Mother's Day on International Women's Day: Here's Where It's Being Celebrated

At its core, International Women's Day marks a time where men and women come together to celebrate the social, cultural, economic and political advancements women have made for society. At the same time, it's an occassion to spread awareness of the many injustices and inequalities women continue to battle. Many of the campaigns launched to bring women's issues to light were started by mothers, and it's mothers who are still on the front lines leading the charge for change.

So is there anyone worth celebrating more than Mom on International Women's Day?

While millions around the world mark the annual celebration on Thursday, it's also Mother's Day in a number of countries. (America's Mother's Day falls on May 13 this year.)

Nine countries mark Mother's Day on International Women's Day 2018: Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Laos, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Uzbekistan. A number of other countries, meanwhile, mark Mother's Day at different times in March.

The reason for the international differences in the holiday is that it means different things in different places. In the United States, Mother's Day became a national holiday in 1914 and is meant as a celebration of mothers and grandmothers. (Officially, the holiday falls on the second Sunday in May.) In the United Kingdom, however, the holiday orginated as a day for people to stop by their "mother" church. And in Russia, the first Mother's Day celebration took place in 1913, but after the Soviet revolution Mother's Day and International Women's Day were marked at the same time "in commemoration of the outstanding merits of Soviet women...and marking the great contribution of women to strengthening friendship between peoples, and the struggle for peace."

While Mother's Day is observed in different countries at different times, one things stays constant: it's a day to celebrate moms.

Here's where Mother's Day is celebrated around the world during March's Women's History Month.

March 11

Guernsey
Ireland
Jersey
Nigeria
United Kingdom

March 21

Bahrain
Comoros
Djibouti
Egypt
Iraq
Jordan
Kuwait
Libya
Lebanon
Mauritania
Oman
Palestinian Territories
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Somalia
Sudan
Syria
United Arab Emirates
Yemen

March 25

Slovenia