As we celebrate International Women's Day, despite everything going on in the world around them, women are thriving to forge more gender-balanced communities across the globe, every day.

TimesAREchanging and celebrating women is becoming considered more and more thrilling as women of all age groups are breaking barriers and paving the way for future generations.

RaajjeMV English’s Women’s Day series features eleven of the many,MANYwomen in the country that continue to prove their worth.

“Every negative thing that you have heard about being a woman is waiting to be proved as false by your actions. So, go ahead and grab that camera. Every time that you prove a stereotype wrong you are changing history.”

Having picked up the camera and looked through the lens at the amazing world of opportunities that lay before her at the ripe age of 15, Ashwa ‘Avva’ Faheem has won awards, both international and national, for her work, one of her happiest memories being when she landed the opportunity to work for Reuters.

Photography is what gets Avva out of bed every morning and she imagines a dull life without it, described as what keeps her on her toes constantly. Her journey has led her to 12 countries capturing stories from the highest mountain to west Malaysia, crossing the Atlantic Ocean to hiking rainforests.

The photo enthusiast says that gender does not matter when you choose what you love to do. Not just as a woman but even if you are a woman you might get looked down on, underestimated or unappreciated if you are a photographer, says Avva.

Born with the spirit of leadership, Minha ‘Minnu’ Faiz Rashad is the chairperson of one media group, Editor of “Hiyala” magazine as well as the president of Women in Management, an international organization that works towards women’s success and empowerment. Growing up she always wanted to lead projects at school and has been striving to achieve her dreams for as long as she can remember. Minnu counts herself lucky for being surrounded by a family and friends who is part of her struggles as well as success. Born into a family of three boys, Minnu never felt like she was any different from them and was lucky enough never to have felt like she had lesser rights than her dear brothers.

Although women have been facing challenges worldwide since generations, Minnu shed light on a positive change observed in the Maldivian society, which is women advocating for their rights. You can actually see a difference, says Minnu, who added that despite the challenges, women have begun speaking out about it as they have been provided platforms.

She believes there is so much more to be done and to attend to, however, she also believes that women are way ahead of men in the Maldives, today, in literature as well as studies and several other fields.

“In every job or every work you take up you have an opportunity so take it up you may fail once you may fail twice but you fail and then you succeed and that success is what matters, because one day when you look back into your life, you won’t see the failures but you will see all your achievements and the success that has brought you to where you are today so I am sure every woman not just women actually even men face obstacles in life, but overcoming those obstacles and going up to your final destination that’s where you need to lead to that is where you need to head to and that’s where your passion needs to lie”

Renowned film director and screenwriter, Fathimath Nahula shared how her career began with her love for writing. She spoke of how her career began from her passion for writing only to have her talent doubted and success hindered by established film directors.

"When I first debuted in the industry, I had people take credit for my work and I was bullied by veteran directors. Their friends in the media wrote disparaging articles about me. It did not stop until I took a stand and wrote an article about how I was being treated. When I did that, my fans and the public came to my defense. " – Nahula