Spotlight on Azerbaijan



The Government's Vision



A world where curiosity knows no gender, and scientific progress is fueled by the collective brilliance of Azerbaijani women and girls.



In the year



1901



FIRST secular school for GIRLS opened in Baku, with the sponsorship of Azerbaijani national industrial magnate and philanthropist Haji Zeynalabdin Tagiyev



In the year



1943



Maya Hajiyeva, the first female PhD in Physics and Mathematics in Azerbaijan. The PhD thesis titled “A boundary value problem for the Helmholtz equation”.



State Statistical Committee Report



56.7%



of all currently enrolled PhD candidates who are Azerbaijani citizens are WOMEN.



State Statistical Committee Report



57.4%



of executive positions such as rectors, vice-rectors, professors and working in the capacity of key decision makers of both, state and private entities are WOMEN



Aerospace engineer Zahra Imanova, 25, dreams of the day Azerbaijani women will see their future in the stars.





In 2022, Eng. Imanova created “Zahra in Space,” an online platform that uses articles and information in the Azerbaijani language to encourage young people, especially girls, to learn more about space and engineering.


“No Azerbaijani woman has traveled to space, not even in our fairy tales and stories. Zahra is an imaginary character from Azerbaijan in space, the first Azerbaijani woman there”.


Her efforts have already garnered attention: Zahra was named “The Rising Star” in the 2023 Azerbaijan Women in IT Award competition, organized by Femmes Digitals, a public association that supports women in tech.


The efforts are starting to have an impact: the State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan reports that 12 percent of women applying to universities (13,491 out of 111583) chose to study a STEM subject in 2022-2023. For comparison, in 2009-2010, just 1377 out of 63,940 studied in a STEM-related field.



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