Uzbekistan Country Gender Assessment: Update

Housing for the Integrated rural Development Program

In the rural areas, extended multi generational families occupy most houses, so the need to purchase or construct a new house arises when a nuclear family separates from the extended family. Culturally, families prioritize housing ownership and their children’s marriage, but constructing a new house and connecting it to basic infrastructure is extremely resource-, effort-, and time-consuming, and something that most families cannot afford.

From a gender perspective, loan access remains challenging because most real estate is owned and registered by men, whereas women make up less than one-third of all borrowers. Gender stereotypes in lending and house ownership are significant. traditionally, men are considered the heads of household. Consequently, women prefer to register property in the name of their husband to avoid offending his dignity. Other barriers to women’s home ownership include fear of nonperforming credit related to the prospect of maternity leave; underemployment, with salaries insufficient for creditworthiness; and lack of knowledge of banking systems.

the government is keen to continue its strategy of constructing affordable housing. In 2011–2015, the Housing for Integrated Rural development Investment program (HIRdIp), cofinanced by adB, provided an attractive alternative to urban migration by accelerating rural development, increasing rural job and livelihood opportunities, and improving rural living conditions. the program affected families and households, including female family members who benefited from increased access to housing loans. In 2012–2015, women became the registered owners of 4,300 HIRdIp houses (26.5% of the total). Improved rural housing

ensured access to basic and social infrastructure, and dramatically improved the quality of life of rural families by simultaneously decreasing women’s workload and increasing their spare time, allowing many women to start home-based businesses. For instance, in 2015–2016, women established 9,723 SMes in rural areas (31.2% of the total), and owned 823 of 2,003 SMes (41.1%) set up by HIRdIp home buyers. In 2016, women received 413 of 1,009 micro-loans (40.9%) and 368 of 796 MSMe loans (46.2%) issued to HIRdIp home buyers.

In another important outcome, pCBs adopted corporate gender policies that became valid under Gaps. the scope and impact of these gender policies extend far beyond the HIRdIp. Finally, under the rural housing program for 2017–2021, co-funded by adB, 8,700 (27%) of all housing loans are expected to be granted to women.

xviii Executive Summary