I. Introduction This master’s thesis represents study of female newspaper and magazine editors in Azerbaijan based on Western and Soviet definitions of journalism with explanation of local national features of this p

III.1.4 Work experience

Our research shows that female editors are not only better educated but also are generally better experienced than male editors. To remind the reader, male editors that participated in the 2008 research worked in media minimally 3 and maximally for 33 years while for female editors these values are 12 and 41 years respectively. Majority of female editors belong to the third experience cluster 30-40 years in mass media or in other words, majority of female editors worked even several decades before the independence of Azerbaijan in 1991. The oldest editor works in a state funded newspaper, however second oldest editor works in semi-independent regional newspaper and thus it would be wrong to draw parallel with male editors, where a group of old editors were to be found exclusively in a pro-government newspapers. However, two youngest females [both 39 at the time of the data collection] worked for semi-independent newspapers.

Notably, even the second research was unable to answer one of the most interesting questions – what is an average salary of Azerbaijani editor and especially a female editor. Thus, we are unable to prove or falsify statement that female professionals even though more experienced receive lesser salary than their male counterpart doing the same job. Tax evasion through double accounting when a real salary may far exceed official one as well as taboos imposed by Azerbaijani mentality and traditions are still there. Even though three years past since the original 2008 inquiry, researchers did not receive positive feedback during initial questioning and decided not to include salary amount question into the battery of questions leaving the issue open for future researchers to explore.