On June 7 2019, on the occasion of the centenary of women’s suffrage in Azerbaijan, the France-Azerbaijan parliamentary Friendship Group, together with the Embassy of Azerbaijan, organized at the French National Assembly a conference dedicated to women rights in Azerbaijan.

The conference aimed to trace the history and specificities of women's emancipation in Azerbaijan from the nineteenth century to the present day, through the Independence period acquired in 1991.

The event was opened by Marie-Pierre Rixain, Member of Parliament for Essonne and President of the Delegation for Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities for Men and Women of the National Assembly, HE Rahman Mustafayev, Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to France, Pierre-Alain Raphan, Member of Parliament for Essonne and President of the France-Azerbaijan Friendship Group at the National Assembly and last but not least, Hijran Huseynova, President of the State Committee for the Family, Rights of Women and Children of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Representing the French-Azerbaijani University (UFAZ), Secretary-General Charlotte Payen illustrated, through the example of UFAZ, the academic and scientific dynamism of women in the Azerbaijani society.

To emphasize the reality and importance of women participation in UFAZ daily life, Secretary General Charlotte Payen presented some telling figures of the 2018 / 2019 academic year:

29, 7 % of girls studying at UFAZ

46, 6 % of girls in the top 15 students of UFAZ

48 % of women at UFAZ administration

50 % of Azerbaijani female scientific teachers at UFAZ

She likewise underlined achievements and dynamism of UFAZ female students and teachers, such as UFAZ CS students Irada Bunyatova, invited by Azercosmos in September 2018 to participate in the launch of their 3rd telecommunication satellite in Kourou space station, in French Guiana.

Furthermore, UFAZ Secretary General laid the emphasis on the  exemplary academic achievements of Maryam Ismayilova (head of L2 student cohort) and Laman Jalilova (head of L0 student cohort and first girl ranked in  the French 2019 national olympiad of mathematics – 4th place on more than 500 candidates), and mentionned the success of the TensorScience Team (3 girls out of 5 team members) who represented UFAZ at European Space Week in Marseille (December 3-7, 2018).

Last but not least, she paid tribute to women scientists of UFAZ, namely the great scientific achievements of Prof. Dunya Babanli, Azerbaijan’s youngest female chemist appointed Doctor of Science in 2018.

Azerbaijan was in 1919 the first country of the Muslim East to grant women voting rights.

Indeed a number of pioneering events took place as early as the 1900s, such as establishment of satirical magazine Molla Nasreddin in 1906 (the equivalent of the French Canard Enchaîné), establishment of the first school for girls in 1901 where education was taught in Azerbaijani and was accessible to all; launch of first women's magazine İşıq ("Light") in 1911.

These advances naturally lead to the granting voting rights to women since 1918, ratified by the Parliament of the First Republic of Azerbaijan on July 21, 1919.