Within the project IIIT lectures series for CIS countries a lecture on "The situation of Muslim women in Azerbaijan in the 20th and 21st centuries" was delivered by Dr. Gular Gafgazli, Head of the International Relations Department of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences. Institute of Oriental Studies named after academician Z.M.Bunyatov
In her lecture Dr. Gular Gafgazli spoke about various periods in Azerbaijan in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and their impact on the status of Muslim women. In particular, she talked about women's rights during the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (1918-1920), the situation of Azerbaijani Muslim women in Russia, the beginning of repression and pressure, including against women, the closure of the mosque and the ban on prayers during Stalin's rule.
The lecturer talked about many prominent Azerbaijani women and their activities. She shared many archive photos from the last century. For example, she spoke about Hanifa Melikova, the wife of Hassan bey Zardabi, an outstanding public figure and founder of the Azerbaijani national press. Born in 1856 in Nalchik in the Northern Caucasus, she was one of Azerbaijan's first female educators, receiving her first education at St. Nina School in Tbilisi. As the founder of the famous "Nijat" women's charitable society in the Azerbaijani district of Zaradab, she played a major role in the fates of many Azerbaijani women.
More than 45 participants from Malaysia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan registered for the lecture. Participants were interested in the links between Azerbaijani women and the women's movement in other countries at the time, their cooperation with the authorities and the authorities' support for their activities.
A recording of the lecture is available on the YouTube channel of the Institute of Knowledge Integration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4bP0vwfCsM
