DUSHANBE, March 6, 2015, Asia-Plus -- A ceremonial meeting dedicated to the Day of the Mother was held at the Khokhi Borbad State Complex in Dushanbe on March 6.

The meeting participants included female activists from all regions of the country, female employees of ministries and agencies, members of the government, and labor veterans.

Speaking at the meeting, President Emomali Rahmon congratulated Tajikistan’s women on the Day of the Mother.

Rahmon noted that “the health of the nation depends on the health of the family.

On the cousin marriages, Rahmon said that 35 percent of 165,000 people with disabilities officially registered in Tajikistan had been born in cousin marriages.

According to him, 120,000 female citizens of Tajikistan have got higher education over the years of independence.

To-date, 2,200 female entrepreneurs have been registered in the country, Emomali Rahmon noted.

The head of state also proposed to erect the Mother Monument in Dushanbe and establish children’s complex “Maternal Love” in the city.

Emomali Rahmon also criticized women wearing black dresses.

We will recall that International Women’s Day has been known in Tajikistan as the Day of the Mother since March 2009.  Congratulating women on March 8, 2009, President Emomali Rahmon said that International Women''s Day has only been celebrated on March 8 for about 100 years, but that ancient Aryan women -- the ancestors of the Tajiks -- had special days both for mothers, specifically, and for women in general.