Women take up roles typically held by men for International Women's Day

These females are sending a message of empowerment by turning traditional gender roles on their head

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  To mark International Women's Day, this is a series of photos depicting women performing roles or working in professions more traditionally held by men. In this picture, Ana Sousa, 45, TAP Air Portugal pilot for 11 years, poses for a portrait at a TAP hangar in Lisbon. Patricia De Melo Moreira / AFP Photo

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  Nicol Gomez, a guardian at the La Esperanza prison, poses for a portrait in front a group of prisoners practising yoga in San Salvador. Marvin Recinos / AFP Photo

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  South Sudanese cattle herder Mary Amer poses with her child in a camp in Mingkaman, South Sudan. Stefanie Glinski / AFP Photo

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  Argentine referee Estela Alvarez de Olivera poses at the Boca Juniors football team stadium "La Bombonera", in Buenos Aires. Juan Mabromata / AFP Photo

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  New South Wales state emergency services (SES) volunteer Michelle Whye posing in uniform in front of an emergency vehicle at their headquarters in Sydney. Peter Parks / AFP Photo

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  Ran Namise, a firefighter belonging to a command squad in Tokyo, poses in front of a fire engine at Kojimachi Fire Station. Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP Photo

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  Somali football coach and player Marwa Mauled Abdi, 24, poses at the football ground of Ubah fitness center, the first football field exclusively opened for women, in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, northwestern Somalia Mustafa Saeed / AFP Photo

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  Sarah Achieng, a professional boxer and sports administrator poses after her training session at Kariobangi social hall gym in Nairobi. Patricia Esteve / AFP Photo

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  French rejoneadora Lea Vincens, poses at the Aracena bullring, in Huelva, southern Spain. Cristina Quicler / AFP Photo

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  Zahida, a Pakistani female police Assistance Sub-Inspector (ASI), poses for a photograph at a police academy in Peshawar. Abdul Majeed / AFP Photo

March 8 marks International Women's Day, and it's being marked in myriad ways across the world.

In this series of photographs, however, traditional gender roles are turned on their head. Instead, female empowerment is celebrated with women performing roles or working in professions that are traditionally held by men.

Take a look at the gallery.

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