WP 92 - An overview of women's work and employment in Azerbaijan



M. van Klaveren, K.G. Tijdens, M. Hughie-Williams and N.E. Ramos Martin

In the conflict, an estimated 30,000 people were killed and more than a million had been displaced. Az-
erbaijan must support about 800,000 internally displaced persons and refugees (IDP/Rs) as a result of the
conflict. A large part of these IDP/Rs is unemployed, and the health status of IDP/R women and children
is generally quite poor. The combination of transition from the communist economy and the war led to an
economic crisis that hit women dramatically. Thousands of males out-migrated in search of jobs. Jointly
with the many men killed in the war, poverty among in particular women exploded; a surge in patriarchal
attitudes intensified the risks of poverty for them. Moreover, with the demise of the Soviet Union, many
state programs focusing on the needs of women, such as the system of family and child-care support, were
eliminated, transferring this responsibility to women who were already struggling to balance and meet their
paid and unpaid work responsibilities. The “triple shift” and poverty have also manifested themselves in
women’s and children’s declining health indicators (ADB 2005; CIA World Factbook; Cosby et al 2007).

In 1993, democratically elected president Abülfaz Elçibay was overthrown by a military insurrection led
by Colonel Surat Huseynov, which resulted in the rise to power of the former leader of Soviet Azerbaijan,
Heydar Aliyev. Aliyev succeeded to avert two other coups, in 1994 and 1995. On November 12, 1995, the
country adopted a democratic Constitution that went into effect two weeks later. Aliyev managed to reduce
the country's unemployment, reined in criminal groups, brought stability, peace and major foreign invest-
ment (FDI), but did not ban widespread corruption in the governing bureaucracy. In October 1998, Aliyev
was reelected for a second term (wikipedia Azerbaijan; CIA World Factbook). In 1994, Heydar Aliyev’s son,
ilham, was appointed vice-president of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR). He participated as
one of the key figures during the negotiations between Azerbaijani government and Western oil companies
in the conclusion, in that year, of what is now known as the “Contract of the Century.” In August 2003,
two months prior to the presidential elections, he was appointed prime minister. In October, Heydar Aliyev,
suffering failing health, stepped down as president and appointed his son as his party's sole presidential can-
didate. ilham Aliyev won the elections with 77% of the popular vote, though the elections received harsh
criticism from the opposition and the international community. On March 26, 2005, ilham Aliyev was of-
ficially elected as the ruling New Azerbaijan Party chairman. The opposition denounced this as a violation
of state laws, because according to the law on political parties the president should have no party affiliation

Page 14



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