A combination picture shows Aleppo's Umayyad mosque, Syria, before it was damaged on March 12, 2009 (top) and after it was damaged (bottom) December 13, 2016. (Photo by Omar Sanadiki/Reuters)

Wednesday March 8 marks International Women's Day, with festivals, concerts and exhibitions among the numerous events planned around the world to celebrate the achievements of women in society. The annual event has been held since the early 1900s and traditionally promotes a different theme each year, with this year's edition calling on people to #BeBoldForChange and push for a more gender-inclusive working world. Reuters photographers have been speaking with women in a range of professions around the world about their experiences of gender inequality. Here: Yolaina Chavez Talavera, 31, a firefighter, poses for a photograph in front of a truck at a fire station in Managua, Nicaragua, February 22, 2017. (Photo by Oswaldo Rivas/Reuters)

A man looks on from the sea as Italian model and actress Elisa Sednaoui poses for photographers a day before the 72nd Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, September 1, 2015. Sednaoui will be hosting the opening and closing ceremonies of the film festival. (Photo by Stefano Rellandini/Reuters)

A Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighter reacts as he mourns near the body of his brother, who was an FSA fighter and died during an offensive against Islamic State fighters to take control of Qabasin town, on the outskirts of the northern Syrian town of al-Bab, Syria January 10, 2017. (Photo by Khalil Ashawi/Reuters)

“Winter shapes, Moscow river”. Moscow river at this part is never covered by ice. When the temperature is very low it's possible to see a strong fog. Morning light and pipes of the oli factory creates a fantastic landscape. Photo location: Moscow, Russia. (Photo and caption by Sergey Rumyantsev/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Mike “The Bedfordshire Bull Botteley” (left) takes on Chris “The General” Levy during a Chessboxing bout at the Scala nightclub on March 10, 2012 in London, England. A new hybrid sport combining chess and boxing in alternate 3 minute rounds, the winner is the one who knocks out or checkmates their opponent first. (Photo by Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images)

The Leshan Giant Buddha, a 71-metre tall stone statue, is carved out of a cliff face in the southern part of Sichuan province in China. (Photo by Suchet Suwanmongkol/500px)

The Royal Castle is seen a veil of heavy winter smog in Budapest, Hungary on January 30, 2017. (Photo by Laszlo Balogh/Reuters)