After similar events in Kiev, Tbilisi and Chisinau, the Azeri version of the Regional study on women’s political representation in Eastern Partnership countries, will be presented at a regional conference in Baku on 1 November 2017 to authorities and civil society of Azerbaijan. The event will be an opportunity to discuss in particular the recommendations formulated by the authors of the study within the Azerbaijan context and to examine national mechanisms to enhance women's participation in elections and strategies to empower women in politics in the country.

The study of Council of Europe demonstrates that in all the countries surveyed women are less likely to run for political office and to be elected both to the national parliaments and to local government bodies. It shows that women hold in most countries less than 20% of seats in parliament and that there are hardly women to be found in the function of mayors or town councilors. The country specific and general recommendations to political parties, governments and parliaments presented in the study, should contribute to overcome the serious underrepresentation of women in politics and decision making levels in their countries.

The study was conducted between 2015-2016 in Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia within the Project Partnership for Good Governance (PGG) and presented the first time at the regional conference “Women’s political representation in the EaP countries – regional study and exchange of information” in December 2016 in Kiev, Ukraine. The event in Baku will be co-organised with the Women´s Association for Rational Development (WARD) and the German organization Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and will be accompanied by a photo exhibition about political active women at local level in EaP countries.