Japanese embroidery artist Hiroko Kubota was in the process of making custom sized clothes for her smaller-framed son when he made a small request: could some of the shirts have cats on them? Kubota explains her son was somewhat obsessed with cats and had collected a small library of adorable images found around the web.

Afghan girl athletes perform Wushu on the top of a hill in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, January 18, 2017. In the conservative Afghan society where people especially in the countryside deeply believe in the old traditions and don't allow their girls and female members of the family to go out of home, exercising sport in open is extremely risky, but a group of girls are broken the taboo and exercising Wushu on a hilltop where the temperature is minus 2 Celsius degrees. (Photo by Rahmat Alizadah/Xinhua/Barcroft Images)

Male members of the Zeleziar folk dance group whip and water the local girls dressed in traditional clothing, during Easter in Bociar, Slovakia on April 1, 2024. Boys and younger men visit the houses of young girls, whip them with fresh-cut decorated wickers and sprinkle water on them. By tradition, the whipping should give the girls strength, health, and abundance throughout the whole year. (Photo by Robert Nemeti/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Shakar Rustami (L) and Zulaikha Amini, organizers of the“'Smart Way” book and painting exhibition stand in front of painting in Kabul, Afghanistan, 21 August 2023. Young female artists in Kabul held a painting exhibition to express the restrictions imposed by the Taliban on women and girls. The exhibition also featured books displayed by students to promote reading culture. Some of the girls called for the Taliban to lift the restrictions against women and girls. Many female students turned to painting and drawing after schools and universities closed. (Photo by Samiullah Popal/EPA/EFE)

A girl from Newar community is pictured with vermillion powder on her forehead as she takes part at the Ihi ceremony in Bhaktapur, Nepal on December 6, 2019. The two-day ceremony begins with purification rituals and ends with “Kanyadan” (giving away the virgin) of the girl by her father. A Newari girl gets married thrice in her life, first with Bel, the fruit of a wood-apple tree, secondly with the sun, and lastly with her future husband. (Photo by Monika Deupala/Reuters)

A young Hindu girl sits for a ceremony where she and other girls are worshipped as “Kumari”, or living goddess, during Ram Navami festival, at a temple in Kolkata, India, Saturday, March 28, 2015. Ram Navami marks the birth of Hindu God Rama. (Photo by Bikas Das/AP Photo)

Students celebrate their A-level results at King Edward VI High School for Girls in Birmingham, England on August 18, 2016. The proportion of top grades achieved by A-level students across the UK has fallen for a fifth year in a row, and girls have caught up with boys in attaining A* grades. (Photo by Joe Giddens/PA Wire)

Costumed revelers walk through a street prior to the carnival parade in the village of Vevcani, in the southwestern part of North Macedonia, on Wednesday, January 13, 2021. The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the usual carnival celebrations which have been taken place for centuries in the tiny North Macedonian town of Vevcani. A few hundred locals gathered at the small town square to celebrate the carnival, but police dispersed the gathering after a brief scuffle with a small group. No arrests or injuries were reported. (Photo by Boris Grdanoski/AP Photo)