Uzbekistan Country Gender Assessment: Update

Table 8: Sex-Disaggregation in Professional Medical Educational Institutions and among Work Personnel

(%)

Group	2014		2015		2016
	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women	Men
Students/medical colleges	58.9	41.1	75.2	24.8	75.2	24.8
Students/higher medical institutions	59.1	40.9	40	60	39.7	60.3
Working medical nurses	89.2	10.8	91	9	92.3	7.7
Working medical doctors	51.2	48.8	51.6	48.4	51.4	49.6

Source: data provided by the State Committee on Statistics to adB in September–October 2017 for this CGa update.
the number of male students in higher medical education is much higher compared with female students, and slowly increasing: 11,800 (59%) vs. 8,300 (41%) in 2014; 12,600 (60%)
vs.8,400 (40%) in 2015; and 13,200 (60.3%) vs. 8,700 (39.7%) for males and females,
respectively in 2016.202

disparities in male and female enrollment in tertiary education can be attributed to several root causes, including (i) a longer education period (i.e., 7 years of full-time study to become a certified medical doctor); (ii) study periods coinciding with the traditionally favored age for

marriage and childbirth; ²⁰³ and (iii) financial costs of tuition that become especially problematic after marriage, since grooms’ parents very often are reluctant to cover the costs.

Sex-disaggregation among working medical doctors is close to parity, with 40,900 (49.6%) male doctors vs. 43,200 (50.4%) female doctors in 2016. Gender asymmetry among working medical nurses is even higher than the ratio of medical college students: 36,600 (10.8%) males vs. 299,800 females (89.2%) in 2014; 30,300 (9%) males vs. 306,100 (91%) females in 2015;

and 31,500 (7.7%) males vs. 309,800 (92.3%) females in 2016. the available sex-disaggregated statistical data do not specify the ratio for management staff in the health sector, but rather provide cumulative figures for managers and specialists (78.9% females vs. 21.1% males) (footnote 205). this needs further exploration and analysis.

although the demand for health specialists has decreased over the last 10 years, employment of graduates from medical higher education institutions has grown steadily (82.3% in 2014 vs. 90.87% in 2016), even though health care is among the lowest-paying sectors of the economy, occupying 10th place in the wage hierarchy.²⁰⁴

²⁰² data provided by the State Committee on Statistics to adB in September–October 2017 for this CGa update.
²⁰³ demographic Institute under the University Higher School of economics. Russian Federation. 2014. demoscope weekly.
L. a. tzhai On fertility issues in Uzbekistan http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/2014/0617/analit02.php.
²⁰⁴ the average annual salary in the sector is SUM877,310.
66 Uzbekistan Country Gender Assessment Update

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