President of Turkmenistan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow decided to make 8 March 2016 more exciting for ladies of his country. Every woman receives an amount equal to USD $11 as a gift (40 manats). The average salary in Turkmenistan is around USD $200/month.
Funds are distributed to women starting from Tuesday 1 March until the end of the week, KP.ua reported.
The country celebrates a 3-day holiday of spring, which incorporates Women’s Day 8 March and the traditional Muslim holiday of Nowruz.
The cash gift is given to all women who are employed, pensioners, students, school pupils, and the people receiving social assistance, regardless of their marital status.
Turkmenistan is one of top-10 producers of cotton in the world. Agriculture, gas and oil are the main industries that contribute to GDP. 90% of workers are state employees. The population of the country is about 5.3 million.
Turkmenistan gender ratios are nearly balanced: 98 men for 100 women in 15-65 age bracket and population in general.
The practice of providing financial gifts to women for 8 March comes from the times of the former President of Turkmenistan Saparmurat Niyazov. His face is still on the country’s banknotes.
Niyazov died in 2006 in the position of lifetime President, after being the country’s leader since 1985. He was the first who started gifting money to women for the spring holiday.
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They will not receive any money from Berdimuhamedow. Do you think this guy is going to take money out from his own pocket? That’s public money (a lot of that are taxes that women themselves have paid from their employs). Who do he think is cheating? Does that could be considered a gift? In the best case scenario it may be considered a refund. The “cash gift” is given to all women who are employed, pensioners, students, school pupils, and the people receiving social assistance, regardless of their marital status. What a joke!
Well, would you like some money as a present for 8 March? Even if people have paid taxes, which is what people do in any country, it’s still some extra money that is in essence a one-off social support payment. I totally wouldn’t mind to get some unexpected gift from the government! 🙂 Especially for women’s day. 5% of an average monthly income as a gift, not too bad.
Definitely , it is a credit to the President ! In Russia , of course , there are also bonuses to the International Women’s Day , but not always and not everywhere . And then just do not forget anyone . But, on the other hand, in the East , more than income . In Russia, there is simply no possibility for each holiday bonuses to issue (or rather , not all have this feature ) .