During the years of independence, Uzbekistan has taken significant steps to improve the status of women in the political, socio-economic and cultural spheres of society.
Uzbekistan condemns discrimination against women, as it prevents the participation of the fair half of humanity on an equal footing with men in all spheres of the country’s life, impedes the full realization of women’s rights and opportunities. However, this does not reduce the importance of women’s contribution to the welfare of the family, does not reduce the social importance of motherhood and the role of women in the upbringing of children. The state and society contribute to changing the traditional role of both men and women in society and the family.
Discrimination against women does not meet the interests of the individual, society and the state, as it violates the principles of equality and respect for human dignity.
Uzbekistan, which is a member of the UN and a state party to international human rights treaties, submits regular reports to UN committees on the implementation of international legal instruments.
In addition, the Republic sends a National Report to the UN Human Rights Council within the framework of the Universal Periodic Review covering the implementation of all categories of human rights.
Since the first years of independence the main directions of state policy in the field of non-discrimination against women began to be formed. Uzbekistan has joined the basic international documents regulating principles and norms of protection of women’s rights. In order to ensure the rights of women in accordance with international norms and legal standards in this field, the country has acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Political Rights of Women, the Convention on Maternity Protection, other international instruments on women’s rights, as well as the Beijing Platform and the Action Plan (PAP) adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995).
The improvement of the state policy of Uzbekistan is based on the Concluding Observations and Recommendations, as well as general comments adopted by the international treaty body monitoring the enforcement of women’s rights. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women reviewed five national reports of Uzbekistan on the implementation of the Convention and submitted its Concluding Observations on the outcome of their consideration. The recommendations of the committee are a guide to action for the relevant state and public structures.
On the basis of comprehensive consideration of international standards, the national legislation on gender equality and special measures aimed at protecting maternity has been formed, creating favorable conditions for the all-round development of women.
At the same time, there is a steady increase in the share of women in the employment structure, which is 45.5%, while in the business sector there are about 170 thousand women, 34% of heads of private structures are women, about 500 thousand jobs are created for women each year by development of entrepreneurship, farming and home-based work.
Special attention is paid to guarantees of women’s labor rights, guarantees for the job placement of single and large families with children under 14 and disabled children, graduates of colleges and universities, girls, victims of trafficking in persons, especially women, are strengthened. Pregnant women, women with children under three years of age, graduates of colleges, lyceums and universities have been exempted from the probationary period during employment. The Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan of December 5, 2017 “On measures to improve the activities of self-government bodies of citizens to ensure employment of the population, primarily youth and women” provides for the interaction of citizens’ self-government bodies with the Youth Union, the Women’s Committee and labor and employment agencies, including youth and women.
The program for the further development of specialized medical care for the population for 2017-2021 was approved, a single electronic database of patients requiring specialized medical assistance was created, and tax privileges were defined.
A decisive contribution to the improvement of state policy in the field of promoting women’s rights was introduced by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan of February 2, 2018 “On measures to radically improve activities in the area of supporting women and strengthening the institution of the family.” In it, taking into account the tasks defined by the Strategy of Action for the five priority development directions of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2017-2021, priority areas for the activities of the Women’s Committee of Uzbekistan are envisaged.
In addition, under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Decree established the Scientific and Practical Research Center “Oila” and its territorial subdivisions, and defined its main tasks.
At the offices of the “Oila” center of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, the provinces and the city of Tashkent, special training courses were organized on the basis of medical professional colleges for retraining and improving the skills of the personnel in the field of preparing young people for family life, training legal and psychological bases, resolving conflict situations in the family, preventing divorce , as well as other issues related to the strengthening of spiritual and moral values in families.
IA “Dunyo”
(The material was prepared on the basis of information from the National Center for Human Rights of the Republic of Uzbekistan)
