International Women’s Day is celebrated every year on the 8th March, and has been since the early 1900’s. On each year, past achievements for gender equality are remembered and current issues that need to be overcome are highlighted.

Millions of people all around the world get involved in the occasion and the day makes for some great moments. The following are just 8 that stood out to me!

1. The Statue of Liberty Goes Dark

Although it was explained as an unplanned power outage, the timing was all too perfect. Late Tuesday night, the predominant lights of the Statue of Liberty went dark leaving an eery yet impactful symbol. For this years IWD, many were participating in ‘Day Without a Woman’, and what better way to kick it off?

Thank you Lady Liberty for standing with the resistance and going dark for #DayWithoutAWoman 🗽 📷: @randybals #StatueOfLiberty pic.twitter.com/D0JG9MmSRj — Women’s March (@womensmarch) March 8, 2017

2. Girl vs Wall Street Bull

A statue of a young girl standing down the famous Wall Street bull was implemented, creating another powerful image and message. The statue was quickly branded as the “fearless girl” and it’s primary purpose is to highlight the issue of the lack of women on corporate boards. Not only this, but it makes a great statement. The girl is facing the bull head on, fists on hips, ready for what faces her. It’s a great message of female empowerment and should give us all that extra bit of confidence to stand up to our troubles.

This “Fearless Girl” statue was installed opposite Wall Street’s charging bull to push companies to fill corporate boards with more women pic.twitter.com/YgJXuhPZbo — BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) March 9, 2017

3. Iceland’s Equal Pay Ruling

Another key highlight of this years IWD was Iceland announcing a new law that states companies must prove they pay their employees the same, regardless of gender, nationality, ethnicity, or sexuality. This should be enforced by 2020 and is greatly significant. Iceland are now the first country to have implemented a mandatory equal pay law, so hopefully many more will follow in their footsteps.

4. Women March in Pakistan

When it dominates the news and social media, it’s sometimes easy to only focus on the big city marches, and forget about other areas. These are women that face prejudice, abuse and turmoil every day and them getting out on the streets and campaigning for their rights should be recognised. Some of the women who participated in the march were acid attack survivors, which adds even more power and feeling to the images.

Women throughout Pakistan took part in #IWD2017 – including worker rallies and demonstrations for acid attack survivors. pic.twitter.com/GGQmhiZI9j — AJ+ (@ajplus) March 8, 2017

5. Ireland March for Abortion Rights

The abortion laws in Ireland are extremely strict and horrifying, and it’s almost completely banned across the country. The 8th Amendment (1983) outlaws abortion, including in circumstances of rape. Not only does this go against a woman’s choice, but it also means that many result to having unsafe abortions. Thousands of women (and men) marched through Dublin and other areas of Ireland protesting the laws in an effort to get it repealed.

Brilliant crowds at the #March4Repeal tonight – #IWD2017 has proved the strong commitment and broad based support to #repealthe8th pic.twitter.com/npqOcWrsdx — Womenscouncilireland (@NWCI) March 8, 2017

6. Tattoos for Planned Parenthood

Hundreds of women got themselves empowering tattoos to show their support for Planned Parenthood. The proceeds of which were donated to the organisation. Plus, the women who participated in the event were able to get a permanent, visual representation of their strength to wear on their skin forever.

7. Emma Watson Scatters The Streets With Books

Emma Watson spent a good portion of her IWD spreading feminist and educational books around the streets for passersby to discover. Some of the locations she did this at included the statues of Eleanor Roosevelt, Gertrude Stein and Harriet Tubman. This is a great way to get people educated and invested in equality so hopefully they went to the right hands!

8. This Video

In case you’re ensure of why so many women get involved in IWD, and why it’s of such importance, just watch this video. I know it’s not exactly an official “moment”, but it’s something I watched that really resonated with me.

We asked women around the world why they joined #ADayWithoutAWoman strike yesterday. Here is what they said #IWD2017 pic.twitter.com/26YmN0YfTZ — Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) March 9, 2017

So, here’s hoping that this next year brings about greater change and continues the push towards equality. We’ve overcome a lot in the past 100+ years, but there’s still a long way to go.

Did you have a favourite moment, picture or video from yesterday? Share it in the comments or with me on Twitter!

Get involved in International Women’s Day by filling out the form below that asks, will you be bold for change?