The annual celebration of women's rights is aimed at highlighting the struggle for gender equality and commemorating the women's movement.
This year, the United Nations called on governments to make national commitments that address the challenges still holding back women and girls.
Thousands of women have marched for women's equality and empowerment in the United States in protests reminiscent of January's Women's March against President Donald Trump.
The nationwide demonstrations for International Women's Day were part of what was termed "A Day Without a Woman," where women were urged to stay away from work or school.
Thousands of people dressed in red rallied against Mr Trump's policies in New York.
One of them, Samuel Bliman, said it was also important for men to stand up for gender equality.
"I'm here for supporting my wife, my daughters and my granddaughters. So I'm getting somewhat emotional, because I think it's extremely important nowadays, with the leadership that we have, that not just women stand up for women's rights, but men as well."
Elsewhere in the world, many commuters in Rome were left stranded after public-transport workers went on strike to take part in International Women's Day rallies.
Demonstrators like Elisa Ercoli gathered in front of the Colosseum wearing all things pink, from wigs to feather boas, to demand equality for women.
"This is a global women's strike. It is happening in more than 44 countries in the world. And we participate because, since the '90s, there's been the illusion of the achievement of equality. But we demand much more than what has been achieved so far. In Italy, in particular, we protest not only for our rights to be affirmed by laws, but also for these laws to be actually applied and to have actual processes of self-determination."
In Turkey, thousands of women gathered in Istanbul to protest against gender-based discrimination and violence.
Women's groups had previously criticised President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over several of his positions.
They accuse him of failing to speak out enough against domestic violence, telling women how many children to have and dismissing the Western idea of gender equality.
He has previously equated birth control with treason.
A demonstrator named Ruken says attitudes need to change and people need to be held accountable for gender-based violence.
"Women are murdered and raped. Perpetrators are not brought to account. These crimes are legalised. Women are always found guilty. Why does a woman walk on the street? Why is she out at night-time? Why does she wear those clothes? Women are taught to be passive."
Turkey ranked 130th out of 144 nations in the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index last year.
Meanwhile, outside a church in Manila, Filipino women wore masks smudged with fake blood to call for an end to violence against women.
Protesters urged President Rodrigo Duterte to address a lack of food, jobs and peace instead of killings and violence.
Emmi De Jesus led the protest to the presidential palace in Manila.
"So, today, our theme is for the fight for jobs, land and, again, to eradicate ... eradication of violence against women."
In Pakistan, a taxi company has launched a new service where female drivers will pick up only female passengers.
PAXI, the Pink Taxi, is a local start-up in Karachi and already has 10 dedicated female drivers.
Kiran Rao was the first to enlist.
"I want to tell all women who want to earn good money and work in a safe environment to join this platform. It is ideal for those women who don't want to interact with males, as our passengers will be females only."
In Russia, International Women's Day is a public holiday, when women are traditionally given flowers.
In a televised message, Russian president Vladimir Putin praised the role of women.
"Women are the source of our life and its continuation in children. But women need our manly support. We will remember this not only today. We will be doing everything for our beloved women to be surrounded by attention and care, for them to smile more often. Once again, I congratulate all the women on the 8th of March."
But women's-rights activists like Alyona Popova have raised concerns about a recent bill decriminalising some forms of domestic violence in state legislature.
"After the decriminalisation bill was passed, we found ourselves in a very negative mood, frightened about what would happen next. Thanks to some civic activists, us included, a special commission was created within the Council of Confederations, aimed at monitoring the statistics in domestic violence in Russia."
Share
