Women at work around the world

Phung Thi Hai, 54, carries bricks at a factory outside Hanoi, Vietnam. She has to move 3,000 bricks a day to the kiln. "With the same work male laborers can get a better income. Not only me, all women in the village work very hard with no education, no insurance and no future," Hai said. Photo by Reuters/Kham

Ram, 46, poses for a photograph at her stall at the flower market in Bangkok, Thailand. "In this market men do the hard jobs, they carry heavy things, load trucks," said Ram. Photo by Reuters/Jorge Silva

Emilie Jeannin, 37, a cow breeder, poses for a photograph with her Charolais cows in Beurizot, France. "Once I could not help laughing when an agricultural advisor asked me, where the boss was, when I was standing right in front of him. I can assure you that the meeting got very quickly cut short!," Jeannin said. Photo by Reuters/Benoit Tessier

Lina Maria da Silva, 62, a babysitter, poses for a photograph with the children she takes care of at her home in the Cantagalo slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. "I've never suffered mistreatment at work. I have always felt a lot of affection from the families I have worked with," Silva said. Photo by Reuters/Pilar Olivares

Deng Qiyan, 47, a mother of three and a decoration worker at contraction sites, poses for a photograph at an apartment building under construction in Beijing, China. "Sometimes (gender inequality) happens. But we cannot do anything about that. After all, you have to digest all those unhappy things and carry on," Qiyan said. Photo by Reuters/Jason Lee

Ekaterine Kvlividze, 30, a military pilot captain, poses for a photograph in front of a Georgian Air Force UH-1H helicopter in Tbilisi, Georgia. Kvlividze joined the Georgian Air Forces in 2007. "There were some difficulties at the beginning, I felt some irony, cynicism. I felt they did not appreciate me. But, thank God, during the last 10 years society has changed and nowadays a woman pilot is a normal thing." Photo by Reuters/David Mdzinarishvili

Liz Azoulay, 26, who loads and unloads cargo at Ashdod port, poses for a photograph at the port, in Ashdod, southern Israel. "In most of my professional life I did not face any inequality. In the port of Ashdod we are equal on the docks. I am the first woman who began working at the Ashdod port as a stevedore." Photo by Reuters/Amir Cohen

Julia Argunova, 36, a mountaineering instructor, poses at 3,200 meters (10,499 feet) above sea level in the Tien Shan mountains near Almaty, Kazakhstan. "Physical strength benefits male colleagues in some situations on harder routes. But, women are more concentrated and meticulous. In general, women are better at teaching. My main professional task is to teach safe mountaineering." Photo by Reuters/Shamil Zhumatov

Christine Akoth, 38, a metal painter, poses for a photograph in Kenya's capital Nairobi. "I have experienced gender bias at my work where sometimes I'm denied contracts because of who I am and maybe my marital status. Some female colleagues have been treated unfairly because of their sex and even exploited," Akoth said. Photo by Reuters/Thomas Mukoya

Dr Catherine Reynolds, 37, a scientific researcher at Imperial College, poses for a picture at her laboratory in London, Britain. "Women are very well represented at junior levels in Biological Sciences research. At a senior level it is still true that there are fewer female professors in science, but the gap is slowly closing," Reynolds said. Photo by Reuters/Dylan Martinez

Yolaina Chavez Talavera, 31, a firefighter, poses for a photograph in front of a truck at a fire station in Managua, Nicaragua. "In my early days as a female firefighter, men, my team mates, thought that I would not last long in the organization due to the hard training. However, in practice I showed them that I am able to take on tasks at the same level as men," Talavera said. Photo by Reuters/Oswaldo Rivas

Laila Sterk, 22, a Syrian Democratic Forces fighter, poses for a photograph in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasaka. "Before becoming a fighter, I was suffering from inequality in society. But after joining the Syrian Democratic Forces, I didn't encounter that anymore," said Sterk. "This is due to the fact that when men want to join the SDF they attend educational courses about women fighting alongside them. Therefore the woman fighter leads the military campaigns just like any man." Photo by Reuters/Rodi Said

Yuniko Chung, 24, a video game broadcaster, poses for a photograph in her office in Taipei, Taiwan. "I always hear people say that they never watch female gaming broadcasters as they rely only on their appearance rather than skills. I am not that type of broadcaster. I can play along with men. I am not using my face and my gender as advantage," said Chung. Photo by Reuters/Tyrone Siu

Shinto priest Tomoe Ichino, 40, poses for a photograph at the Imado Shrine in Tokyo, Japan. "In general, people think being a Shinto priest is a man's profession. If you're a woman, they think you're a shrine maiden, or a supplementary priestess. People don't know women Shinto priests exist, so they think we can't perform rituals." Photo by Reuters/Toru Hanai

Filipina Grace Ocol, 40, a backhoe operator, poses for a photograph in Tubay, Agusan del Sur, southern Philippines. Ocol, a mother of three, said, "There are a few female workers that can drive big trucks and backhoe. If men can do it, why can't women do it? I'm better than the men, they can only drive trucks here but I can drive both." Photo by Reuters/Erik De Castro