The world bank

Access to Information

95. In rural Azerbaijan, there is a lack of access to full, accurate, and timely information on agricultural reform and its proceeds (figure --: access to information is low). Several information channels exist in rural areas: district and national newspapers, regular publications, radio and TV programs, occasional visits from politicians, general assemblies of collective farm membership and village-wide meetings. However, these channels offer only limited amount and quality of information. Meetings often fail to clarify issues that interest the people. Many villagers, especially the poorer ones, have poor access to national newspapers and residents find the legal language incomprehensible. TV and radios are important information sources; however, due to shortages of electricity, people cannot watch TV or listen to radio long enough to use it as an effective information source.

96. Agricultural reform efforts currently appear to be limited to land distribution; as such people have difficulties in being able to anticipate broader benefits to privatization. There is lack of understanding of these potential benefits even among the local leaders. It may therefore be beneficial for the Bank to finance a consultative workshop with local leaders to facilitate sharing of experience of local costs/benefits of agricultural reform and to bring to their attention global knowledge of these.

97. The household survey confirmed that shortages of electricity eliminate TV and radio as sources of information. People find the most important source of information on agricultural reforms to be official mass media resources. Independent mass media do not provide adequate information on agricultural reforms and their implementation. Local authorities are also considered as important sources, together with friends and relatives. About 67 percent of the respondents consider official mass media as the most reliable source of information while 17 percent think local authorities are reliable. Friends and relatives are important information sources, however, they are not deemed as reliable as official sources. Related with the inadequacy of information, there is a high demand for agricultural extension services in the rural areas; more than 80 percent of the people demand such services (figure --: people demand extension services). There is high trust in State organizations and foreign bodies to organize locally oriented and specified extension courses.

Social Assets and Services

98. A large part of the agricultural land in rayons was retained under the ownership of the newly formed “municipalities” under the pretext of supporting the deteriorated or discontinued social services. Currently, most services such as health care, education, and kindergartens do not function properly in rural Azerbaijan; people usually make under-the-counter payments to receive these services. There is, therefore, skepticism and accusations among people as to how the municipal land is allocated and the real purpose of the allocation.

99. The deteriorated state of social services imposes difficulties on especially the women and the elderly (figure --: social assets have deteriorated….). Lack of kindergartens increase the workload of women at home; their child care responsibilities distract them from engaging in potentially more income generating activities. This is also important for most women who already have additional work responsibilities in private land plots of their families. Only 53 percent of the interviewed households have kindergartens in their villages and 72 percent of them say improvements are necessary. Most rural areas have health centers, however, these do not function regularly. Eighty-three percent want to see substantial improvements in the functioning of health facilities.

100. People’s ideas of improvements of social services are concentrated on two points. Part of the population would welcome increased State management of these services. Another part, however, think State should not be involved in daily management of these services. Rather, private companies should take them over and manage social assets.

Women in Farm Privatization

101. The SA process involved a special effort to inquire into women’s status in rural areas and the effects of privatization on women. In addition to the household survey, an additional survey, involving 210 women in three of the six project rayons was conducted to examine the current situation of women in privatization. This section presents the results of this survey, focus group discussions and participant observation in the field.

102. Women in rural Azerbaijan, in general, are not direct beneficiaries of the farm privatization program. Rural Azeri women are usually passive in the reform process. The following is a list of the overall constraints that limit women’s role in the reform:

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  Traditions of the male-dominated society are still alive in rural Azeri families in accordance with Soviet economic policies which determined distinct gender-based labor division where women found themselves “trapped” merely into household economy and household labor.
  

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  Demographic behavior with strong orientation towards large families and high fertility rates on one hand, and poor or lack of social services provided for women and children (day care, kindergarten, and schools) on the other hand, cause women to be preoccupied with childcare.
  

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  Poor rural infrastructure (irrigation systems, pumps, community access to main roads and markets, water, gas, and electricity supply) as well as limited availability and high costs of consumer commodities (clothes and food products which cannot be produced at a household level), and lack of services available for rural population (laundry, dry-cleaning, barber shops, etc.) keep women engaged in production of basic products consumed in a household such as wheat and rice processing and bread and diary products (cheese, yogurt, and butter).
  

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  Women household labor is not limited to the production of basic food products; farming at the household yard is also women’s occupation; women of all ages are typically engaged in yard farming, including manual ploughing of land, irrigation, and collecting produce with significant participation of child labor.
  

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  A high number of small road side vendors are old age (50-60 years old) women who sell fruits, nuts, and dairy products at bus stops and crossroads.
  

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  Lack of opportunities for economic activities available for women are partially due to the general high unemployment rate along with women’s preoccupation with time-consuming household labor and domestic care. All these chores leave little room for rural women’s education or career; women rarely read, watch TV or listen to radio, especially with electricity available only 2-5 hours per day.
  

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  Living conditions dramatically declined in the last two years; lack of trust in positive impact of rural reforms in the country has an adverse psychological effect on women, especially those of young and middle age; many women have expressed their apathy and hopelessness about future.
  

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  Women are concerned about their children and are not sure about how reforms would improve their future; however, mothers who consider their sons as future “providers” of the family tend to favor them the most. Young males are encouraged to study and build their careers if possible while girls are raised and treated as future “brides” and housewives; thus, parents and mothers in particular, “contribute” and encourage gender bias life and career orientation for their daughters.
  

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  Young female population in rural areas have limited opportunities to develop their professional skills; dramatic decline of education system in rural Azerbaijan, lack of employment both at the village and rayon level lead to high unemployment among women as a whole.
  

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  Ratio of marriages at the early age for rural women have increased steadily in the last few years; arranged marriages among girls of high school age (15-17 years) are common; economic hardships and uncertainty of tomorrow are among main reasons why parents try to marry their children off as soon as possible.
  

103. Most women in the three rayons included in the women’s survey (Barda, Salyan and Udjar) take care of their pre-school children themselves. Since kindergartens in villages do not function anymore, they hardly have any other choice except cases in which grandparents or older children engage in childcare. Even though most women received land as a result of privatization, they indicate that this land was registered in their spouses’ names. In Barda and Salyan rayons, more than 90 percent of those who received land from privatization say that they use their land, however, in Udjar, only 48 percent do so. In Udjar rayon, the main reason for not using the land is indicated as the lack of financing for agricultural inputs and equipment.

104. There is a significant lack of information on the formation and activities of farmer associations especially among the women in Salyan rayon. Nonetheless, more than 30 percent of the women in each rayon would like to be a member of such a group and another 30 percent are still unsure mainly because of lack of information.

Women’s Employment and Access to Credit

105. Drastic changes happened in women’s employment patterns after privatization. Before privatization, women were active in most productive sectors of the economy. After privatization, they were the first ones to be dismissed from state enterprises and farms. Currently, most women are engaged in housekeeping and household chores.²³ The following table illustrates the percentage of women working in different sectors before and after privatization.

106. Women in rural areas have little information and widespread concerns about credit payback. Women also complain about not being able to have adequate access to farm machinery and equipment due to expensiveness of the equipment. In the three rayons surveyed, the majority of women’s families have sold agricultural products. In about 30 percent of the families the women themselves sold these products while in half of them the spouse was responsible for the sales. Main difficulties encountered in these sales are similar to those faced by all rural families such as poor transportation, lack of storage and processing facilities and unfavorable prices. For women, the most important source of information on the market is their neighbors, relatives and associates; more than 90 percent of the respondents indicate that they obtain their information from informal sources.

107. Women, similar to household heads, think that the most important marketing problem is the issue of low prices (34 percent); many women think that they should be able to sell their products at higher prices. The second priority is the organization of food processing centers, which would allow people to have wholesale sales and bring a higher income. The third priority is the solution of transport problems.

Women’s Workload and Family Relations

108. In most cases, privatization has put a larger burden on women who are now expected to work simultaneously at the house, at the household land plot, family farm and sometimes in the market. About 42 percent of the interviewed women said that the division of work in their families did not change, and about 40 percent saw positive changes. However, when asked if their workload in the farm increased, more than half of the women indicated that indeed now they have to do more work in the farm.

109. It was also expected that privatization would affect women’s relationships with their relatives. The survey, overall, found that in places where privatization of land is complete, women’s family relations tended to improve. However, in places where privatization is still continuing and the process in not transparent, relationships either did not change or changed for the worse. For instance, in Barda rayon, 70 percent of the women said that their relations with their parents were affected positively after privatization whereas in other two rayons there was not a significant change.

110. Privatization and the economic transition appears to have adversely affected the material living standards of most women; 61 percent said they did not buy anything specific for their households after privatization. Of the rest, the majority said that their living standards, if anything, got worse after privatization. Most women do not have any spare time anymore (about 40 percent). The remaining mostly do housework when they have spare time (26 percent), chat with neighbors (14 percent) and read books or watch TV (11 percent). About 60 percent of the women nonetheless admit that their lives have changed due to the effects of privatization. Of those, 17 percent think now women are working under better conditions while 28 percent think women now have the chance to earn their own living.²⁵ There is willingness to work among women; 40 percent of them think that women are suitable for work in every possible area. About 20 percent think farming is suitable for women and 13 percent think science and education related activities are good working areas. Only 14 percent think that women should only stay at home and look after children.

111. Women in rural Azerbaijan generally favored the privatization process. For instance, 58 percent rated the effects of privatization as good while 31 percent think that privatization has, overall, been bad. About 10 percent do not think privatization caused any significant changes. The following tables present difficulties encountered after privatization, most important benefits of privatization and opportunities opened up after privatization. There are also a number of recommendations on the way privatization is carried out in these areas.