World Bank provides technical assistance for women to work in previously prohibited areas

The World Bank provides technical assistance for women in Azerbaijan to work in previously prohibited areas based on the request of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Population, Azernews reports.

Vusala Asadova, Senior Assistant for Operations of the Azerbaijan office of the World Bank, said this.

She said that this support is implemented within the framework of the Flexible Technical Assistance Tool for Azerbaijan (AZTAF) and is aimed at eliminating the knowledge gaps in the prohibited areas for women: "In the Soviet era, it was forbidden for women to work in industries and professions (positions) with harmful and difficult working conditions. The number of these professions was 674, which was reflected in the Labour Code. As technology developed, it became possible for women to work in these professions, and it was determined that they did not pose any risk to their lives. It was even discovered that some professions no longer exist. As the World Bank, we helped to eliminate this list at the request of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Population.

V. Asadova noted that an international consultant was involved in this regard, and a different approach was put forward in this direction: "Activities in this direction were performed even before the relevant ministry applied for the issue. But a successful result was not achieved. The hired consultant put forward such an approach that the activity in this direction should be based on the environment of the work, not the name of the profession. That is, if the work environment is harmful for women, it means that it is also harmful for men. In this case, it was recommended to improve the working environment and eliminate the damages, which helped to achieve a more positive result.

According to him, as a result of cooperation, the list of prohibited professions has been eliminated. After the additions to the Labour Code in December of last year, only 204 prohibited professions were identified, which are applied to pregnant women and women with children under 1 year of age," the representative of the World Bank pointed out.