REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH, QUALITY OF LIFE AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

- all of this is inextricably linked with gender balance in modern society", believes Lala Bayramova, a board member of the Center for Gender Studies at Western University

Mother Nature divided humanity into two "sexes" - men and women, but research by many of the world's leading scientists has shown that, from a biological point of view, there are far more similarities than differences between men and women. Despite differences in behavior and emotional characteristics, we have the same rights and obligations, which is naturally reflected in the legislation of many countries.

Today we talk about how closely environmental protection and gender issues are intertwined with Lala Ali gizi Bayramova, senior lecturer at the Department of Environmental Protection of BSU, board member of the Center for Gender Studies at Western University, and author of the curriculum and textbook "Gender and Ecology", published with the support of various international institutions, including the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA):
- Let's start with the fact that our world is the habitat of all living beings, and therefore also the world of women. That is why social ecology can be interpreted as the ecology of women, and hence as gender ecology. Nature is the home of humankind. Nature is the source of people's cultural, aesthetic and material needs. Nature is our home, our surroundings, a necessary condition for the life of society. The arena of all global processes is geographic space, which has been relatively "shrinking" in recent times.
For centuries, perceptions of nature and of woman were identical. Both were regarded as providers. The image of woman as earth was an exceptionally important figure in the cultural consciousness of peoples. Nature was perceived as a woman, as a mother, as prudence and grace itself. In many cultures, everything purest, most spiritual and most sublime was associated with woman. For millennia, woman served as the link between the society in which she lived and the natural environment surrounding that society.

The legislation of our country confirms the legal basis of today's environmental problems. According to Article 39 of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, every citizen has the right to live in a healthy environment. When speaking of the environment, one should understand the earth's subsoil, surface and underground water bodies, atmospheric air, and plant and animal life. On 10 August 1999, the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On Environmental Protection" was adopted. Along with an approach to the use, restoration and enhancement of natural resources that is sound from the standpoint of ecological balance, this law also defines a range of tasks for protecting the environment from physical, chemical, biological, radioactive and electromagnetic impacts, from noise, pollution and other negative phenomena. Azerbaijan has ratified many Conventions in the field of environmental protection.
The Constitution of our republic regards environmental protection as a nationwide cause. It states that every citizen has the right to receive compensation for damage caused to their health and property as a result of an environmental offense. Thus, the regulatory component of environmental education raises the question of each person's responsibility for the state of the environment, regardless of their biological sex.
- When people start mentioning the word "gender", many take it as a synonym for the word "feminism"... Aren't you put off by people's attitude toward this subject?
- Indeed, at first many simply could not understand that "gender" means perceiving a person regardless of biological identity. In essence, considering the masculine and the feminine separately, outside of their wholeness, creates a false image of the modern person. Gender studies have opened up broad opportunities for analyzing natural origins and social development. Despite the natural, biological difference between man and woman, which does not change over time, the category of gender equality is very dynamic and fluid; it responds flexibly to changes in socio-economic conditions.

Modern science is characterized by progressive tendencies toward universalization and the rejection of various kinds of stereotypes, including national and ethnic, religious, political, and gender stereotypes. The pluralism of ways of thinking and lifestyles is recognized, provided human rights and freedoms are respected. The roles that women and men play in society are different. Today, from the standpoint of the gender approach, the reproductive, productive, social or public role of women should be considered in the same way as the role of men in the economic and social spheres. By studying the roles of men and women, a deeper understanding can be achieved of their needs and of their involvement in power structures at various levels and in decision-making on specific tasks and problems, including environmental ones.

Gender issues are interesting for their diversity. Today this is one of the cornerstones of the development of social society. In more than 100 countries of the world, initiatives have been put forward that strengthen the importance of women in the economy, politics, business, ecology and other fields. Calls are increasingly heard to expand the leadership role of women and the scale of their participation in peacekeeping missions. The protection of women's rights and the elimination of violence against women are encouraged. The world has been stunned by a "parade" of women leaders. Most UN countries around the world are working on joint projects and programs in the field of gender. The Millennium Development Goals were drawn up precisely in line with gender symmetry. And since the social interpretation of ecology covers a broad range, it also touches on gender issues.

Issues of gender asymmetry in upholding women's rights in decision-making, as well as women's active participation in solving ecological problems and issues arising in the field of environmental protection, and the creation of environmentally safe living conditions remain relevant all over the world. In Azerbaijan, just as in any other country, there are still certain issues waiting for their time. And solving these problems requires the education system to take on the responsibility of raising a qualitatively new generation of people. Which, by the way, is exactly what we have been doing for the last eight years - since the day our center was founded. I want to point out right away that we are not an NGO, but a creative and research union of like-minded colleagues who try to present correct information about gender issues, integrating them into all other spheres of life. We meet with students and teachers of universities in the capital and the regions. We organize meetings of young people with competent members of our society. Getting together, we discuss pressing issues...

- But let's return to the problem of the interaction between quality of life and the environment... What are gender issues in ecology?
- It is the interaction of society and nature. A gender approach to solving ecological problems is the key to understanding how modern sustainable development and social activity affect men and women within their natural environment.
From the very beginning of human civilization, we have been "systematically" interfering in natural processes and affecting them, unfortunately, most often not positively. The scale of the impact of human civilizations on nature allows us to roughly outline five periods, each of which is characterized by its own specific influence of society on nature and of nature on society. The first of them can be called the "era of the first ecological crisis", i.e. the initial disruption of the ecological balance between society and nature. This crisis began at the earliest stages of human history, but was "controlled" by nature itself, which has the capacity for self-purification and self-restoration.

The second period is characterized by people taking up farming and livestock breeding, i.e. taking another step in developing the natural environment. If in the first case nature responded by large mammals disappearing from the face of the Earth, then the development of new lands for livestock breeding and farming gradually led to the drying out of large tracts of land and soil erosion, the replacement of steppe grasslands with semi-desert and desert plant formations, and global changes in climate and landscapes.
The third period is the creation of urban settlements and the concentration of production to such a degree that in some places on the planet the anthropogenic environment transformed the natural ecosystem beyond recognition. It was followed by the fourth period, during which production developed to a global scale and an era of grand migrations began, covering almost the entire globe. Now we are living through the fifth period, in which population growth follows what could be called a geometric progression and massive development of new technologies is taking place. These five periods could not but affect the relationship between "man" and "nature"...
That is why it is very important to establish a "gender balance" and to expand women's opportunities in the social, economic and environmental spheres, since it is precisely this approach that will lead to the sustainable development of society. Women play a significant role in creating models of sustainable and environmentally sound consumption and production; they actively introduce models of water- and energy-saving systems and promote "correct" methods of managing natural resources.

Gender relations are one of the key elements of the stable development of society. A mature culture that also embraces the most delicate sphere of human relations has a great influence on how those relations are regulated in the use of natural resources. The essence of gender issues in society is closely tied to solving environmental problems as well. The unfavourable environmental situation in Azerbaijan calls for active efforts to address environmental problems. The roles of women and men in solving environmental problems are not the same. In our view, there are still a number of organisations run by men where due attention is not always paid to solving environmental problems, so it seems to us that with the direct involvement of women themselves, women's problems, including those related to environmental issues, would be resolved more flexibly and with greater tolerance towards nature.
- And this, of course, will affect the health of all citizens...
- Yes, because it is the woman who was and remains responsible for keeping the hearth and for the health of future generations. Environmental and public health problems were not a priority anywhere in the post-Soviet space: although people and their well-being were proclaimed the most important values, these were merely ideological statements, and in practice things turned out differently. As early as the mid-1950s an environmental crisis began to take shape, as natural resources were exploited without control and the impact of pollution on natural ecosystems increased several times over.
In Azerbaijan, the impact on public health is mainly linked to air and water pollution. Fortunately, the annual pollution levels in Sumgayit have recently declined, but accumulated industrial waste still continues to harm public health, leading to respiratory diseases and allergic reactions. In recent years, because the quality of drinking water does not meet international sanitary and hygiene standards, the rate of certain "waterborne" diseases has risen sharply. Mercury pollution poses a potential health hazard, though it is less well documented, and another major problem is toxic and radioactive waste discharged into our transboundary rivers by aggressor Armenia, in particular into the rivers of the Araz basin.
Thus, the influence of natural and environmental factors on the "gender issue" can also be viewed from a medical standpoint. According to research, over the past 10 years there has been a trend of women's increased susceptibility to cancer, tuberculosis and sexual dysfunction. The problem of reproductive health is by no means the least important, and the birth rate has fallen. From all of the above the conclusion "follows" that in addressing global issues of environmental strategy, alongside economic growth and the application of purely technical and environmental protection measures, provision must also be made for measures aimed at improving the health of the population, since this is the main criterion of the well-being of a society oriented towards sustainable development.

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