PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men holds meeting

Azerbaijani parliamentarian, member of the Azerbaijani delegation Elmira Akhundova represented our country in the meeting, APA reports.

The report on the state of women in the South Caucasus worked out by Russian parliamentarian Vera Oskina was discussed at the meeting.

Elmira Akhundova said that all the amendments she proposed were adopted.

"I am satisfied with the results of the discussions. The rapporteur and the members of the commission agreed not only upon this proposal. The expressions in some of the paragraphs were softened. The expression 'The women face discrimination while being employed' caused serious discussions. I stated that the situation in Azerbaijan is not so. We have adopted the law on gender equality, discrimination, as well as possible discrimination in salary is punished by law," she said.

Elmira Akhundova offered to substitute the expression 'there are cases when women undergo discrimination.' As a result of intensive discussions, the expression 'women often face difficulties while being employed' was approved.

"There was a point in the report that 15% of parliamentarians in 2010, 30% in 2020 will consist of women, but I did not agree with this. I said that this not real for Azerbaijan, as there is proportional election system in Azerbaijan it is impossible to include women in the party list. So the figures were eliminated from the report," she said.

Vera Oskina's report was approved at the end of the meeting. The report is expected to be included on the agenda of PACE April session.