Uzbekistan Country Gender Assessment: Update

Sex-Disaggregated Data and Statistics

In 2014, the State Committee on Statistics, with support from adB, launched a Gender Statistics website (https://gender.stat.uz/ru/), which provides sex-disaggregated information about demography, employment, tourism, social protection, crime, and social sectors such as health care, education, physical culture, and sports. However, the lack of sex-disaggregated data in key sectors of adB operations (e.g., energy, construction, transport and communication, agriculture, and municipal services) impedes the evaluation of gender disparities and issues that can be addressed through adB interventions. Several key globally identified indicators (e.g., share of women, in political participation and decision making, property rights and access
to resources, share of women in paid and unpaid work and home business, share of unemployed women, time use, etc.) are also not included.
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the WCU collects sex-disaggregated data, but lacks a systematic and structured approach, as well as human and technical resources.

Women’s Political and Public Participation

No laws restrict women’s political participation. Uzbekistan prohibits violence against women and forbids discrimination in the workplace. Consequently, women hold high offices throughout the country, and since 2004, when the 30% quota for women in political parties’ lists of candidates was introduced, the proportion of women in parliament has increased, from 9.4%
in 2014 to 16% in 2017. However, this proportion has remained almost unchanged since then. Women are still underrepresented at other decision-making levels (16%–25%), and they have not yet reached the critical mass at least 30% representation necessary for them to have an effective voice in decision-making.

Employment and the Labor Market

employment and job creation are a constant focus of the state. Women’s participation in labor market or entrepreneurial activity is not limited by any legislative act. the development Strategy for 2017–2021 specifically addresses employment for women and female graduates of vocational colleges. although women compose 49.6% of Uzbekistan’s population, their share in formal employment (45.7%) is lower than that of men (54.3%). Moreover, the labor market displays clear gender patterns. Women predominate in lower-paid social sector jobs (in education, health care, social services, accommodation, catering), while men hold the advantage in numbers in technical and other more profitable fields (construction, industry,
transport, communications, information technology). the limited number of formal sector jobs available locally and lack of necessary education, qualifications, and skills make women in rural areas much less competitive in the labor market. they are more likely to work in family-based businesses such as farming or handicrafts, which have significant potential and are supported by the state. Because women spend about the same amount of time on the unpaid domestic tasks that go with their social roles as men do in productive paid work, women have fewer options to work at formal jobs or start-up businesses.