Celebrating 100 Years of International Women’s Day (SLIDESHOW Part 1)

To celebrate the 100 Year Anniversary of International Women’s Day on March 8th, 2011 and Women’s History Month, we’d like to share a weekly slideshow of some of our favorite photos of women around the world. Today’s slideshow is entitled just that, “Women Around the World” and is Part 1 of a four part slideshow. This week we’ve picked out some of our favorite portraits that very simply capture women’s strength, beauty and culture around the globe. Check back each Monday in March for the next three slideshows showcasing some fierce women.

Part I: Women Around the World (March 8th BELOW)
Part II: Fighters, Leaders, and Survivors (March 14th)
Part III: Women’s Work (March 21st)
Part IV: Hard-core Athletes (March 28th)

Slideshow Part 1: Women Around the World

(Click here to view all images of this slideshow on the PhotEdit Inc. website. All images are available for licensing.)

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Of course, we know that there is more to International Women’s Day than celebrating women’s strength and their role in the handing down of culture. 100  years ago we saw women and men gathering around the world advocating for the right for women to vote, work, be trained, and to end discrimination. Today women are still at the forefront of human rights movements advocating for some of the very same issues the world faced in 1911: peace and justice; an end to poverty; equal work, pay, and training; and reproductive justice to name a few. We’d like to acknowledge the liberation struggles, hard-work, and victories of women and have picked out the photos in our collection we feel best represent these stories.

Our next three slideshows will tell the stories of women who are the backbone of many social movements and who are fighters, leaders, survivors and role models in their own ways, be they mothers, farm-workers, organizers, or glass ceiling breakers. Through these slideshows we’d like to acknowledge and thank the women depicted in these photos and those like them who are working hard and struggling to create a better future for themselves, families, and the world, and who are daily changing how young girls view themselves.

Don’t forget to check back each Monday in March to view the next three slideshows!