From a new bride in Singapore to girl soldiers in Mozambique, a free iPhone and iPad app launched by the World Bank uses striking photographs to highlight women’s issues around the world.

...users will witness their fighting spirit in the face of human, political and religious events

Teaming up with online photo encyclopaedia Fotopedia, the app pays “poignant tribute to the diversity and strength of women around the world,” said the World Bank, which promotes gender equality as essential for sustainable growth in developing economies.

The Women of the World mini-programme is for Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod touch and is available on iTunes, the Bank said.

“Through the app, users will encounter women from every corner of the globe and witness their fighting spirit in the face of human, political and religious events,” the 187-nation lender said.

The app features hundreds of images of photographer Olivier Martel, who travelled to more than 75 countries to assemble them, and features seven languages: English, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean and Spanish. Images include a bride at her wedding in Singapore, a woman whose daughter had just been saved from malaria, women minesweeping the fields of Cambodia, nuns in the convents in France, and girl-soldiers in Mozambique, the Bank said.

“This work is about giving women the opportunity to share their hopes or daily struggles, and give them their dignity in a photographic homage that takes the form of a search for beauty,” Martel said in a statement.

The app also includes visual stories that will be updated weekly, social media sharing tools, search and interactive maps. The project is part of the World Bank’s #thinkEQUAL campaign that aims to raise awareness about issues in gender equality around the globe.

Though more girls go to school and more women receive maternal healthcare today than in the past, only 15 per cent of landowners and only one in five lawmakers are women, the Bank says.

“We hope these images inspire people to act,” said Jeni Klugman, the bank’s director of gender and development.“Much has improved, but in many parts of the world, women’s rights and opportunities remain very constrained. This inequality is very unfair and it is bad economics. It hampers poverty reduction and limits development.”

The collaboration with Fotopedia, winner of the 2011 Crunchies Award for best tablet app, is the latest move by the World Bank to build its presence online.

It has set a March 16 deadline for submissions on apps on climate change and is offering a $15,000 first prize.