Uzbekistan Country Gender Assessment: Update

Gender Equality Issues

division of labor in the family depends on the structure of livelihoods and household income, climate conditions, access to water and energy, seasonality, and the roles of women and men. Women are the main collectors, users, and managers of domestic water, and women and children mostly ensure the availability of drinking water.

In the rural areas, women and children carry water several times a day, over long distances, often from canals or springs and sometimes from a pump. In some areas, water sources are usually

in hollows and the trips are not always safe. additionally, carrying heavy containers requires sufficient physical strength. On average, water delivery accounts for 22 person-hours per month.⁷⁸ Women must boil water to make it safe for drinking. In the cold season, they must heat water for laundry, bathing, and cattle watering.<sup>79




78</sup> UN economic Commission for europe. Water Quality in the Amudarya and Syrdarya Water Basins. 2016. http://www.cawater-info.net/library/rus/gender/02_gender_and_water.pdf.
⁷⁹ Food and agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2017. Gender, Rural Livelihoods and Forestry in Uzbekistan: Socio-economic Analysis in the Forestry Sector. p. 42. Forthcoming.
Mainstreaming Gender in ADB Operations, by Sector 27

Women are mainly responsible for hygiene and sanitation in the households. adB’s 2017 study revealed that about 70% of women oversee the care of household members, especially the disabled, children, and the sick.⁸⁰

In the urban areas, women who live in multistory buildings spend 1–2 hours daily collecting water for drinking and household needs. Water supply to higher floors, and often even to the first floor, is often nonexistent because most Soviet-era pipelines, junctions, and central heating systems are in dire need of major repair.⁸¹ poor sanitation magnifies the drudgery of women, who are usually responsible for disposing of solid and liquid domestic waste. Maintaining the necessary sanitary and hygiene levels is very challenging, especially since Uzbek households usually consist of up to three nuclear families living in a two- or three-room flat, 35.4% of which have either nonfunctioning sewerage or no sewerage system at all.⁸²

In many rural or low-income households, women do not buy washing machines or rarely use them on account of the irregular supply of water, power supply unsustainability, and the high price of electricity: machine laundry would require 8–10 hours of electricity per month.⁸³ even when water is accessible, it is hard and requires filtering. Notably, households spend almost as much time doing hand laundry as they do bringing water home (footnote 82).

In all of the above, women experience more acutely the impact of limited supplies of poor- quality water. Women’s need for water and sanitation in public places (e.g., schools and clinics) is also different.

at the institutional level, women are underrepresented in WSS sector staff, both in lower-level positions and at managerial or decision-making levels. Senior and mid-level management staff, and economists, engineers, and operators, are male. Women usually fill junior, and consequently low-paying, technical positions (e.g., controllers, laboratory assistants, cleaners). In 2017, women in the central apparatus of the Ministry of Housing and Communal Services (MHCS) represented only 10% of total staff members. In Uzkommunhizmat,⁸⁴ only 5% of employees are female.⁸⁵ turnover among women controllers is high, mainly because of the low salaries and frequent travel. transport and transport fees are not included in remuneration schemes.

a 2015 a resolution by the Cabinet of Ministers required 45% of Suvokava personnel to be women.⁸⁶ However, in 2016 adB reported that only 11% of provincial and 18% of Suvokava

⁸⁰ adB. 2017. Feasibility Study: Western Uzbekistan Water Supply System Development Project. Manila.
⁸¹ adB field survey in 2017 for this CGa update.
⁸² UN economic Commission for europe. 2016. Water Quality in the Amudarya and Syrdarya Water Basins. http://www.cawater-info.net/library/rus/gender/02_gender_and_water.pdf.
⁸³ UN development programme and Institute for Social Research under the Cabinet of Ministers. 2016. Socio-economic Study of Housing for Integrated Rural Development Project Beneficiary Households. prepared for adB. tashkent. p. 46.
⁸⁴ the Uzbekistan Communal Services agency, the state agency and population organized under the decree of the president # 445 of august 2006.
⁸⁵ Cabinet of Ministers. 2015. On Measures to Implement the Main Directions of Development of Water Supply Organizations and Sanitation Services (Decree of Cabinet of Ministers 306, 30 October 2015). tashkent.
⁸⁶ adB. 2014. GAP Progress Report: Uzbekistan Water Supply and Sanitation Project (Loans 3275, 3064, and 3457). tashkent; adB. 2015. GAP Progress Report: Uzbekistan Water Supply and Sanitation Project (Loans 3275, 3064, and 3457). tashkent; adB. 2016. GAP Progress Report: Uzbekistan Water Supply and Sanitation Project (Loans 3275, 3064, and 3457). tashkent; and adB. 2017. GAP Progress Report: Uzbekistan Water Supply and Sanitation Project (Loans 3275, 3064, and 3457). tashkent.”
28 Uzbekistan Country Gender Assessment Update

Uzkommunhizmat staff were female (footnote 88). data from the State Committee of Statistics of the Republic of Uzbekistan differ slightly from adB data, but they still reflect

significant gender disparity in both general staff and sector management. table 5 shows the sex- disaggregated dynamics of WSS staff in 2014–2016.