Action Plan

Introduction

Equality and empowerment of women in social, economic and political life is essential condition to reach democracy, prosperity and peace in the country. The principle of democracy means that the legitimacy of the power to make decisions about peoples’ lives, their society and their country should derive from a choice by those who will be affected. It is not possible to reach the full level of democracy and wellbeing unless the political process includes all the concerned regardless of gender, age, religion and nationality.

The importance for women to express themselves, raise their voices and address their needs must be one of the main goals for our society, which cannot enjoy the fundamental rights and freedoms unless women are equal participants in all life spheres. But women’s equal participation is not possible without equal access to education, employment, health care, peace building.

Women and Political Power

In reality women throughout the world experience lack of political power at all levels. The power relations make women face significant barriers to their full and equal participation in the structures and institutions governing their lives. Despite of numerous theoretical legal documents, entitling women to participate in political process, the national institutions at all levels mostly remain to be gender blind.

Overall, the proportion of women in legislatures is exceedingly low. It is important to understand that the issue is not only about numbers and the challenge goes beyond increasing the number of elected women into the legislatures. The challenge is about the patriarchy and the deep-rooted perception that the public domain is reserved for men. If policy decisions and laws are to be made for the benefit of all members of society, then the decision-making body will be able to meet the needs of the entire society rather than those of a particular group or groups.

In many countries, women continue to have difficulty in exercising their right to vote due to cultural, religious, patriarchal and economic impediments. Women have and continue to face difficulty in entering institutions of governance; political parties fail to choose them as candidates, and the electorate reflects and acts on the gender stereotypes in society by choosing men. Once in the institution, women have faced new obstacles that constrain their capacity to function.

Women and Politics in Azerbaijan

Women in Azerbaijan – the country with 8,5 mln. population – are underrepresented at most levels of decision-making too. Although women constitute over 50 percent of the world population (in Azerbaijan women are 51,5%), still this huge human potential is underevaluated. The overwhelming majority of Azerbaijani women are still not able to take up official and public functions in their everyday life. In addition, Azerbaijani women feel resistance for the religious factor too. Azerbaijan is a Muslim country where the old traditional mentality is still strong enough to ensure women’s active participation in public and political lives. The political participation is evaluated as completely “men’s affair” and the women’s access to decision-making is very limited. Although the holy Qu’ran advocates for women’s liberation in theory, the practical implementation of these progressive religious rules, as well as legal norms, remain mostly on paper.

In order to understand where we want to go and how we are to do it, we first need to understand where we are now. So, what is the real situation of Azerbaijani women? What kind of women’s rights environment do we have now?

Action Plan

Being oriented at enhancing women’s representation in decision-making positions and strengthening their impact on political, public, social, economic, cultural and peace-making spheres, “Power Ladies” Affinity Group from Azerbaijan is planning to contribute to the solution of this problem by analyzing the women’s situation and working out relevant strategies. The action plan for “Power Ladies” Affinity Group from Azerbaijan is as the following:

 Step 1: to outline the women’s rights environment in Azerbaijan
 Step 2: to determine the main obstacles and restrictions for women’s participation and representation in decision-making positions
 Step 3: to outline the ways for eliminating these obstacles
 Step 4: to work out the recommendations for different actors/sectors
 Step 5: to elaborate the strategies to enhance the impact

The Action Plan, as well as all the further materials, is worked out as a result of “Power Ladies” activity under the coordination of Women’s Association for Rational Development (WARD).

Note: “Power Ladies” would highly appreciate any input to the discussions and products, which are not the final versions and can be subject to further elaboration.

Please write to Shahla Ismailova at azerbaijan@shahla.org