March 8 - part 2, flowers

The 8th of March, International Women's Day/Mother's Day here in Tajikistan, requires flowers. The usual florist shops have expanded:

 As have the sellers of teddy bears and other gifts:

There are pop-up flower sellers:

and women selling crocheted flowers:

Men buy flowers for wives, mothers, sisters, sweethearts, co-workers, and classmates:

Women buy flowers for friends and other women in their lives too:

It looks like these young women got bears for their Women's Day gift:

I was told the tulips are imported from Holland and the roses from Ecuador (just as they are in many parts of the U.S.) but then someone else told me they probably come from India or Kazakhstan. I wonder what the economy of this all is, in a country with such a low GDP. Maybe we're just seeing the top sliver of the population here in the center of the capital city, buying flowers.

I also wonder how women feel about being pampered on this single occasion when, according to many sources, on most days many of them might suffer domestic violence.

But to end on a positive note, here's one of Dushanbe's billboards saying something about* women, inspiration, and life:

* google translate only got me so far.