The U.S. Embassy, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and the Kuni wa Kun Youth Organization, celebrated on Monday the International Women’s Day, March 8th, and honored six Yemen women for their courage and contributions in different fields.

In a ceremony held at the National Museum, the Deputy Chief of Mission in the US Embassy, Angie Bryan, recognized six outstanding Yemeni women for their unique contributions to Yemeni society, and highlighted the partnerships between the US and Yemen to promote women’s rights and education, US Embassy said in a press release on Monday.

According o the press release, the six honored Yemeni "Women of Courage" were:

• Nujood al-Ahdal, who was married at the age of 9 years old to a man three times her age and who demonstrated her courage by seeking an historic divorce;

• Reem al-Numery, who bravely defied threats of violence to seek a divorce after being married at the age of 12 years old to her 30-year-old cousin, and who was recognized as one of seven Women of Courage worldwide by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2009;

• Tawakul Karman, chairman of the well-known NGO Women Journalists Without Chains, who for the last three years has organized sit-ins in Freedom Square to protest escalating infringements of press freedom and human rights;

• Arwa Ali Saeed Abdullah, who was just 10 years old when she lost both of her legs to a landmine, and who has been working tirelessly since then with Yemen’s Association of Landmine Survivors as an advocate for the victims of landmines;

• Fatima al-Agel, who has been working diligently for more than 17 years to promote the rights of disabled girls to achieve their goals, and works with a network of around 800 girls across the country to integrate disabled girls into schools, universities and the workplace; and

• Jamala al-Baidhani, founder of the Altahade Association for Disabled Females, an organization which helps disabled girls in Yemen fulfill their dreams.

"I am pleased to welcome you to this event which gives us - the American Embassy, in conjunction with a Yemeni youth organization, Kuni wa Kun, and the National Museum - the opportunity to honor some of the modern Yemeni women who have been so courageous in advancing the cause of peace, equality, protection of human rights and civil liberties, and fundamental freedoms in Yemen," said the DCM Angie Bryan said in her speech at the ceremony.

Through their extraordinary work, these six Yemeni women embody the spirit of International Women’s Day, celebrated worldwide on March 8 every year since 1975, said the Embassy.

These celebrations were enshrined in international law in 1977, when the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming March 8 a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace, to celebrate efforts to secure peace, social progress, and fundamental freedoms and rights that require the active participation and development of women, it concluded.