The story of March 8 – the International Women’s Day, which is celebrated with love and honour around the world, goes back to the meeting held in Copenhagen in 1910, attended by German-born politician, human rights activist, and journalist Clara Zetkin (1857-1933). This date was initially inspired by a New York City demonstration on March 8th, 1857, of women garment and textile workers who were protesting low wages, the twelve-hour workday, and uncompensated increased workloads. After years of fighting for women's rights and freedom, this date was recognized by the United Nations in 1977 as the International Women's Day.

The International Women’s Day is celebrated as an official holiday in Azerbaijan as well. The national leader Heydar Aliyev, who established the Government policy relating to women, laid groundwork for the women’s activities in all spheres of life, giving them a particular attention. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev successfully continues this policy. Due to constant measures taken for the improvement of the women’s public image, enhancement of their role in the society, strengthening of the gender policy, today Azerbaijani women are successfully represented in state bodies, parliament, municipalities, actively participate in social, political, and socio-economic life, scientific and cultural processes; they make a great contribution to the development of the country in all spheres.

Throughout the history, there were written works about women; the motive of love for women created human masterpieces as a source of inspiration for world art, especially for poetry, and from time to time prominent figures expressed different and interesting opinions about the beautiful half of humanity.

‘Family is the spring keeping a woman always young.’

August Bebel

‘In choice of a wife, giving advantages only to her beauty and youth is the most dangerous marriage.’

Vissarion Belinsky

 ‘If the wife does not push the husband forward, she always holds him back.’

John Mill

 ‘A person who defends woman's rights becomes a pillar for children's rights, in other words, the future.’

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‘No man can build his happiness on women's misfortune.'

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‘Get married without hesitation. If you get a good wife, you will be happy. ... If you get a bad one, you will be a philosopher.’

Socrates

 ‘A woman's guess is much more accurate than a man's certainty.’

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‘Some women only need to walk down the street once to stay in the memory of a man forever.’                                                                            

Rudyard Kipling

‘Women have unusual sense. They can feel both the invisible and the visible.’

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‘Talk to every woman as if you loved her, and to every man as if he bored ... by the way, is always a dangerous thing to do - look at her, don't listen to her.

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‘Women inspire us with the desire to do masterpieces and always prevent us from carrying them out.’

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‘Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a man's last romance.’

Oscar Wilde

“God Created Girl, and Man Created Woman”.

Béroalde de Verville

“What woman wants, God wants”.

French proverb

‘It is often necessary to know how to obey a woman in order sometimes to have the right to command her.’

Victor Hugo.

‘Everything is in the hands of a man, and a man is in the hands of a woman.’

Alexander von Fürstenberg

‘A woman's feelings are sometimes more accurate than any logical reasoning.'

Arthur Conan Doyle

‘A woman is a kingdom of elegance, nobility and patience.’                                                                                                  

Jan Jacques Rousseau

‘A woman is the most powerful creature in the world, and she is to lead a man where Lord wants to guide him.’                                                    

Henrik Ibsen

 ‘A woman is a natural phenomenon like wind or lightning.’

John Torrey

‘Femininity is not natural but acquired.’                                                                                     

                                                                                             Simone de Beauvoir

‘Women forgive neither men's mistakes, nor their own ones.

Alfred Capus

‘The man who can rule a woman can also rule a state.’

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‘For a woman knows the face of the man she loves like a sailor knows the open sea.’                                                                                                        

Honoré de Balzac

‘There are no ugly women only lazy ones.’               

                                                                                                                                                                       Helena Rubinstein

“A man likes to talk about a woman what he wants, and a woman wants a man to do what she wants.                                                                                              

Sophie de Segur

‘The night shines only for the stars and women.

                                                                                          George Byron

‘Women are never so strong as when they use their weakness as a weapon.”. 

                                                                                            Ivan Bunin

‘I discovered that a seductive woman is a trap more bitter than death.’

                                                                                            Solomon

‘A woman is not only the best judge of her own, but also the best executioner.”

                                                                                            Mark Twain