Gender Assessment for USAID/Caucasus/Azerbaijan

Economic Risks & Opportunities
Unemployment Patterns
Women comprise the majority of the unemployed and the majority of those in poverty.
An increasing number of women are heads of household due to being widowed, divorced
or abandoned. Private companies are hiring more men and/or laying off more women,
such as those in the oil industry where nearly 4000 women have lost their relatively highpaying
jobs. Many of the only job opportunities available to women are undesirable lowpaying
and/or temporary jobs under difficult/dangerous working conditions. 14 The recent
rise in prostitution is seen as a result of the worsening of employment options for women.
Lack of economic opportunities is also a push factor that increases the risk of women
being vulnerable to trafficking.
Discrimination in employment creates an added risk to families – both in the loss or
reduction of income as the major breadwinner or second money earner in the family.
Concern about sexual harassment was noted as the reason some parents will not allow
their educated daughters to work and may be part of the reason some husbands do not
want their wives to work. The lack of safe and affordable daycare options also makes it
difficult for women with young children to work. Men’s unemployment often creates a
family and personal crisis (see above).
Economic Restructuring
It has been widely reported
that women received far
fewer assets in privatization
than did men. Based on
informant interviews and a
cursory review of available
literature, it appears that
little gender analysis has
been conducted of current
and proposed legislation
that may have similar
adverse affects. Laws such
as the one on pension
reform and labor code
revisions can intentionally –
and unintentionally – have a differential impact on men and women. The new pension
reform plan based on the number of years paid into the system will adversely affect
women relative to men because they earn less, are more likely to work part-time, and take
time off work for child-bearing. SPPRED included some useful preliminary gender
14 Success in job creation should be measured not simply by the number of jobs, but also by the salaries,
benefits, length of employment, and working conditions.
DevTech Systems, Inc. 9 USAID/Caucasus/Azerbaijan
Gender Assessment