How free and where is the modern Azerbaijani woman?

According to the State Statistics Committee, at the beginning of 2020, women made up 50.1% of the total population and 48.6% of the economically active population. Women account for 37.7 percent of the officially registered unemployed in employment services.

80.7% of teachers in general educational institutions of the country, 78.9% in secondary special educational institutions, 54.7% in higher education institutions, 66.0% of doctors, 58.2% of scientific workers are women.

According to preliminary data, the share of women is 28.5% among civil service and 21.7% among entrepreneurs.

One of the heads of 64 district executive bodies present in Azerbaijan is the head of the Absheron District Executive Power. In the country, there are no women at all among the ministers and heads of city executive bodies. As for the State Committees, the head of only one of them, the State Committee for Family, Women, and Children Affairs, is a woman.

There are several forms of imbalance related to women’s labor in Azerbaijan. So that according to the evaluation of the International Labor Organization (ILO) for Azerbaijan, the employment figure among women is 62.7 percent, which is 6.4 percentage points less than men’s. At the same time, according to the ILO methodology for 2018, 57.6% of the able-bodied population considered unemployed are women. Because women in our country are subjected to significant discrimination by employers at the time of recruitment in terms of gender discrimination, labor market payments, as well as participation in private and public decision-making levels.

Furthermore, by the Resolution №170 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan dated October 20, 1999, “the list of manufactories, professions (positions), as well as underground jobs, where the use of women labor is prohibited and the working conditions were harmful and severe” was confirmed. With this resolution, the use of women labor is prohibited for 678 professions and workplaces in 38 areas in Azerbaijan. For reference, I would like to note that this figure includes 456 professions and workplaces in Russia, 450 in Ukraine, 299 in Kazakhstan, 181 in Belarus, and 29 in Moldova.

Although the prohibitions imposed on women are particularly related to damages for women’s health, especially reproductive health, hazardous and heavy workplaces and jobs, and its requirement of great power, this is considered discriminatory against their labor, and such prohibitions have long been abolished in developed countries but Azerbaijan is in the group of leaders among the CIS countries for the prohibitions.

Unfortunately, I would like to note that there is no state policy on women’s labor so far.

Ensuring balanced participation and flexibility of women in the labor market is not only the requirement of domestic policy but also the requirement of the 3rd goal of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals named “to promote gender equality and empower women”.

Azerbaijan ranked 78th out of 188 countries in the 2015 Gender Development Index. Our country lags behind Russia (49th) and Kazakhstan (56th), which have rich resources on this indicator. Another disturbing point is that Azerbaijan's Gender Development Index is also deteriorating in dynamics. So, according to this indicator, Azerbaijan, which was 76th in 2013, dropped by two ranks in 2015 and took 78th place.

At present, Azerbaijani women are subjected to violence in the family and society, and the number of femicides, early marriages, child abuse, and gender-based violence is increasing in the country. As a result of the monitoring conducted by the Women’s Society for Rational Development, while there were 91 murders recorded in 2010, there were 110 murders recorded in 2016. According to a 2016 International Men and Women Equality Survey, in the same year, 32.5% of men used violence in Azerbaijan and 32.1% of women were subjected to violence.

Unfortunately, their rights to protest are recognized neither in the family nor in the community. I would like to dwell on a few of the main reasons.

First, although the Gender Information Center reports that 124 woman organizations were registered of which 69 were a non-governmental organizations (NGOs) specializing in women’s issues in Azerbaijan; however, since 2014, the activities of NGOs, which are dealing with research on women’s problems, protection of their rights, management of risks they face, and women’s development issues, have been limited. NGOs working on women's governance and women's development are limited. At present, there are a few NGOs that specialize in the protection of women’s rights. In recent years, communications and campaign activities regarding the importance of gender balance have declined from year to year. In this regard, the awareness campaign among girls, especially at the school level, is very low. In higher education institutions, the course of family law is taught in specific departments and poorly. Therefore, the activities of NGOs should be expanded, and they should increase awareness, rehabilitation, and defense programs.

Second, in areas where patriarchal laws, based on religious and national values, are rigid and agriculture predominantly dominates, women neither have the right to speak in the family nor have a social position in the society. Neither specific policy of the state nor the regulatory tools address the solution of this problem, especially observed in the southern region.

Third, failure to provide fundamental freedoms in the country creates difficulties for women to exercise their right to freedom of expression, assembly, and association. Women’s right to protest should be recognized by granting them freedom in family and home life, in all spheres of society and administration.

Finally, one of the main reasons for violence against women is the limited access to employment opportunities for not providing their economic independence. This is the reason why women who consider themselves dependent on the head of a householder within daily concerns are forced to reconcile with domestic violence.

Therefore, the Government of Azerbaijan should revise woman policy and reduce the number of professions prohibited by the Resolution №170 of the Cabinet of Ministers dated October 20, 1999, and must achieve providing of the economic independence of Azerbaijani women through regulatory tools that remove barriers at the time of recruitment.

The Azerbaijani authorities should sign the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence and use the mechanisms proposed by it.

I would like to remind that this document has been open for signing since May 11, 2011. The Convention was signed by 46 countries and the European Union. Azerbaijan has not yet signed this document.