AZE.US
Young people in Azerbaijan are entering marriage without the emotional preparation, communication skills or independence needed to build lasting relationships, according to economist and business consultant Farhad Parvizi.
Speaking on Indi Podcast, Parvizi argued that the increase in divorces cannot be explained by financial difficulties alone. He linked the problem to changing expectations, parental interference and the transition from traditional marriages based on economic dependence to partnerships built around love and mutual respect.
Marriage Requires Preparation
Parvizi supports starting a family at a relatively young age, particularly for couples who want children. However, he stressed that age alone does not determine whether someone is ready for marriage.
“There are two different issues: age and preparation,” he said.
In his view, parents should begin teaching children responsibility, independence, empathy and communication during their teenage years. Boys should learn how to understand and respect women, while both boys and girls should be prepared for the practical and emotional responsibilities of family life.
Early marriage without that preparation, he suggested, does not guarantee a stable relationship.
Career and Family Are Not Opposites
Parvizi also criticized the idea that young women must choose between building a career and starting a family.
“There are a hundred options between career and family. It is not simply black or white,” he said.
A woman can pursue professional goals while building a relationship, delay having children, combine motherhood with work or choose another arrangement that suits the couple. The central issue, according to Parvizi, is determining personal priorities rather than following a social media trend or a family-imposed script.
He argued that some parents, particularly those who grew up in marriages without emotional closeness, encouraged their daughters to view professional success as the primary route to happiness. At the same time, some mothers became so emotionally dependent on their sons that the men struggled to establish independent relationships with their wives.
Parvizi identified excessive parental involvement as one of the pressures contributing to marital conflict in Azerbaijan. This was presented as his personal assessment rather than a conclusion based on official divorce statistics.
The Economic Model of Marriage Has Changed
Parvizi also examined marriage through an economic lens. In the traditional model, he said, men were expected to provide income and security, while women depended on them financially and assumed most domestic and childcare responsibilities.
Women’s growing economic independence has altered that arrangement. A woman who earns her own income no longer has to remain in an unhappy marriage solely for financial security. At the same time, a man can no longer expect traditional authority simply because he provides for the household.
Parvizi believes the next stage should be a partnership between two independent adults who remain together because of love, respect and shared goals rather than economic dependence.
“I am complete on my own, and you are complete on your own. But we are looking in the same direction and can travel this road together,” he said, describing his preferred model of a modern relationship.
He also questioned the expectation that women should achieve income equality while continuing to seek partners who earn substantially more than they do. According to Parvizi, expectations within relationships must evolve alongside broader economic and social changes.
Respect Is the Minimum Requirement
Parvizi said many couples marry without fully understanding themselves or their partners. They may be unable to discuss disagreements, establish boundaries with relatives or manage the routine pressures of living together.
He described this as a shortage of relationship skills rather than evidence that marriage itself has lost its value.
“A family may survive without the same level of romantic love, but it cannot survive without respect,” he said.
Parvizi nevertheless emphasized that preserving a marriage should not become an absolute objective. Physical violence, humiliation and systematic abuse are legitimate reasons to end a relationship.
His central argument was that neither marriage nor divorce should be reduced to a single economic or cultural explanation. Sustainable families require emotional maturity, mutual respect, responsibility and the ability to negotiate – skills that, in his view, Azerbaijani society is not teaching young people consistently enough.
AZE.US