Azerbaijan University hosted an educational event for students on "Prevention of gender-based sex selection in Azerbaijan". The guest of the event was Shahla Ismayil, the chair of the Women's Society "For Rational Development", the head of the gender block of the "Healthy education-healthy people" megaproject. The head of the Department of Organization of Social Work  Tunzala Verdiyeva opened the event and introduced the guest.

The head of the department said that the event is carried out in accordance with the Action Plan of the Cabinet of Ministers "On the prevention of gender-based sex selection for the period of 2020-2025."  The Action plan envisages conducting research among the population in order to assess the extent of selecting the sex of the child to be born, ensuring gender equality, and preparing proposals for improving legislation in the fields of reproductive health.

Starting her speech with the question "what is meant by equality", the keynote lecturer Shahla Ismayil, after getting acquainted with the students' opinions, informed them about the efforts made to protect women's rights and ensure gender equality, expand women's access to economic and educational resources, and prevent domestic violence. In her speech, the guest brought to the students' attention the trends observed in the gender structure of the population in Azerbaijan and said that the share and growth rate of boys is high..

Shahla Ismayil noted that Azerbaijan has one of the highest rates of selective abortion in the world. Although the biological norm for the sex ratio of newborn babies is 100 girls for 102-106 boys, in Azerbaijan only in 2021, 100 girls were born for every 115 boys. Until the early 1990s, the sex ratio at birth in Azerbaijan was within the biological norm. Since the 1990s, with the development of technology, it has become possible to know the gender of the fetus in advance thanks to ultrasound examination devices. This resulted in parents giving birth to male children and aborting female children. In 2012, Azerbaijan was registered as the country with the highest abortion rate in the world. In 2005-2009, the sex ratio at birth in Azerbaijan and neighboring republics was 116, and this number was the same or higher than the sex ratio in China and India. In the second and third children, the situation becomes even more intense, for the third child the sex ratio increases further and the number becomes 128.

The guest said that the main reason for resorting to gender-based abortion in Azerbaijan is related to stereotypes arising from the patriarchal family structure. Taking into account that the society has little information on this topic, educational measures should be taken against general gender stereotypes and gender-based selective abortions.

Nigar Shahhuseynbeyova, a teacher of the department of organization of social work, noted that the UN Population Fund worked together with the government of Azerbaijan in the preparation of the mentioned action plan. Due to the implementation of the action plan, progress is expected to be made in reducing gender-based sex selection and promoting the value of girl children in the country.

The event continued with answering students' questions on the topic. At the end, a commemorative photo was taken.

Public Relations Department