Our country over the years of independent development of has made great
strides in protecting the rights and legal interests of women. In the sphere of
ensuring their active participation in the socio-political and socio-economic
life of the country are no less significant achievements.
First of all, it is necessary to note the work carried out in Uzbekistan in
the development of the legal framework in this area. Over the years, the
leadership of the country adopted and ratified about 100 national and
international legal instruments aimed at protecting the interests of women.
Constitution of our country is the cornerstone document that guarantees the
fundamental rights of women. The list also includes a number of decrees and
resolutions of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Cabinet of
Ministers, including "On consolidation of women's role in state and social
construction", "On additional measures to protect the health of
mother and child, the formation of a healthy generation" and many others.
The authorities annually receive special state program, under which systematic
measures in a certain direction are being carried out. This in one way or
another improves the conditions and quality of our women’s life.
In addition, Uzbekistan is one of the first in Central Asia, has ratified a
number of UN conventions and the International Labor Organization, such as
"On the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women",
"On maternity protection", "On discrimination in respect of
employment and occupation" and other documents.
Special attention in our country is on the creation of an effective health
care system as a priority which is determined by a complex ensuring the health
of girls and mothers. To this end, specialized medical centers have been opened
throughout the country, which effectively operate an extensive network of
primary health care institutions, including rural medical stations. A network
of screening centers operates here in Uzbekistan, standing guard over the
health of young mothers and babies.
Another area, where our country fully guarantees the right of girls and
women to get an education, is an effective system of primary, secondary, and
higher education. In addition, educational institutions, professional colleges,
academic lyceums and universities of the country are working mostly female
professionals.
In order to encourage pupils and students each year in all regions of
Uzbekistan, the most gifted of them awarded the State Prize Zulfiya. This
measure encourages the girls to a fuller expression of their abilities in the
field of science, education, literature and art, as well as gives an
opportunity to receive grants to study in higher educational institutions.
These results were achieved through an integrated approach, according to
which not only the solid legal foundation has been created, but also effective
institutional framework did. As an example, the establishment of a public
organization - the Women's Committee of Uzbekistan, which has become a
productive mechanism to support this part of population, protection of their
rights and legitimate interests.
Everything becomes more active participation of women in governance. In
particular, today they account for 17% of the members of the Senate and 16% of
the deputies of the Legislative Chamber. At the same time, in recent years,
nearly 5-fold increased and indicators of women's representation in the
executive branch - from 3.4% to 16%.
It increased the number of members of the fairer sex by creating a women's
wing in the country's political parties. Currently, according to the Women's
Committee of Uzbekistan, the share of women in the Liberal Democratic Party of
Uzbekistan grew from 35% to 38%, of the Democratic Party "Milly Tiklanish"
- from 40% to 46%, the People's Democratic Party - from 41% to 56%, the Social
democratic party "Adolat" - from 38% to 49%.
Increase the participation of women in local government and in the
structures of the mahalla. Thus, over the last period their share of the total
number of chairmen of mahalla committees increased from 9.6% to 25.6%.
However, it is expanding the role of women in social and economic life of
the country. For example, in recent years the share of the beautiful half of
our society in the structure of employment has increased from 44% to 45.7%. An
increasing number of women entrepreneurs, who opened their business and achieve
significant success. According to recent reports, the heads of small
enterprises 40.4% and 13.7% of micro-enterprises are the fair sex.
It should also be noted that, taking into account the key role of women in
the upbringing of healthy generation, Uzbekistan has adopted a number of acts
to provide them with social support programs. In particular, the non-working
mothers are paid allowances for child care up to 2 years. In addition, labor
contracts include benefits such as financial assistance for women in pregnancy
and childbirth, maternity leave until the child 2 or 3 years and a reduction in
working hours by one hour in the event of their having children younger than
three years.
The formation of our country as a democratic state with a strong civil
society is a key factor in the growth of social and political participation of
women. It is clear that over the years of independence of Uzbekistan in this
direction have already achieved a great deal. Undoubtedly, women have favorable
conditions of life, work and education of the younger generation will continue
to be a serious tool for achieving them and our country as a whole has great
achievements and successes.
Jahon Information Agency
UN Women Central Asia