Azerbaijan boasts 19 out of 122 female members of parliament, nearly 16 percent, says Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman. She says Azerbaijan has been at the forefront in terms of taking legislative measures to improve women’s representation in society. “A February 2015 report on Azerbaijan by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women found positive legislative progress made on women’s issues, including an extremely significant, near 50 percent, decrease in instances of violence against women.”
“Additionally, the poverty rate among women decreased from 49 percent to 5.9 percent in 2014. Further, 18 percent of Azerbaijan entrepreneurs were women. The number of women holding leading positions in the education sector increased to 41.2 percent,” the article says.
“In 2015, 46 percent of the leading New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) are women and following the 2014 elections, representation of women in municipalities increased from four percent in 2004 to 35 percent. A special order issued by President Ilham Aliyev led to the appointment of women as deputy heads of regional executive bodies in 76 of 86 regional councils.”
“Moreover, First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva has her own political career; she serves as deputy chair of YAP. Unlike most presidential wives in the former Soviet Union, she is also philanthropically and culturally influential the world over,” says Jaffe-Hoffman.