Today is International Women's Day ♀

Women and girls changing their worlds — and ours. No Images? [Click here]( [Across Women's Lives]( This week we've got something a little different for you. Instead of our regularly scheduled Friday newsletter, you are receiving a special delivery. Today is International Women's Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, and we couldn't wait to send you this. We looked through our archives to find the most fascinating collection of stories to help celebrate the day. According to the UN, the theme of this year's International Women's Day is "[Time is Now: Rural and urban activists transforming women’s lives.](" "International Women’s Day comes on the heels of unprecedented global movement for women’s rights, equality and justice. This has taken the form of global marches and campaigns, including #MeToo and #TimesUp in the United States of America and their counterparts in other countries, on issues ranging from sexual harassment and femicide to equal pay and women’s political representation." We hope you find the stories below a celebration of women and girls changing their worlds. Happy International Women's day. Join the conversation on social media with #womenslives and #InternationalWomensDay. The best content about women and girls changing their worlds — and ours, from Across Women's Lives and Public Radio International. [Finland's reindeer-herding Sámi women fight climate change]( Inka Saara Arttijeff is the adviser to the president of the Sámi Parliament and hails from a family of Sámi reindeer herders. She represents Finland at international climate change summits. For indigenous reindeer herders, a slight temperature increase can have drastic repercussions. Milder winters have caused melting and refreezing of precipitation on the ground, preventing reindeer from smelling and digging for meals. [Sister Rosemary is a one-woman army in the fight against trafficking]( When Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe was first assigned to be director of Saint Monica’s Girls' Vocational School in 2002, a Catholic mission in the northern Ugandan city of Gulu, she was a little worried. She was supposed to teach tailoring to 300 girls and, frankly, she didn’t know the first thing about sewing. When she got there, she found that sewing was the least of her concerns. [Shredding the patriarchy: Two Moroccan women just surfed onto the world stage]( When Meryem El Gardoum, 20, started surfing nine years ago, she was the only girl from her village to take part in the sport. Now a four-time national champion, she is one of two women who represented Morocco in the ISA World Surfing Championships in May. Her next dream is to see a Moroccan woman competing in the World Surf League. [DACA gave her courage to fight anti-immigrant bias and white supremacy]( Despite uncertainty about the DACA program, Mwewa Mwange, 21, is hopeful she can finish her bachelor’s degree before the University of Maryland considers her an international student and charges her more. Mwange came to the US with her family when she was 4 years old on a visa for visitors. They stayed in the US after that visa expired. [Before #MeToo, women janitors organized to fight workplace harassment]( When I first met a janitor named Georgina Hernández in Los Angeles in 2015, she was timid and teary-eyed. She had worked at a hotel where she cleaned the lobby and, in a lawsuit, said she was raped on the job by her supervisor. She was a single mom, supporting her children. [Brazil’s huge dam is built, but these women won’t stop fighting]( After years of plans and protests and construction and more protests, the Belo Monte dam complex will soon start generating power. But women are among those who have fought it every step of the way. Environmental activist Antonia Melo is one of them. She says she’s been fighting against the dam for 25 years. “This project is a project of destruction and death of the environment, of the water, of nature, of human life." [Mexico’s 'Mama Africa' welcomes migrants on a long journey]( For migrants, whether moving through Europe or Latin America, certain spots become known along the way for welcoming people. Concepción González Ramírez, also known as "Mama Africa," runs a small hotel in Tapachula, a small city in Mexico, in the southern state of Chiapas, just across the border from Guatemala. There’s no sign for the hotel, but African and Haitian migrants by the hundreds have found their way here. [From facing Islamophobia, to creating a hit website that fights Muslim caricatures]( Amani Al-Khatahtbeh remembers the first time she was called a racial slur. It was after Sept. 11, and she was 9 years old. "I remember going straight to my guidance counselor and telling her, 'Every single kid in my class is attacking me,'" she says. "My guidance counselor said, 'Well, if everyone feels that way, then maybe you need to change.'" Khatahtbeh spent a summer learning HTML and creating what would become MuslimGirl.com. [In Thailand, kickboxing is becoming more popular with women]( In northern Thailand, by the side of a backcountry road winding through rice paddies, there is the curious sight of a boxing ring and row of punching bags. A poster hanging above the ring features the fighters who train there — and almost all of them are girls. Kickboxing has become more popular with women across the country in recent years. It has a lot to do with the fact that the city’s stadiums have now started accepting female fighters. [Cambodia’s female deminers clean the country of war’s deadly reminders]( Almost four decades after the end of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, which had committed genocide on its own people and took 2.5 million lives, there are still 10 million land mines underneath the earth in Cambodia — making it one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. “My father was killed by a land mine. My older brother was badly injured by one, too,” 26-year-old mine clearance team leader Sok Seng said, her voice unable to hide her continuing grief. Across Women’s Lives is PRI’s ambitious multi-platform journalism and engagement initiative about the connection between the empowerment of women and girls, and economic development and improved health around the world. This newsletter highlights our reporting and the work from staff at PRI, The World and The Takeaway in calling attention to the ways that women are shaping a better future for their communities. [SUPPORT AWL]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [Website]( PRI Public Radio International Hear a Different Voice [Forward]( [Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe](