BBC: “The women finding freedom in South Caucasus nightclubs”

The UK’s leading media outlet has explored the nightlife in three South Caucasus countries and discovered how the women in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan use evenings out to spend time with their friends and enjoy the social freedoms they now have.

"Although people there now enjoy greater social freedoms than ever before, there is a divide between how men and women are treated. Many women, despite being old enough to vote, feel society will look down on them if they go out late in the evenings,” writes Khanim Javadova.

Javadova spoke to women in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan to learn about their nightlife experiences and the pressures they face as a women in a patriarchal society.

Natia Topchidze of Batumi enjoyed the clubbing scene. Despite being 29 years of age, she was pressured to be home by midnight and tell her parents where she was going and who she would be with.

But not everyone felt restricted like this.

Nutsi Odisharia of Tbilisi said she went out every Friday and Saturday evening to restaurants and clubs.

I don't hear any kind of criticism from the older generation or religious people. But it hasn't always been like this. In the 1990s there were no night clubs: we had war and poverty. But at the end of the 1990s jazz clubs were established where we had discos and house parties. Generally, Georgian people like to eat, dance and have fun."

And with freedom, more women were entering the workforce. World Bank figures revealed almost half of all Georgian women (49.5%) were in employment in 2012, while 48.1% were employed in 2007. Similar statistics were evident in Azerbaijan and Armenia, who saw a particularly large rise in female employment in recent years.

Read the full article here: www.bbc.com