I still think that women are treated poorly in the oil-producing countries in the Middle East for similar reasons that they are treated poorly in the non-oil-producing countries of the Middle East [Jordan, Yemen, etc] – it is more a reflection of culture and their interpretation of their religion. It seems to me that even the wealthiest families in Saudi Arabia support the unequal segregation of sexes and the covering of women. Economics must of course have an effect on culture, but I don’t see the direct relationship with women’s rights.

The oil reserves in Alaska and Texas [hell, even Michigan has a bit] haven’t exactly proven fatal for women’s rights in the largest states in the Union, have they? Comparing England, Norway, Canada, and Venezuela with the Middle East in women’s rights is just ludicrous, if you want my quick, uneducated opinion. The more I think about it, the stranger it seems. What of the oil reserves in Australia, Japan, Spain, and Mexico?

Women’s rights seem to be in trouble in only a small number of oil exporting countries: the Middle East, Russia and the former Soviet Union. And one could easily argue that women’s rights were in trouble there long before oil became a valuable resource, or its existence known.

As for Azerbaijan’s oil reserves, I think it might be less about quantity than about quality or ease of extraction. As the price per barrel climbs, it becomes more and more feasible to pump oil that’s more and more expensive to extract. As long as the global price climbs, I think Azerbaijan might be in the clear.

But who knows, it has been a region that has been tapped for hundreds of years. Couple that with the intensification of extraction under the Soviet Union, not to mention extremely poor record keeping and corruption, and I wouldn’t doubt if some figures were off.