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By Laman Ismayilova

First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva has hailed women’s role in the Azerbaijani society and science.

Aliyeva made the remarks while speaking at the ICESCO event as a guest of honor on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science on February 11.

The Day promotes equal access to and full participation in science for women and girls.

Speaking at the event, Mehriban Aliyeva reminded that Azerbaijan has entered history as one of the first nations in the world to provide women with the right to vote and to be elected back in 1918. As to girls education, the first secular school for girls in the Muslim East was opened by Azerbaijani philanthropist Zeynalabdin Taghiyev in my native town of Baku back in 1901, she added.

In her speech, Mehriban Aliyeva pointed out that literacy rate in Azerbaijan is close to 100 percent. Some 54 percent of students in master course, 51 percent of PhDs at higher educational institutions, 46 percent of Doctor of science degree holders and 56 percent of researchers in our country are women. Women represent 59 percent of the overall staff of the Azerbaijani National Academy of Science.

First Vice-President said that many Azerbaijani women have made great contributions to science and have been the source of true inspiration for girls and young females to be engaged in science. She stressed the importance of creating more favorable conditions for girls and young women to continue to improve their levels of involvement and to keep filling the gender gap in science.

Mehriban Aliyeva also mentioned a pilot project Azerbaijan recently started with UNDP called "Women in STEM" mentorship program that links young female professionals and students with STEM role models so that they receive the advice they need to address the challenges faced in their education and careers.

First Vice-President also expressed her deep gratitude to the ICESCO, personally to Director General Dr. Salim AlMalik for the valuable support during last year’s 44-day Patriotic War as a result of which Azerbaijan liberated its occupied territories after almost 30 years of occupation by Armenia and thus restored historical justice.

"One month ago, at the invitation of President of Azerbaijan, a delegation of ICESCO led by the Director-General, visited Azerbaijan. Our guests had a chance to visit some of our liberated lands and witness with their own eyes the scope of destruction and vandalism, including tens of desecrated mosques and hundreds of destroyed historical monuments. Now the Government faces a huge task: to bring life back to liberated territories and to ensure the return of Azerbaijani internally displaced persons to their native lands," said Mehriban Aliyeva.

Restoration of cultural heritage in Karabakh

She expressed her confidence that Azerbaijan will restore all destroyed cities and villages in the liberated territories. New schools will be built there.

"We will restore the cultural heritage, and not only of Islamic origin but of all religions as a whole. We highly appreciate ICESCO’s readiness to work with the Government of Azerbaijan assessing the damage to Azerbaijan’s cultural heritage sites destroyed during occupation. Also, please accept our special gratitude for considering the opening of ICESCO regional office in Azerbaijan, which among other fields could strengthen our cooperation in the field of science with a specific focus to increase the role of women and girls in science," she said.

Furthermore, she congratulated ICESCO on its initiative to proclaim 2021 as the Year of Women. This is not only the manifestation of the importance attached by the Organization to the role of women in our societies. This is also the recognition of their unique contribution to a better and safer world. We must pay tribute to all those women who today are at the front line of confronting the COVID-19 pandemic, as doctors, medical scientists and health care workers. We can be proud of the critical role played by women researchers in different stages of the fight against COVID-19, from developing techniques for testing to creating vaccines against the virus," said Mehriban Aliyeva.

“I commend the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for its noble mission to protect the Islamic cultural heritage and to promote education and science in the Muslim world, and note with appreciation the fruitful cooperation of Azerbaijan with ICESCO. I praise the Director-General for the attention given to the topic under discussion in line with the United Nations General Assembly resolution that declared February 11 as the International Day of Women and Girls in science," said Aliyeva.

story will be updated

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