Azerbaijan jumped an unprecedented 64 spots, from 97th to 33rd place, in this year's rankings. The country has made some impressive strides in several areas, including starting a business, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, and enforcing contracts. Major reforms like a one-stop shop for business start up save time and costs. Business registration has risen by 40% since January 2008. Employment regulation has eased, a unified property registry has cut the time needed for property transfers from 61 days to just 11, and the minimum loan cutoff has been eliminated at the credit registry, increasing the number of borrowers.

Despite all these reforms, Azerbaijan is unlikely to truly transform its business environment if it does not improve prospects for women. Although women are equal under Azerbaijani law, traditional social norms restrict female participation in the economy, especially in rural areas. The disparity in wages combined with the lack of job opportunities have caused women to be absent in senior level positions. According to the Word Bank's Enterprise Survey Data, only about 14% of Azerbaijani businesses are owned by women. In contrast, a number of countries in Eastern Europe such as Georgia, Belarus, and Uzbekistan have over 40% of women-owned enterprises. Women in Azerbaijan still face major obstacles such as stereotypes in the workplace, access to credit, and little business knowledge. While Azerbaijan has soared with its business reforms, it will lag behind other economies if it does not find a way to integrate over half its population in the business environment.

Although the Doing Business rankings do not include the gender component of business reform, countries need not neglect this integral part of private sector development. The Doing Business Project has launched an initiative to identify laws and regulations that discriminate against women and investigate which reforms on business regulations have the highest impact on opportunities for women. Countries like Azerbaijan need to make creating opportunities for women a priority because the payoffs of such reform can be large. Until it does, its progress will never reach its maximum potential.

Sushmitha Narsiah is a graduate student in the International Finance and South Asia Studies programs at the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C.