International Women's Day 2024: 12 iconic images of defiant women

For International Women's Day, 12 iconic photos of female defiance, including the woman who handbagged a neo-Nazi and the marchers who sparked the Russian Revolution.

1. Danuta Danielsson, Sweden, 1985

Swedish photographer Hans Runesson captured this moment on 13 April 1985 – and his image has endured since, voted Picture of the Century and resurfacing on social media in 2016 with the call to arms: "Be the woman hitting a neo-Nazi with a handbag you wish to see in the world". Taken in Växjö, Sweden during a demonstration by the neo-Nazi Nordic Reich Party, the photo shows 38-year-old Danuta Danielsson swiping at one of the marchers with her handbag.

The Polish-Swedish erby, whose family had reportedly been sent to a Nazi concentration camp, snapped "impulsively", according to Runesson, who told BBC Culture that the man did "nothing – he walked further" afterwards. Despite the incident happening in a fleeting instance, the photo continues to resonate for many as a silent rallying cry.

2. Tess Asplund, Sweden, 2016

And it had an eerie parallel in 2016, when social activist Tess Asplund placed herself in the path of protesters from the Nordic Resistance Movement in Sweden. David Lagerlöf snapped the instant when the social activist confronted a May Day march of 300 uniformed nationalists in Borlänge, Sweden: fist clenched, her imive stance communicated as much as countless violent encounters.

3. Ieshia Evans, US, 2016

Standing still, her dress fluttering, as two police officers in full riot gear approach her, a woman protester in Baton Rouge, Louisiana made the headlines with a similarly resolute body language when this image was taken in 2016. Hailed as an "instant classic", the photo of Ieshia Evans being arrested at a Black Lives Matter protest was compared with Stuart Franklin's image of 'Tank Man' at Tiananmen Square or the picture of an anti-Vietnam War demonstrator placing flowers in police officer's gun barrels.

Immobile, composed, Evans is like the calm at the eye of a storm – her comment above a Facebook post of the image was: "I appreciate the well wishes and love, but this is the work of God. I am a vessel!" She told the BBC: "I didn't feel 'iconic' – I did what I felt I had to do… It's beyond me, it's bigger than me." Taken by the photographer Jonathan Bachman, it has been seen by some as a symbol of peaceful defiance. A nurse, Evans travelled to Baton Rouge to protest the fatal police shooting of Alton Sterling, telling The Guardian: "I have a six-year-old son, Justin, and I fear more for his life than I do for my own. How should I raise him? To be afraid? To keep his head down and not get in trouble… Or do I raise him in strength">window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'alternating-thumbnails-a', container: 'taboola-below-article', placement: 'Below Article', target_type: 'mix' });