In pictures: Equality for women is progress for all

Sumitra Sarkar earns up to 150 rupees a day cleaning taxis in Kolkata. The UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon said in his International Women’s Day statement the international community has a common obligation to ensure women earn equal pay for equal work. Rupak De Chowdhuri / Reuters

Sherien Fathy and her lawyer husband Khaled Hanafy, who are both blind, hope governments will do more to help disabled people to find jobs and contribute to the economy. Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

A woman going home from work in a shoes factory in Indonesia’s Banten province gestures to her husband. Beawiharta / Reuters

Women scavenge garbage from a landfill at Benowo in Surabaya, Indonesia. These women work at the landfill site everyday earning an average of $2. Robertus Pudyanto / Getty Images

Noor Jahan earns 500 Pakistani rupees selling homemade ice cream on the outskirts of Karachi. Athar Hussain / Reuters

A female worker looks on as she and her colleagues plant paddy crop at a paddy field in Indonesia’s Banten province on March 7. Beawiharta / Reuters

Nahed, or Um Rania, drives her minibus at a station in Cairo’s Al Moqattam district. Nahed, a widow, bought a minibus and learned to drive after her street vending business failed. Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

The International Women’s Day, which celebrates women’s rights across the globe, was celebrated on March 8 with the United Nations pushing across the message that “equality for women is progress for all”.