Gender equality strategy serves stability and rise

New Uzbekistan is a state that develops on the principles of friendly cooperation with the world community, strictly adhering to generally accepted norms and principles regarding democracy, human rights and freedoms, the ultimate goal of which is to create a free, prosperous and prosperous life for our people.
In his address to the Supreme Assembly and our people, the president noted that the reliable protection of human rights and freedoms should be established as a constitutional obligation of the state, therefore, "first — man, then — society and the state," the idea that we should instill in our Constitutions and in depth both our laws and our daily lives." Also, in a speech at the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council, he stressed that "we will continue to work on issues of gender policy, aimed at radically increasing the role of women in the socio-political life of our country and in the field of business."
It is man and his interests that are also the main factor of all indicators at the stage of today's development of the renewed Uzbekistan. Therefore, 2023 was named the year of human attention and quality education. In our reforms, priority is given to serving the people, achieving the consent of the population, living with their pain, solving their problems. In such processes, great emphasis is placed on ensuring human rights and freedoms, following openness and transparency. As a key result and international recognition in this direction, it can be mentioned that Uzbekistan was first elected to the membership of the UN Human Rights Council for a period of three years — 2021-2023.

GENDER AND PROGRESS

At today's stage of the reforms, the reforms to protect the rights and legitimate interests of women in the country, social support of underprivileged women, ensuring gender equality are being systematically continued. A strategy to achieve gender equality was adopted by 2030 in order to bring these works to a new level. 
The age of marriage for men and women was set at 18 years, the list of cases in which the working conditions were unfavorable, in which women's Labor was prohibited from being applied in whole or in part, was canceled. In the Internal Affairs system, the position of Inspector for women's affairs was introduced.
By the decree of our president of March 7, 2022 "on measures to further accelerate work on the systematic support of family and women", a national program to increase the activity of women in all aspects of the country's economic, political and social life was approved in 2022-2026. With this document, a number of measures aimed at ensuring the social, political and economic rights of women were established and practical implementation was ensured. In particular, in families in need of social protection, a quota of 4 percent was allocated for adult girls to study in a higher education institution. 
Since February 9, 2022, the length of service for women, which is calculated by adding the period of stay on child care leave in the calculation of pensions, has been increased from 3 to 6 years. The period from childhood facing children with disabilities, taken into account as seniority, was extended from 16 to 18 years. 
Since September 2022, pregnancy and childbirth benefits have been established for women in private enterprises and organizations at the expense of the state budget. Interest-free educational loans were introduced for women studying in higher education institutions, technical schools and colleges, the procedure for state compensation for contract payments of all women studying at the graduate level was established. 
The procedure for reimbursement of educational contracts of underprivileged family, orphans or student women deprived of the care of their parents at the expense of additional sources of the local budget was introduced. In addition, the Alimony Fund was established and the practice of directing the minor child to cover the debts incurred from alimony payments in the event that the debtor was criminally liable for evasion of material support was established.
Reforms aimed at radically increasing the role of women in the socio-political life and business sphere of our country are continuing. A unique system was created to prepare socially active women for leadership positions, train them, improve their skills. As a result of 2016, the number of leading women in our country was 7%, by 2020 this was 12%, by 2022-27%, and among entrepreneurs-25%.
A single electronic base of promising women operating in state bodies and organizations was created, in which a reserve list of more than 25 thousand women candidates for leadership was formed. In 2022, with the participation of ministries and departments, a program was developed to increase the activity of women in public administration and focused on performance.
Today, in the system of state and public organizations, about 1400 women work in leadership positions at the level of the Republic and regions, more than 43 thousand at the district and city levels. Of the 150 deputies elected to the Legislature, 48 or 32 percent are women. These results are being achieved thanks to the conditions created in the field of politics and management for the sake of women serving for the next day of our country, there will never be an exaggeration to say.
The Academy of Public Administration and the committee on family and women developed a 552-hour training program for the training of women leaders. On the basis of the program, 100 active women were trained. Data on 142 female graduates who graduated from the Academy in the academic years 1996-2021 were formed and entered into the National Personnel Reserve Base. At the same time, a unified information system was created to take into account women affected by harassment and violence. 29 Centers for rehabilitation and adaptation of women, including 1 Republican Center, 14 territorial centers and 14 exemplary inter-district centers, are functioning effectively.

THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK IS BECOMING MORE SOLID

Women are also making a worthy contribution to the prosperity of the new Uzbekistan. This is the result of the reforms carried out on the main aspects of society — strengthening the prestige of women in the political, economic, social spheres, protecting their rights and interests. 
In the following years, significant work is being done to further strengthen the legal framework for ensuring gender equality in all areas. In order to strengthen the legislative and institutional basis of achieving these goals, more than 20 regulatory legal acts were adopted, aimed at further improving the system of comprehensive support for Women, Protection of their rights and legitimate interests.
National legislation included the concepts of "gender expertise" and "gender audit". A law was passed to simplify the legal framework of the adoption procedure. Adoption was also allowed for those who had committed less serious crimes and served their sentences with this document.
A law was also passed to ensure guarantees of the rights of women in critical social situations. Based on the UN recommendation, the law "on the protection of women from harassment and violence"and other relevant legislation were established, the introduction of the concept of "domestic violence" into the law and responsibility for domestic violence as a separate criminal structure. Currently, the mechanism for protecting women from harassment and violence has been improved, and a bill has been drafted and introduced into the Legislature, which establishes the procedure for the issuance of the protection order by court order for one year.
By 2030, within the framework of the strategy for achieving gender equality in the Republic of Uzbekistan, 11 indicators were developed by the Central Election Commission that monitor the participation of women and men on an equal basis in all stages of the election in order to attract women and men to electoral processes on an equal basis, ensure equal rights and opportunities for women and men In maintaining the rating of single personnel units in state bodies and organizations during 2022, the provision of women's balance sheets and labor rights was established as a separate indicator.
The framework for the legal regulation of Labor Relations in the Labor Code adopted in 2022 has been improved in accordance with international standards for human labor rights. It was in this code that more than twenty new norms were introduced that protected the labor rights of women. In particular, the right of citizens to dispose of their abilities to work, to implement them in any form that is not prohibited by law, to freely choose the type of training, profession and specialty, place of work and working conditions was strengthened.
 

EXECUTION OF INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTS

Uzbekistan provides a systematic national periodic report on the implementation of the provisions of the International Convention and pacts at the UN Human Rights Council. Parliamentary oversight of compliance with international obligations in the field of human rights has been established.
Within the framework of the implementation of the Gender strategy, the issue of implementing the conventions of the International Labor Organization "equal relations and equal opportunities for working women and men: on workers with family obligations", "on an incomplete day of work", "on employment"into our national legislation was considered. Proposals for the feasibility of joining the Republic of Uzbekistan to The Hague Convention on the international procedure for the collection of child support and other forms of family support were developed. Currently, the process of agreeing on the draft law on the accession to this international document is underway.
Last year, the National Action Plan for the implementation of the UN Security Council resolution "Women, Peace and security" and the roadmap for 2022-2025 were approved by the Republican commission on increasing the role of women in society, gender equality and family issues. Based on this document, it was established to adopt temporary special measures to increase the number of women in leadership positions, to encourage them. 
Work has also been carried out to prevent cases of violence against women, expand their protection, strengthen the fight against trafficking, including the trafficking of women and children, and increase the readiness and responsibility of competent government bodies to prevent the risk of violence against women.
The regulation of issues on the rights of labor migrants is of particular importance for Uzbekistan. Therefore, in 2019, our country became a member of the International Organization for Migration. A special fund was created with the aim of supporting persons carrying out labor activities abroad, protecting their rights and interests. In 2022, the Cotton Campaign coalition, which brings together companies that produce finished cotton products and trade cotton products, lifted the ban on Uzbek cotton in recognition of the complete elimination of forced and child labor in Uzbekistan. Also, in the annual report of the US Department of Labor "list of products produced through child labor and forced labor — 2022", Uzbek cotton was removed from the list of goods produced through child labor and forced labor.
Today, constitutional reforms are being implemented in our country. The constitutional bill"on amendments and additions to the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan" was prepared. The bill was subject to gender-legal expertise. 
On July 20, 2022, an international public discussion (consultation) was held in Tashkent on the topic "reflection of the rules on the rights of women in World constitutions". At the event, proposals were developed to further develop the constitutional and legal framework for ensuring the effective protection of the dignity, rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of women.
Today in our country, the provision of rights and interests of women, gender equality, the development of women's entrepreneurship, the creation of new jobs for them, the improvement of Labor and living conditions have become a priority of state policy. This, in turn, serves to increase the prestige of women in the most basic aspects of society — political, economic, social spheres, increased activity in each sphere, and the participation of sisters in the life of society increases every year.

Malika Kadyrkhanova,
Senate Of The House Of Commons 
Chair of the committee on women and gender equality issues