In the following chapter we witnessed how selected Azerbaijani female editors view their professional specialization, assess their role and influence in Azerbaijani society. In previous study of male journalists in Azerbaijan (Valiyev 2008) we witnessed that male editors copy social and political divide in Azerbaijan and position themselves along political camp boarders. Female editors on the other hand rule their newspapers with a balanced or neutral coverage of political life in Azerbaijan. The fact intriguing indeed is that currently in Azerbaijan there is no female editor of an oppositional newspaper. This leads us to a conclusion that Azerbaijani female journalists are less politically instrumentilized than their male colleagues. Perhaps the reason is that coverage of politics in Azerbaijan is considered male journalist dominion while social issues are mainly reserved for females.
Female editorship niche lies exclusively in semi-independent or pro-government newspapers as well as in non-political magazines aimed at specific auditoriums. Female editors of semi-independent newspapers are vulnerable and find themselves constantly stranded in a male dominated over politicized media agenda taking fire of criticism from government and opposition camps. In addition low financial status causes less experienced editors to show low self-esteem and regard their influence in the society as arbitrary. More experienced, better known and as a result working in pro-government outlets editors point that they are able to influence key political actors from time to time but also note that their influence has significantly decreased since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
After carefully reviewing answers in this chapter, we would like to propose a hypothesis that female editors whose career started in the Soviet era were exposed to higher degree of sexism than their less experienced colleagues that have started their career in the 90s in the independent Azerbaijan Republic. The reason is changing mentality caused by gradual emancipation of Azerbaijani women and male acceptance of those changes.
