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)

Maudy – Kalulushi, Zambia. Maudy was born in a hut in a small village close to Kalulushi, in Zambia. She grew up playing in the street with the other children in the village, who all attend the same school, where students ages 3 to 10 years old are in the same class. The village has no shops, restaurants or hotels, and just a few children are lucky enough to have toys. Maudy and her friends found a box full of sunglasses on the street, which quickly became their favorite toys. “Toy Stories” project. (Photo and caption by Gabriele Galimberti)

Rene Penia drives his VW Beetle 1995, locally called “Vocho”, through the streets of Monterrey April 22, 2015. The car was painted by a local artist to be part of an exhibition on the 1960s at the National History Museum in Monterrey where it was on display for five years. Pena bought the car for 25.000 Mexican Pesos (some USD 2,000 at that time) in 2013 during an auction and he then converted the car into an electrical vehicle. (Photo by Daniel Becerril/Reuters)

Metallica and Lang Lang rehearse for THE 56TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS music industry's premier event takes place Sunday, Jan. 26 (8:00-11:30 PM, live ET/delayed PT) at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles on the CBS Television Network. Photo: Heather Wines/CBS ©2014 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved

A police officer escorts a civilian away from the scene of a shooting, Sunday, July 22, 2018, in Toronto, Canada. A gunman opened fire in central Toronto on Sunday night, injuring 13 people including a child. Two dead including gunman, police reported. (Photo by Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP Photo)

Players of the USA celebrate in the dressing room following their team's victory in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup France Final match between The United States of America and The Netherlands at Stade de Lyon on July 07, 2019 in Lyon, France. (Photo by Maddie Meyer – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

“Kim Jong-il, also written as Kim Jong Il, birth name Yuri Irsenovich Kim (according to Soviet records) (16 February 1941/2 – 17 December 2011), was the supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). He was the General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, the ruling party since 1948, Chairman of the the National Defence Commission of North Korea, and the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, the fourth-largest standing army in the world”. – Wikipedia

Photo: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il inspects a military unit in North Korea. (Photo by Korean Central Television/Yonhap)

“Felix Baumgartner (born 20 April 1969 in Salzburg, Austria) is a skydiver and a BASE jumper. He is renowned for the particularly dangerous nature of the stunts he has performed during his career. Baumgartner spent time in the Austrian military where he practiced parachute jumping, including training to land on small target zones”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Pilot Felix Baumgartner of Austria is seen before his jump during the first manned test flight for Red Bull Stratos on March 15, 2012 in Roswell, New Mexico. In this test he reach the altitude 21800 meters (71500 ft) and landed safely near Roswell. Red Bull Stratos is a mission to the edge of the earths atmosphere, where upon reaching altitude of 120,000 feet by helium baloon, pilot and basejumper Felix Baumgartner will then freefall to the ground in an attempt to break the speed of sound. (Photo by Jay Nemeth/Red Bull via Getty Images)