Women, Men and Education in Azerbaijan

There is a very popular saying in my country, “science is for a man, a woman’s place is athome.” Many talented women have struggled for a doctoral degree and most of them couldnot complete it because of one reason, a “violence rule of the main gatekeepers” ofacademia who are inclined to preserve the ideals to authorize their positions.As my research and teaching focus is gender, I always raise gender inequality problems inmy scientific works. I have some articles dealing with marginalization of women withinacademia or slow inclusion of women into the National Academia of the Republic ofAzerbaijan, but the situation remains unchanged. I show in my research how key positionsare considered male-dominated in our academia and universities. Cultural factors withinacademia are suggested as significant barriers, so if male and female applicants are underevaluation for PhD degrees, male applicants are preferred.Women encounter specific difficulties in trying getting PhD degrees or develop careers inacademia. The process of earning PhD demands very important sacrifices; forcing someoneto push forward, spend unlimited energy, make enduring efforts, and exclude private life(taking into consideration the patriarchal society in Azerbaijan, men could marry at any age without any problems, but even young women choose their partners for marriage from among those men who offer to marry them).My analysis in this field supports the assumption that academia is still male-dominated but this dominance is seen as natural (The Republic of Azerbaijan Constitution forbids gender inequality). This conception is open for construction and reconstruction in a continuingprocess.