Good news for women: Pensions, preferential loans in Azerbaijan...

"Currently, women make up more than 2 million 414 thousand of Azerbaijan's population. At the same time, the number of women in the labor force exceeds 2 million people. Nevertheless, the average monthly salary of women is only about 69.1 percent of the average monthly salary of men."

This was reported to BAKU.WS by Vugar Bayramov, a member of the Milli Majlis Committee on Economic Policy, Industry and Entrepreneurship.

The deputy added that in international practice, this indicator usually ranges between 77–80 percent, and in many European Union member states it exceeds 80 percent:

"There are certain objective reasons for this. The fact is that the field where women are employed the most is the education sector. More than 242 thousand women working under employment contracts are engaged specifically in this sector, which means that 33.6 percent of female employees work in the field of education."

Vugar Bayramov believes that the economic empowerment of women requires expanding their access to financial resources:

"In this regard, it would be advisable for the financing of women entrepreneurs to be designated as one of the priority areas within the framework of preferential loans provided by the Entrepreneurship Development Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Currently, the share of women entrepreneurs in loans allocated by the fund remains at a low level. Establishing special priorities in this direction could significantly expand their financial opportunities.

Another important issue is related to pension provision. As long as there is a wage gap between women and men, it is possible to consider applying additional coefficients to women's pension capital when calculating the old-age labor pension. This practice, used in a number of developing countries, serves to improve women's future pension provision.

At the same time, it would be advisable to review benefits related to retirement age, taking into account not only the age criterion but also social and qualitative indicators. In particular, enshrining in legislation the right of single women to earlier retirement as a separate criterion could be discussed."

Orkhan Huseyn