To mark the occasion of International Women' s Day on March 8, 2018 AFP presents a series of photos depicting women performing roles or working in professions more traditionally held by men. In the ring, battling flames or lifting off into space, women have entered professions generally considered as men' s jobs. For International Women' s Day, AFP met with women breaking down the barriers of gender- bias in the work world. Here: French rejoneadora (mounted bullfighter who uses a lance) Lea Vincens, 33, poses at the Aracena bullring, in Huelva, southern Spain on February 25, 2018. (Photo by Cristina Quicler/AFP Photo)





Olga Silantyeva, 28, rescuer and driver in a rescue team posing for a picture in the city of Fryazino, outside Moscow, Russia on March 6, 2018. (Photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP Photo)





Master tailor Kathryn Sargent poses for a portrait in her shop in central London, United Kingdom on February 23, 2018. (Photo by Justin Tallis/AFP Photo)





Huda Salem, a 20-year-old member of the Iraqi national weightlifting team, lifts weights as she trains at a gym in Baghdad, Iraq on February 22, 2018. (Photo by Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)





Zahida, a Pakistani female police Assistance Sub-Inspector (ASI), poses for a photograph at a police academy in Peshawar, Pakistan on February 26, 2018. (Photo by Abdul Majeed/AFP Photo)





Amaia Gorostiza, 51, business woman and president of the SD Eibar football club poses for a picture in the locker room at the Ipurua stadium in Eibar, Spain on February 27, 2018. (Photo by Ander Gillenea/AFP Photo)





Ana Sousa, 45, TAP Air Portugal pilot for 11 years, poses for a portrait at a TAP hangar in Lisbon, Spain on February 28, 2018. (Photo by Patricia de Melo Moreira/AFP Photo)





Carla Provost, Acting Chief of the US Border Patrol in her office at US Border Patrol Headquarters in Washington, DC, March 7, 2018. (Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP Photo)





Carla Rozalen, 29 years old, helicopter pilot poses for a picture in front of a Bell 412 twin-engine utility helicopter at the FAASA Group, in Palma del Rio, Cordoba on February 27, 2018. (Photo by Cristina Quicler/AFP Photo)





Sarah Achieng a 31 year-old professional boxer and sports administrator poses after her training session at Kariobangi social hall gym in Nairobi, Kenya on February 27, 2018. (Photo by Patricia Esteve/AFP Photo)





Anny Divya, 31, an Indian pilot who became the youngest woman in the world to captain the Boeing 777 aircraft, poses next to portraits of various air marshals at the Indian Air Force Museum in New Delhi on February 24, 2018. (Photo by Chandan Khanna/AFP Photo)





Mai Ibrahim Al-Mesad, Project Manager of the maritime section of the Jaber Al-Ahmad Causeway, poses for a picture at the construction site in Kuwait City on March 4, 2018. The Jaber Al-Ahmad Causeway is considered one of the longest in the world, covering a total distance of 37 kilometers between Kuwait City and Subbiy. (Photo by Yasser al-Zayyat/AFP Photo)





Kuwaiti female chef, “Chef Meshael”, poses for a picture at her restaurant “LaMeShO” in the town of Mahboula, about 30 kilometres south of the capital Kuwait City, on March 6, 2018. (Photo by Yasser al-Zayyat/AFP Photo)





New South Wales state emergency services (SES) volunteer Michelle Whye posing in uniform in front of an emergency vehicle at their headquarters on February 23, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Peter Parks/AFP Photo)





Lebanese mechanic Rana el-Hayek, 22, poses in a car repair garage where she works in Qannabat Brummana, northeast of Beirut on March 3, 2018. (Photo by Joseph Eid/AFP Photo)





Canal Locks operator Eyda Rios, 55, poses for pictures at the Panama Canal's Pedro Miguel Locks, on the outskirts of Panama City on February 26, 2018. (Photo by Rodrigo Arangua/AFP Photo)





Arazo Qadri, a 27-year-old female member of the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga, stands guard at the Peshmerga Military camp in Arbil, the capital of the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq, on February 20, 2018. (Photo by Safin Hamed/AFP Photo)





Professional wrestler Cristal (Crystal) poses for a photograph in her trainig place on February 09, 2018 in Mexico city, Mexico. (Photo by Omar Torres/AFP Photo)





Razia Banu, 20, a Pakistani female national boxing champion, poses for a picture before a practice session at a boxing club in Lyari, Karachi's most restive – and sporty – neighbourhood, on February 20, 2018. (Asif HassanPhoto by /AFP Photo)





Jodie Azhar, 30, Lead Technical Artist on the Total War game series at Creative Assembly, poses for a portrait in her offices in Horsham, West Sussex, south of London, on February 23, 2018. (Photo by Justin Tallis/AFP Photo)





Shana Power, 25, a mixed martial artist (MMA), poses for a picture in the gym which she co-owns called Power House Intensive Training (PHIT), in Johannesburg, South Africa on February 28, 2018. (Photo by Gulshan Khan/AFP Photo)





Spanish Legionnaire Rosa Galvez, 36, poses at the Spanish Legion military base “Alvarez de Sotomayor” in Viator, near Almeria, on March 2, 2018. (Photo by Jorge Guerrero/AFP Photo)





Ran Namise, 24, a firefighter belonging to the command squad, posing in front of a fire engine at Kojimachi Fire Station in Tokyo, Japan on February 23, 2018. (Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP Photo)





Ana Cristina, 44, tram driver for 20 years, poses for a portrait inside a tram in Lisbon, Spain on February 28, 2018. (Photo by Patricia de Melo Moreira/AFP Photo)





Locomotive, or “mule”, operator Glaciela Shreeves, 53, poses for pictures at the Panama Canal's Pedro Miguel Locks, where she works towing ships through the locks, on the outskirts of Panama City on February 22, 2018. (Photo by Rodrigo Arangua/AFP Photo)





Hannah Beachler, production designer, poses for a picture in West Hollywood, California, on February 22, 2018. Hannah Beachler has designed Wakanda, the “Black Panther” fictional African home and world. Hannah is the only black woman at the top of her field. (Photo by Valerie Macon/AFP Photo)





Victoria Da-Poian, 22, student at the French Superior Institute of aeronautics and Space, poses during a photo session, on February 10 2018 in Paris, France. (Photo by Olivier Morin/AFP Photo)





Asmaa Megahed a 31-year-old Egyptian carpenter poses for a picture at her workshop in Abdeen district in downtown Cairo, Egypt on February 26, 2018. (Photo by Khaled Desouki/AFP Photo)





Israeli army sergeant Amit Malekin, 19, commander of a mobile rocket launcher, poses for a picture in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights near the border between Israel and Syria on February 26, 2018. (Photo by Jack Guez/AFP Photo)





Maria Jose Martienz Ortiz, 43, Spanish firefighter poses for a picture in the “Fuente San Luis” fire station facilities in Valencia, Spain on February 28, 2018. (Photo by Jose Jordan/AFP Photo)





Nicol Gomez, 37, guardian at the La Esperanza prison poses for a portrait in front a group of prisoners practicing yoga in San Salvador, on March 4, 2018. (Photo by Marvin Recinos/AFP Photo)





Pakistani first responder Samra Akram Zia poses for a photograph with her motorcycle ambulance service during a passing out ceremony in Lahore on February 24, 2018. (Photo by Arif Ali/AFP Photo)





Heather Marold Thomason, butcher and founder of Primal Supply Meats, poses for a picture in her company's dry-aging room on March 2, 2018, in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Dominick Reuter/AFP Photo)





Tabasumm, 30, an auto-rickshaw driver, poses with her vehicle in Allahabad, India on February 22, 2018. (Photo by Sanjay Kanojia/AFP Photo)





Wendy Lawrence, 58, a retired US Navy captain and former NASA astronaut, is pictured on the Space Shuttle trainer that was used for astronaut's training at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington on February 28, 2018. (Photo by Jason Redmond/AFP Photo)





First Albino female prisons officer Nomatter Mashaire, (32), stands in a corridor at the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) headquarters on 22 February 2018 in Harare, Zimbabwe. (Photo by Zinyange Auntony/AFP Photo)





Somali football coach and player Marwa Mauled Abdi, 24, poses at the football ground of Ubah fitness center, the first football field exclusively opened for women, in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, northwestern Somalia, on March 1, 2018. (Photo by Mustafa Saeed/AFP Photo)