BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 11. An event titled "Leadership excellence in advancing women's employment and career growth in Azerbaijan" has taken place in the country’s capital city, Baku, Trend reports.
The event is being held with the support of the World Bank (WB) as part of the Azerbaijan Rapid Technical Assistance Facility (AZTAF) program.
The event featured participation from WB Manager for Azerbaijan, Stefanie Stallmeister, Head of Communications at Azerbaijan Railways; Aybeniz Ismayilova, Lead Specialist at the Human Resources Department of Baku Port; Nurana Muradova, WB Senior Gender Advisor; Shamsia Mustafayeva; and others.
The event showcased the key results of a gender assessment conducted at Baku Port and Azerbaijan Railways, achievements in increasing women's employment in various Azerbaijani companies, and introduced an online course on workplace health and safety developed by the World Bank in Azerbaijani.
Muradova said that women hold 42 percent of managerial and administrative positions in the port industry, based on five years of data.
“Of course, this is a great success for us. Two years ago, the number of women in the Port of Baku was five percent, and today we have already brought this figure to 11 percent.
Following the port's development strategy, we plan to increase this number to 20 percent by 2030. For this purpose, Baku Port is implementing many projects,” Muradova added.
Chief Operations Specialist of the World Bank (WB) Representative Office in Azerbaijan Saida Baghirli said that gender equality is not only ethically important, but also an important factor in securing economic development.
According to her, women hold only a small portion of leadership and technical positions in these critically important sectors, which results in a significant gender pay gap.
"It's important to raise and discuss gender issues in the country. Despite Azerbaijan's efforts in this area, we still face a number of challenges.
The average monthly salary of women in Azerbaijan is approximately 35 percent lower than that of men.
To overcome these barriers, Azerbaijan has taken a number of concrete steps. At the end of 2022, with the support of analytical work from the World Bank, Azerbaijan abolished gender-based legal restrictions on women's employment. In 2023, the country also lifted restrictions on women's night work," she emphasized.
Baghirli also pointed out that in Azerbaijan, women make up 17 percent of the workforce in the transportation and warehousing sectors, 11 percent in energy, and eight percent in construction.
"The WB supported these improvements through the Gender Advisory Services Program, implemented under the AZTAF Program, funded by the European Union (EU)," she added.
Mustafayeva said that the McKinsey Global Institute assumes generation of additional revenue of $28 trillion, or 26 percent of global annual GDP, from women's full participation in the labor market alongside men by 2025.
She reminded that in 2022, 62 percent of women and 75 percent of men in Azerbaijan were participants in the labor market, with 58 percent of women and 71 percent of men employed.
"Overcoming these challenges is crucial for advancing the Republic of Azerbaijan's socio-economic development strategy for 2022-2026, aimed at strengthening the economy and developing a competitive human capital base.
Women make up a significant portion of the country’s talent pool, and harnessing their potential can stimulate economic growth.
Research by the International Monetary Fund shows that by fully developing the labor potential of women, countries achieve significant macroeconomic successes," Mustafayeva pointed out.
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