Agricultural value chains activity in uzbekistan

Gender and institutional trends 
The national legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan, starting with its Constitution, articulates the 
principles of nondiscrimination and equal rights for women and men. Within the Constitution of the 
Republic of Uzbekistan (established in 1991) it is stated “Women and men have equal rights” (Chapter 
10 on Guarantees of the Human Rights and Freedom / Article 46). The legal institutional base: the Family, 
Labor and Criminal Codes contain non-discrimination clauses and guarantee equal rights for women and 
men. As such, the Labor Code (1996) of the Republic of Uzbekistan (including consequent updates) 
outlines several protective privileges for employed women including: pregnant women (maternity leave) 
and nursing mothers, prohibiting against overtime work loads. The Law on Education (1997) guarantees 
gender equality, which states “women and men get equal rights in the selection of the profession and the 
obtaining education in all types of educational institutions”. The Family Code (1998) clearly articulates 
the equal rights of women and men in family relations. Uzbekistan's ratification of the UN Convention 
on Elimination of all Forms of Violence and Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1995, as well as 
ILO conventions On Protection of Motherhood and On Discrimination in Employment and Occupation 
highlights the important steps for Uzbekistan towards introducing gender equal rights. In 1998, 
the Cabinet of Ministries (Government) adopted the National Action Plan on improving the role of 
women in the Republic of Uzbekistan developed in accordance with the UN’s Beijing Platform and Action 
Plan. In 1999, the Republic of Uzbekistan submitted a preliminary report on the Implementation
of UN’s Convention on elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. 
In 1995, the President of Uzbekistan signed a Decree on “Improving the role of women in state 
and societal development of the Republic of Uzbekistan”, in which the national mechanism to improve 
the role of women was established in the form of a Women’s Committee and laid the basis for the 
realization of government programs on the socio-economic and political development of women. The 

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Women’s Committee has branches in every region of Uzbekistan and is funded from the State budget. 
One unique feature of this national agency is that its chairperson also holds the position of the Deputy 
Prime Minister for Social Protection of the Family, Maternity and Childhood
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. This entitles the 
Committee to coordinate a social partnership between State bodies and civil society organizations and 
NGOs. At the same time, the role of women is enhanced through the self-government bodies (local 
communities), where the women’s councils locally address the problems of women and their families, 
associations). Positions identical to the Deputy Prime-Minister, who coordinates matters of ensuring the 
rights and interests of women, were introduced across provincial and district authority levels. There are 
more than a total of 12,000 women advisors in the Women’s Councils of each of mahallahs (community 
neighborhoods). Establishment of Women's Committee opened doors for women to enter into high-
level decision making through providing recommendations to the Government. Although, the 
representation of women within the government is still unequal the national legislation ensures 
guaranteed representation of women through reserved 30% quota. In 2014 there were 21 women in the 
120-member legislative chamber of the parliament and 15 women in the 100-member Oliy Majlis (senate). 
In 2007-2008, for the first time in the history of the Republic of Uzbekistan a woman run for Presidency; 
and for the first time a woman was elected as a Speaker of the Legislative body of the Parliament of the 
Republic of Uzbekistan. Nevertheless, women occupy less top managerial positions in all branches of the 
government – the total percentage of women in public institutions is 16.9%, while women constitute 
14.3% of the judiciary and 6.5% of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Representation 
of women at the managerial level of the economy is slightly better. As of January 1, 2010, 26.8% of 
managers in the economy were women. However, women exclusively occupy low- and medium-level 
managerial positions, and representation of women in the top positions is almost non-existent. The role 
of women is enhanced through self- government bodies (local communities), where women's councils 
locally address problems of women within their families and local communities. 
In 2015 the Civic Initiatives Support Centre (CISC) and the “Legal Problem Research Center” on behalf 
of the Republic of Uzbekistan submitted a “Shadow Report for UN Committee on Elimination of All 
Forms of Discrimination against Women on Implementation of Article 14”. The report still raises 
concerns on the status of rural women, in particular in regards to gender gaps in land ownership and free 
access to loans. Moreover, the CISC recommends to develop projects only after discussing and 
integrating gender related issues as well as raising gender awareness among state officials responsible for 
the rural sector reform.