“Sangoma” initiate Dipuo Banda (C) is led out of her teachers shack while she remains in a trance like state prior to dancing during her 3 day initiation ceremony with her teacher, family, friends and students in the Alexandra Township in Johannesburg, South Africa, 14 May 2021. Sangomas, the Zulu term for Medicine Women or traditional healers, fulfill different social and political roles in the community, including divination, physical healing, emotional and spiritual illnesses, directing birth or death rituals and finding lost cattle. (Photo by Kim Ludbrook/EPA/EFE)

Ukrainians jump over a bonfire in Kiev, Ukraine, 06 July 2019, as they celebrate the traditional pagan holiday of Ivana Kupala. Ivana Kupala is celebrated, during the summer solstice, on the shortest night of the year, marking the beginning of summer and is celebrated in Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and Russia. People sing and dance around bonfires, play games and perform traditional rituals. Young people jump over bonfires in order to test their bravery. Couples holding hands jump over the flames to test their love. If the couple does not succeed it is predicted to split up. Traditionally, children and young unmarried women wear wreaths of wild flowers on their heads to symbolize purity. (Photo by Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA/EFE)

“YagYang”. The Apatani are tribal people living in north east of India in the region of Arunachal Pradesh. Tattooing and stuffing of large nose plugs is the particularity of these women. YagYang 75 years old, her husband passed away few months ago and she feels very alone, during my visit I was very fond of this woman and I wanted to spend some more time with her, so I asked her which was her favorite dish. The next day i returned with the fresh fish, as she mentioned, and when she saw me she was very happy and welcomed me with a big smile. Photo location: India. (Photo and caption by Passarini Mattia/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A Shariah law official whips a woman who is convicted of prostitution during a public caning outside a mosque in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Friday, April 20, 2018. Indonesia's deeply conservative Aceh province on Friday caned several unmarried couples for showing affection in public and two women for prostitution before an enthusiastic audience of hundreds. The canings were possibly the last to be carried out before large crowds in Aceh after the province's governor announced earlier this month that the punishments would be moved indoors. (Photo by Heri Juanda/AP Photo)

A woman dressed in a dirndl, a kind of traditional Bavarian clothing, jumps into Lake Schlier on July 30, 2006 in Schliersee, Germany. The event called "Dirndlfliegen" ("Dirndl Flying") was sponsored by a local fashion store and a big Austrian Dirndl manufacturer. While these kind of events had been held in Austria before, this was the first of its kind in Germany. 29 women and one man wearing a wig participated in the event that held a new Dirndl as the grand prize. (Photo by Andreas Leder/Getty Images)

'Military woman' is a constantly updated gallery of images of women wearing uniform: military, police and so on. We truly hope that our beloved visitors won't remain passive and will take part in this project making it even more interesting! Note that all the images featured in the gallery are taken from publically available sources: their copyright belongs to their respective creators and the trade mark to the owners. ...

In one of the best collaborations this blog has seen in ages, professional illustrator Mica Angela Hendricks has been collaborating with her 4-year-old daughter on a series of wonderful drawings that pass back and forther between mother and daugher until reaching an always unexpected final form. Each drawing begins with Hendricks drawing a detailed retro-ish head, after which her daughter snatches away the sketchbook to create rudimentary body (or animal!) parts as well as other random details. Afterward Hendricks goes back in to polish things up a bit and behold: dinosaur women, slug ladies, and beaver astronauts are born.