UN cites gender inequality in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani society is generally quite tolerant to the idea of gender equality, but there is still considerable misbalance in many spheres of the country’s social life, politics and economy, the United Nations said Monday.

The equality of men and women is declared in the Constitution and other laws including the recent Law on Gender Equality. However, there are significant obstacles presented by gender stereotypes, says the Azerbaijan Human Development Report 2007 entitled “Gender Attitudes in Azerbaijan: Trends and Challenges”.

Commissioned by the UN Development Program and the State Committee for Family, Women and Children's Affairs of Azerbaijan, the report was produced with financial support from the government of Norway by a team of local experts.

“This report highlights the differing attitudes of men and women towards gender and analyses their impact on gender equality in the country,” said the UN Resident Coordinator Bruno Pouezat.

The report is based on the findings of the first national independent survey of gender attitudes ever conducted in Azerbaijan involving 1,500 men and women throughout the country and interviews with experts and hundreds of people who participated in focus groups. It is believed to be the first national survey of gender attitudes in the CIS.

Addressing the ceremony, the chairperson of the State Committee for Family, Women and Children's Affairs, Hijran Huseynova, said: “In the age of expanding globalization, erasing borders and interacting civilizations and traditions, we shall endeavor to safeguard all the positive elements of gender relationships maintained by successive generations of the Azerbaijani people. We shall preserve these time-tested ethical values and norms and integrate in the changing realities of the world.”

The report reveals the different attitudes of men and women to gender roles in a range of areas including employment and living conditions, education, health, marriage, family and social life. It shows that traditional perceptions of men as “the breadwinner” and women as “the homemaker” no longer apply universally to Azerbaijani society. As one man interviewed in the survey said: “A woman works more than a man. She works both at home and outside.”*