Since its inception nearly a century ago, International Women's Day has grown into a global phenomenon to celebrate the collective power and achievements of women worldwide.
In the relatively short time since the first International Women's Day in 1911, women — at least in the industrialized world — have gradually gained the legal and electoral rights they were denied for centuries.
But the progress has not been total. In many countries, women still live under archaic and oppressive rules that keep them from the ballot box and even higher education. Whether by virtue of religious strictures or political expediency, equality remains an unattainable dream in some parts of the globe.
The United Nation's theme this year is ending the impunity for violence against women and girls, a theme broad enough to encompass such issues as spousal abuse and the infliction of AIDS by infected husbands — notably in Africa — who refuse to wear condoms.
But there is still much work to be done on many of the basic legal and political rights.
Among the areas that still need improvement:
Suffrage
In Lebanon, all men 21 years of age and older have the right to vote (in fact, it's compulsory), but women must provide proof of an elementary education in order to cast a ballot.
In Bhutan, each family has one vote in elections at the village level and it's usually decided by the male head of household. In 2008, the country is expected to hold its first-ever general election, with no restrictions on who is allowed to vote.
The United Arab Emirates held its first election in December 2006, but only a selected list of people — 6,689 people in a country of 825,000 — voted to choose half the members of the Federal National Council, an advisory council with no political power. Rulers of the country's seven emirates choose the list, which included 1,163 women. One woman, Amal Abdullah al-Kubaissi of Abu Dhabi, was elected to the council, and seven others were appointed by the emirates.
Saudi Arabia held its first local elections nationwide in 2005, but women were not allowed to vote or run for office.
In Brunei, an absolute monarchy, there is no suffrage for men or women.
Discrimination in law
In Saudi Arabia, women can't drive cars or ride bicycles. This prohibition severely restricts their ability to work. Saudi women make up only five per cent of the workforce, although they make up 70 per cent of the students in Saudi universities. The testimony of women is not considered valid in Saudi criminal or family courts.
Law in Kuwait makes women subordinate to men in matters of inheritance and divorce. In family court, the testimony of a man is equal to that of two women. A married women must obtain her husband's permission to apply for a passport. Muslim women are forbidden to marry non-Muslim men.
In Morocco, citizenship is passed only from father to child, so children of Moroccan mothers and foreign fathers aren't Moroccan by law. This places women at a disadvantage in custody disputes. A new Moroccan family code, called Mudawana, passed in 2004, and granted women more power under the law, but did not address this problem.
Likewise, in Jordan, married women do not have the legal right to pass their citizenship to their children unless they receive permission of the council of ministers. Jordanian women face discrimination under the law in matters of inheritance, travel, child custody and the value of their testimony in sharia court.
An attempt to correct some legal discrimination against women in Kenya failed in 2005 when voters rejected a new constitution in a referendum. Under the constitution, women would have received the right to inherit property.
However, the constitution would have also banned same-sex marriage and abortion. Women's rights was one of many issues addressed in the new constitution, and in the end, the vote was seen as a referendum on President Mwai Kibaki's leadership.
