake at a salt pan on the eve of International Women's Day in the Santalpur region of India March 7, 2013.

AP/RIA-Novosti/Mikhail Klimentyev-Presidential Press Service

Russian President Vladimir Putin poses with workers of the Vologda textile factory on the eve of International Women's Day in Vologda, about 250 miles northeast of Moscow, March 7, 2013. March 8 is Russia's national holiday.

A female North Korean soldier leading an artillery attack is projected on a large screen behind singers and the Unhasu Orchestra during a concert to mark International Women's Day in Pyongyang, North Korea, March 8, 2013. The text at the top of the screen reads, "We are the General?s female coastal artillery troops."

Women soldiers are seen through bunches of mimosa hung outside the Italian Presidential palace, the Quirinale, to celebrate International Women's day in Rome, March 8, 2013. The symbol of the day is the yellow mimosa, an expression of female solidarity. The origin of the custom is lost, but it is said to have started in Rome after World War II. Men began giving the mimosa to their partners, friends, co-workers and family give to their significant others, colleagues, mothers and sisters blossoming branches of this tree.

Women walk through a crafts and flowers market set up for International Women's Day in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo March 7, 2013.

People hold banners during a demonstration against domestic violence in London in the lead-up to International Women's Day March 5, 2013. Avon and charities Refuge and Women's Aid are launching a new campaign called "Speaking Out In Her Name" to raise awareness of domestic violence.

An Indian woman walks with her child past a billboard during a candlelight vigil on the eve of International Women's Day in Chennai, India, March 7, 2013.

An Indian woman carries utensils for cleaning at a common tap on the eve of International Women's Day on the outskirts of New Delhi March 7, 2013.

A deaf Palestinian woman teaches hearing-impaired children at Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children in Gaza City March 7, 2013, on the eve of International Women's Day.

Halima Bibi collects edible herbs that she sells to earn a living for her family in the suburbs of Islamabad March 7, 2013. Pakistan will mark the international day for women with other nations March 8.

Indian women work in a field on the eve of International Women's Day on the outskirts of New Delhi March 7, 2013.

A woman carries flowers walking along Novyi Arbat Street in Moscow on the eve of International Women's Day, March 7, 2013. March 8 is a national holiday in Russia.

A National Police Academy (ANAPO) female cadet, center, converses with her male fellow students in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, March 7, 2013.

A Lebanese man hangs a poster as part of an initiative set up by The Uprising of Women in the Arab World and supported by the International Federation for Human Rights in Beirut March 7, 2013. Posters that show Arab women holding a slogan that says "I am with the uprising of women in the Arab world because I want society to see me as a woman first before they see me as a mother, wife or daughter" will be displayed in different Arab countries for International Women's Day.