Women in Azerbaijan
| Gender Inequality Index | |
|---|---|
| Value | 0.323 (2012) |
| Rank | 54th |
| Maternal mortality (per 100,000) | 54 (2010) |
| Women in parliament | 16.0% (2012) |
| Females over 25 with secondary education | 90.0% (2010) |
| Women in labour force | 61.6% (2011) |
| Global Gender Gap Index | |
| Value | 0.684 (2016) |
| Rank | 99th out of 144 |
Women in Azerbaijan nominally enjoy the same legal rights as men; however, societal discrimination remains a problem. Traditional social norms and lagging economic development in the country’s rural regions continued to restrict the role of women in the economy, and there were reports that women had difficulty exercising their legal rights due to gender discrimination.
Universal suffrage was introduced in Azerbaijan in 1918 by the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, thus making Azerbaijan the first Muslim-majority country ever to enfranchise women.
As of 2007, several women held senior government positions, including deputy speaker of parliament, several deputy ministers, and deputy chair of the Central Election Commission. There are no legal restrictions on the participation of women in politics. As of 2015, there were 21 women in the 125-seat parliament. The percentage of female members of parliament increased from 11 to 17 percent between 2005 and 2015.
As of May 2009, women held the positions of Deputy Chairman of the Constitutional Court, Deputy Chairman of the Nakhchivan AR Cabinet of Ministers, four Deputy Ministers, an Ambassador, and Ombudsmen of Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan AR. Women constituted 4 of the 16 members of the Central Election Commission and chaired of 3 of the 125 district election commissions. There were no female ministers or heads of executive governments of cities or rayons, except for Hijran Huseynova who chairs the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs and Maleyka Abbaszadeh who is the chair of the State Students Admission Commission. The State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs of Azerbaijan Republic is the primary government agency overlooking the activities in protection of rights of women in the country. In 2015, Natavan Gadimova was appointed Minister of Culture of the Nakhchivan AR. As of 2016, 11% of the country's professional judges were women, which is the lowest proportion in Europe.
In 2017, Mehriban Aliyeva was appointed Vice President of Azerbaijan, the highest position a woman has occupied in Azerbaijan since the abolition in 1994 of the office of Secretary of State most recently occupied by Lala Shovkat.
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