OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan strengthens the role of women in socio-economic and political life through series of roundtables

The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan conducted a series of roundtable discussions, held on 2 and 3 August 2021, on strengthening the role of women in socio-economic and political life and investing in women's professional development and leadership skills. The event was jointly organized with the National Commission on Gender Equality and Committee of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Women and Gender Equality.

More than fifty participants from Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara regions including members of the National Commission on Gender Equality, officials from the ministries and state agencies, members of political parties, NGOs and the media took part in the discussions. Advancing the role of women in political participation, providing support to women-entrepreneurs, and enabling women with disabilities to ensure their participation in public and social life were topics of discussion.

Malika Kadirkhanova, Head of the Committee of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Women and Gender Equality stressed that: “Every woman in Uzbekistan is now an active participant, not an observer. This year, six normative legal acts were adopted to improve their status. This shows that attention is paid to women on a government level. In 2018, the pool of women supported to become leaders was more than 6,000, this year the number increased to more than 16,000. The National Commission on Gender Equality and Committee of the Senate plan to improve their political and legal knowledge and prepare them for leadership positions.”

In his opening remarks, Pierre von Arx, OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan noted positive steps achieved in Uzbekistan in increasing the number of women-parliamentarians from 24 women in 2014 to 48  as a result of the last parliamentary elections in 2019. This enabled the country to improve the representation of women in legislature from the 128th place out of 190 national parliaments in the world five years ago to the 37th place.

The roundtable events are part of the OSCE Extra Budgetary project “Support to Women’s Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan,” with financial support from the Government of Norway and a longstanding commitment of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan to assist the country in promoting women`s participation in social, political and economic life within the society.