The role of women, and in particular Armenian women, in preserving family and national traditions, in educating the new generation and in all spheres of life in general is truly invaluable.

May you always be loved and appreciated, and may the world be filled with your love and warmth, the breath of beauty….

History of the holiday

March 8 is celebrated all over the world as International Women's Day.

The first historical event associated with this day was March 8, 1857, when female workers of New York textile factories marched through the streets of the city to defend their rights.

The history of the holiday is traditionally associated with the name of Clara Zetkin, who created a revolutionary detachment of women. It was decided to choose a day that would be considered the birthday of the female proletariat.

Half a century later, activists of the New York Social Democratic organization, remembering the protest march of textile workers in 1857, organized a demonstration in defense of women's rights on March 8, 1908. In 1909, the Socialist Party of America declared the last Sunday in February National Women's Day.

1In 1910, at the Second International Conference of Socialist Women in Copenhagen, Clara Zetkin proposed making the women's holiday an annual event, but no specific date was set.

International Women's Day was first celebrated on March 19, 1911, in four countries: Austria, Germany, Denmark, and Switzerland.

On March 8, 1914, the holiday was celebrated in six countries: Austria, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, and Switzerland, as that day was Sunday and a non-working day.

Since 1965, the day has been considered non-working in the Soviet Union. In 1975, Soviet ideologists succeeded in getting the UN to recognize 1975 as International Women's Year, after which the same organization in 1977 March 8 has already been declared International Women's Day.

In Armenia, they tried to remove March 8 from the holiday calendar, and as an alternative, April 7 was declared the Day of Motherhood and Beauty, but March 8 had taken such deep roots and had become one of the favorite holidays of Armenians that it was pointless to go against the already established tradition, and March 8 was restored. Moreover, March 8 to April 7 is unofficially considered women's month in our country.