A FEMININE FACE OF THE VILLAGE

The world celebrated the International Day of Rural Women and the International Day of the Girl Child in October. The UN General Assembly has proclaimed these days. In particular, the Day of Rural Women has been celebrated since the beginning of 2008. The International Day of the Girl Child was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in recognition of the rights of girls and the unique challenges they face around the world. It was first celebrated in 2012 and dedicated to the problem of child marriages still actual for many countries. Statistics show that almost one in three women in the world aged 20-24 years marry before they reach 18 years. A third of them marry as early as 15 years old.

The early marriages is a violation of fundamental human rights and have a negative impact on all aspects of the lives of girls. The early marriage deprives them of their childhood. Girls are forced to interrupt education, their opportunities are very limited, and the risk of being subjects of violence and harassment increases several times.

A conceived happiness

The 21-year-old Aysel (the name has been changed) is a native of a village near Ganja. She is the youngest daughter in the large family, and she lost her mother early. Her older sisters are married. Aysel felt quite uncomfortable when her stepmother entered her life. Her father had decided to marry the 16-year-old daughter without hesitation. “I wanted to learn, as we are all apt to study, but my father told me to stop thinking about education”. The sisters found a suitable husband for the younger sibling and left her on her own to build a happy family life. But Aysel could not achieve happiness in marriage. She has a daughter but her husband was beating and humiliating her. He was also suffering from alcoholism.

Such a situation is common for almost all regions of the country. As one of the schoolteachers in one of the mountain villages told us, girls stop going to school mainly at high school. After the 9^th grade, they are often forced to leave the school. The parents believe that the education is useless and seditious for girls. She is better sit at home and learn the tricks of housekeeping, which is much more useful in family life. The results of such an attitude are obvious. An early-married girl often is completely unprepared for family life from a psychological point of view. It is rare to find love and mutual understanding in such families, since elder members of the family, who believe that they certainly know the needs of their daughter better, choose the future husband.

Strong patriarchal traditions dominate in rural areas. It is believed that the husband should provide for the family while the wife stays at home and raises children. But quite often, especially in rural areas, the husband seeks job outside the village, and his wife takes a position of a “poor relative”. Sometimes this may lead to a divorce. And then the lack of education and young age become the negative factors.

The law prescribes 18 years as an age of consent to formally enter marriage. In exceptional cases, this age can be reduced by a year. In the regions, it is common to see couples when the bride is 15 and even 14 years old. Such marriages are usually not registered officially. Accordingly, in case of divorce a woman cannot demand anything for herself.

“In fact, an official registration of women and their children is not required to provide financial support. First, we always try to have a conversation to reconcile the couple, to provide material support for children. If the husband refuses to acknowledge paternity, then this may be determined through a court hearing and he made liable to pay alimony”, commented the lawyer Aghamirza Baghirov.

No education, no job

But woman’s problems do not end here. She is lucky if she is accepted at father's home. Otherwise, she has to think about not only herself but also her children. Often, due to lack of education, she has to accept job offers to do unskilled works or move to the city, where the lack of education is also a problem. It is a common practice in rural areas that the girls enrolled in 8^th or 9^th grade of school do not attend classes. Another aspect is of education problem is getting higher or college education. Since most of the colleges are concentrated in the capital city, the parents with harsh manners are often reluctant to send their daughters to the city, which is “full of temptations”. However, there are many cases when the rural woman could rise above the crowd. This is true for families where the priority is given to education. Fortunately, the number of such families is growing compared to families with medieval lifestyle.

Maryam is 21 years old, she is also from a village close to Ganja. She lives and works in Baku. “My father died when I was attending high school, and my mother works as a teacher. She told me to study well and that she will support me. I went to Baku, lived at my relatives, entered the university, and studied English. Currently, I am working in the IT business. But when I visit my home village to see my family, I can see that all my peers are already married and with children”. The purposeful and self-motivated girls are lucky, though the hard work and diligent study cannot be called a luck. It would be better if family members and relatives support them.

Employment and business in the regions

By the way, one of the reasons that girls are deprived of good education in rural areas is low family incomes. In general, the rural life and work have their own peculiarities. The first is, of course, the limited career options. If they do not work, the women mainly are housewives, and they do not normally work at the field. But the jobs they are involved in do not reach industrial scales and are usually limited to productions such as bakery, confectionery, dairy products, etc. Many of the services popular in the city are not always successful in the villages. The rural women themselves mainly carry out the works such as small- and large-scale domestic services, the production of confectionery and food products that many urban women usually prefer to outsource. Therefore, the lack of facilities is not the only reason for the lack of start-ups. Often, the lack of knowledge and financial support coupled with low level of well-being prevents the rural women from starting successful and creative businesses.

Meanwhile, we believe that the newly established public legal entity ABAD under the auspices of the State Agency for Services to Citizens and Social Innovations (ASAN Xidmet) will greatly help in solving the problems of rural family businesses.

The functions of ABAD centers will include: the implementation of projects to support households and SMEs, the provision of funds necessary to finance such projects; preparation of business plans for households, SMEs, services on marketing, branding and design, financial and accounting services, legal support; certification of products based on “a single window” principle, as well as their transportation and sales.

This means that the rural women, who really know how to do real work, will be able to open their own business with the support of ABAD. They can also be sure that ABAD centers will conduct relevant trainings.

Only education can help

The experts agree that in order to improve the protection of the rights of girls, especially in rural areas of Azerbaijan, it is necessary to make the entities dealing with trusteeship and guardianship, as well as the commission on juvenile affairs under the auspices of local executive authorities a part of the organizational structure of the State Committee for Family, Women and Children. According to the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Social Policy Musa Guliyev, the presence of the permanent organs of the State Committee will improve the effectiveness of addressing the issue of children's rights.

“Many people believe that no one can interfere in family affairs. But the legislation imposes specific responsibilities on teachers, especially the class teachers, neighbourhood physicians, municipalities, and the law enforcement agencies regarding the permanent control over the families, who violated the rights of children, particularly the girls with limited access to education facilities”, she said.

As stated by the head of the Legal Department of the State Committee for Family, Women and Children of Azerbaijan Taliya Ibrahimova, in accordance with the Family Code, any child has a right to apply to the bodies of trusteeship and guardianship or to the commission on juvenile affairs under the auspices of local executive authority in case his or her rights are violated in the family. “The fact is our children are not aware about this. However, there are also children who apply. The children suffering from the restriction of their rights in the family apply to the State Committee, and we conduct necessary work in order to restore their rights”, she said.

The head of department believes that this problem is mainly related to the mentality. To let the children be aware of their rights, it is necessary to carry out educational work in educational institutions. She thinks it is necessary to extend the powers of commissions for minors, as well as the guardianship authorities in order to prevent violence against children, in particular the girls living in rural areas. These commissions must include sociologists, psychologists and lawyers to ensure the protection of children's rights at the highest level and in accordance with international standards. “In Azerbaijan, the authorities responsible for the protection of children's rights are the commissions for minors and the guardianship authorities. The problem is that the control mechanisms of these entities are limited. Therefore, it is necessary to extend their powers. It is necessary to make certain changes in their structure”, says Ibrahimova.

It is clear that rural women play a key role in food production and stability in rural areas, not only in Azerbaijan but also throughout the world. They perform most of the work related to childcare, elderly and sick people. Despite this, they are often unable to protect their own rights to land, access to essential services such as health care or education loans. Their contribution to society remains invisible in many countries. Therefore, today we call upon the leaders of rural authorities to work actively with the public, to invite children to prepare for professions, which would later be claimed in various regions. Anyway, organizations and communities should have their own decision on how to celebrate the Day of Rural Women. For example, the UN celebrates this day every year holding various events under a slogan actual for rural women on that date such as access to loans, information and communication technologies, or clean water.

OPINION...

Aygun Veysalova, Adviser of Information and Analyses Department of the State Committee for Family, Women and Children: "The State Committee conducts educational activities and plans to bring amendments to regulations in this area. For example, under Article 176 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan, a forced marriage is subject to a fine of 2,000-3,000 AZN or a two-year imprisonment. A forced marriage of minors is punishable by fine up to 4,000 AZN and a three-year imprisonment".

Kamran Asadov, education expert: "The number of girls getting higher education has declined significantly. In the southern regions of the country, the number of women applying to universities is 21% only.

The Soviet experience is very interesting - girls with uncompleted secondary education could get enter vocational schools. Today, it is necessary to revive this tradition in the regions. The rural girls are often talented in arts and crafts. They will have at least some kind of profession, if we revive the vocational training”.