From female activists arguing in a Kuwaiti courtroom for the right to vote to South Africans seeking a gun-free society, women marked International Women's Day yesterday mostly by taking stock of the poverty, violence and inequality that continues to afflict their gender.

In Kuwait, a group of women spent the day in court, challenging legislation that denies members of their gender the right to vote or run for office in this Persian Gulf state.

In France, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin had lunch with all 11 female members of his 28-member cabinet. France's National Assembly passed a law Tuesday to balance the ratio of men and women in the workplace.