Uzbekistan Country Gender Assessment: Update

parties. Uzbekistan. paras. 2, 3, 29, 40.
²²⁵ among 117,600 instructors, 57,501 (48.8%) are women, including 933 doctors of science or doctoral candidates. thus far, there are no sex-disaggregated statistics on specific areas of instruction. However, anecdotal data and observation of the general trends in education, particularly secondary special education, suggests that female teaching staff are concentrated mainly in the humanities, while male staff are concentrated in technical subjects and information technology.
70 Uzbekistan Country Gender Assessment Update




the management hierarchy in secondary general education reflects the common trend of vertical segregation of women in decision making: the higher the segment, position, and decision-making power in the sector, the lower the female representation.²²⁶ Overall, about 55% of females in primary schools are “directors,” and 96.6% of school directors in government- sponsored pre-schools are females. In secondary general schools, the ratio is over 20% lower and male directors dominate. table 10 shows the dynamics of gender breakdown in the management of secondary general schools.

employment in the education, particularly secondary education, offers considerably lower salaries than other segments of the economy, ranking 7th after finance, information and technology, construction, industry, transport, and art and culture (Figure 1). In 2016, the average wage in education was SUM1,038,161. ²²⁷

6. Secondary Special Education

Upon finishing the 9th grade, boys and girls should select the type of free educational facility they wish to attend—grade 10 of the secondary general school, a vocational college, or an academic lyceum. academic lyceums provide more in-depth and vocationally oriented training.


²²⁶ For instance, there is no female head of a regional (viloyat) department of public education. the sex-disaggregated statistics on the number of heads of educational departments on district level are not yet available.
²²⁷ data provided by the State Committee on Statistics to adB in april 2018 for this CGa update.
Mainstreaming Gender in ADB Operations, by Sector 71

Table 10: Sex-Disaggregation of Management in Secondary General Education

Category	Sex-disaggregation (%)
	2014		2015		2016
	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women	Men
directors
primary schools	51.9	48.1	55.6	44.4	62.1	37.9
Secondary general schools	35.1	64.9	35.6	64.4	35.0	65.0
deputy directors (academic work)	49.0	51.0	49.3	50.7	48.6	51.4
deputy directors (enlightening and spirituality)	41.1	58.9	41.3	58.7	39.7	60.3
Total	42.2	57.8	42.4	57.6	41.5	58.5

Source: data provided by the State Committee on Statistics to adB in September–October 2017 for this CGa update.
enrollment during the 2016–2017 academic year was 49% females vs. 51% males in vocational colleges and 44.1% females vs. 55.9% males in academic lyceums (footnote 232). Similar to gender issues in higher education (e.g., location, academic focus, etc.), higher male enrollment in academic lyceums might be also conditioned by a stronger focus on continuing education.

along with outreach interventions designed by WCU, the general prosecutor’s office, and other government and nongovernment players, the mandatory character of secondary special

education for students aged about 15–18 years has positively affected the increasing average age of first marriage. ²²⁸ In 2016, that age was 22.6 vs. 26 years for women and men, respectively.²²⁹

7. Higher Education

there are no legal barriers to higher education, but gender disparities are still significant. Female enrollment at the postsecondary and tertiary levels is lower than compared to men (38.2% vs. 61.8%, respectively), and it appears to be decreasing.²³⁰ this imbalance might become a major obstacle to competitiveness in the labor market.

In rural areas, boys usually receive preference for higher education due to parents’ unwillingness to send their daughters too far from home; two-thirds of higher education institutions are in

²²⁸ the legal age of marriage is 18 years for men and 17 years for women. http://www.lex.uz/pages/getpage.aspx?lact_ id=104723
²²⁹ the State Committee on Statistics of the Republic of Uzbekistan. 2017. Demographic Yearbook - Uzbekistan 2017.
tashkent. Uzbekistan.
²³⁰ the State Committee on Statistics of the Republic of Uzbekistan. 2016. Women and Men of Uzbekistan. tashkent. Uzbekistan.
72 Uzbekistan Country Gender Assessment Update

tashkent, Samarkand, and andijan.²³¹ the costs of accommodation and transportation to a higher educational institution might also reduce opportunities for both young men and women.

In Uzbekistan, higher education is mostly fee-based. due to high tuition costs, families might give preference to sons over daughters. traditionally, daughters marry and move to their husband’s family, so any investment in a daughter’s education is unlikely to benefit her own family. However, many middle-income families continue to pay their daughters’ higher

education costs after marriage because grooms’ families are often reluctant to cover a bride’s tuition cost. additionally, the age of admission at universities coincides with the most frequent marriage age for girls (18–19 years) and marriage might be prioritized over higher education for young girls in situations where a choice is to be made between pursuing higher education and getting married. Young girls-college graduates are unlikely to enter university the following year in case of failure. Finally, women’s education is affected by their reproductive function: women in their twenties have the highest rate of childbirth in Uzbekistan.²³² However, growing awareness of the value of education is changing families’ attitudes. Brides who complete
higher education are in more demand in urban and rural households because of their increased potential for contributing to the family budget.²³³

Gender asymmetry in higher education is also explicit regarding areas of study. Young women usually pursue schooling in health, education, and other traditionally female areas, whereas young men dominate in transport and communications, engineering, construction, and other technical fields. Jobs related to technical fields typically pay more than occupations in fields considered as traditionally female areas.

In 2006–2013, the portion of female and male tertiary students in engineering, manufacturing, and construction was 4.5% vs. 27.2%, respectively, and 10.1% vs. 5.5%, respectively in sciences.²³⁴ In comparison with the above UN Women data, a 2016 World Bank study( based on data from the State Committee on Statistics) reported that women’s participation in higher education showed little progress according areas of study: 56% in education and culture, 40% in health care and physical training; 23% in agriculture; 20% in economics and law; and less than 15% in communication, construction, and transportation.²³⁵

Starting with the 2017–2018 academic year, the State Committee on Statistics plans to add sex- disaggregation to the enrollment data in higher education, sorted according to area of study.²³⁶

Some causes of gender asymmetry by economic sector include traditional stereotypes for women’s social roles in the family and society, lack of national and sector policies, and lack of support in promoting women’s participation in the traditionally nonfemale sectors of education

²³¹ UN Food and agriculture Organization. 2017. Gender, Livelihoods and Forestry. Socio-economic and Gender Analysis in the Forestry Sector in Uzbekistan. p.12 in press).
²³² 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
²³³ adB field survey in 2017 in preparation for this CGa update.
²³⁴ United Nations entity for Gender equality and the empowerment of Women. 2016. Progress of the World’s Women Report 2015-2016. New York. 19 July. p. 259.
²³⁵ World Bank. 2016. Systematic Country Diagnostic for Uzbekistan. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/ en/304791468184434621/Uzbekistan-Systematic-country-diagnostic
²³⁶ data provided by the State Committee on Statistics to adB in September–October 2017 for this CGa update.
Mainstreaming Gender in ADB Operations, by Sector 73

and the labor market (Section IIIa, Section IIIe, and Section IIIG). However, additional support will be required for future surveys to identify more root causes.²³⁷

at the institutional level, women’s representation is quite high (48.6%),²³⁸ including 8 women members of the academy of Sciences, 310 doctors of science (16%), and 3,025 candidates for science degrees (33%).²³⁹ there are 2 female rectors at higher learning institutions, 20 vice rectors, 34 faculty deans, and 390 department chairs.²⁴⁰

the high ratio of women in the management and specialists segment is mostly due to the high representation of female teachers (over 44%), a tendency that is likely to decrease (table 11). the causes of this tendency require further exploration.