venerdì 4 marzo 2016

THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN UZBEKISTAN




Our country over the years of independent development of has made great strides in protecting the rights and legal interests of women. In the sphere of ensuring their active participation in the socio-political and socio-economic life of the country are no less significant achievements.

First of all, it is necessary to note the work carried out in Uzbekistan in the development of the legal framework in this area. Over the years, the leadership of the country adopted and ratified about 100 national and international legal instruments aimed at protecting the interests of women. Constitution of our country is the cornerstone document that guarantees the fundamental rights of women. The list also includes a number of decrees and resolutions of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Cabinet of Ministers, including "On consolidation of women's role in state and social construction", "On additional measures to protect the health of mother and child, the formation of a healthy generation" and many others. The authorities annually receive special state program, under which systematic measures in a certain direction are being carried out. This in one way or another improves the conditions and quality of our women’s life.

In addition, Uzbekistan is one of the first in Central Asia, has ratified a number of UN conventions and the International Labor Organization, such as "On the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women", "On maternity protection", "On discrimination in respect of employment and occupation" and other documents.

Special attention in our country is on the creation of an effective health care system as a priority which is determined by a complex ensuring the health of girls and mothers. To this end, specialized medical centers have been opened throughout the country, which effectively operate an extensive network of primary health care institutions, including rural medical stations. A network of screening centers operates here in Uzbekistan, standing guard over the health of young mothers and babies.

Another area, where our country fully guarantees the right of girls and women to get an education, is an effective system of primary, secondary, and higher education. In addition, educational institutions, professional colleges, academic lyceums and universities of the country are working mostly female professionals.

In order to encourage pupils and students each year in all regions of Uzbekistan, the most gifted of them awarded the State Prize Zulfiya. This measure encourages the girls to a fuller expression of their abilities in the field of science, education, literature and art, as well as gives an opportunity to receive grants to study in higher educational institutions.

These results were achieved through an integrated approach, according to which not only the solid legal foundation has been created, but also effective institutional framework did. As an example, the establishment of a public organization - the Women's Committee of Uzbekistan, which has become a productive mechanism to support this part of population, protection of their rights and legitimate interests.

Everything becomes more active participation of women in governance. In particular, today they account for 17% of the members of the Senate and 16% of the deputies of the Legislative Chamber. At the same time, in recent years, nearly 5-fold increased and indicators of women's representation in the executive branch - from 3.4% to 16%.

It increased the number of members of the fairer sex by creating a women's wing in the country's political parties. Currently, according to the Women's Committee of Uzbekistan, the share of women in the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan grew from 35% to 38%, of the Democratic Party "Milly Tiklanish" - from 40% to 46%, the People's Democratic Party - from 41% to 56%, the Social democratic party "Adolat" - from 38% to 49%.

Increase the participation of women in local government and in the structures of the mahalla. Thus, over the last period their share of the total number of chairmen of mahalla committees increased from 9.6% to 25.6%.

However, it is expanding the role of women in social and economic life of the country. For example, in recent years the share of the beautiful half of our society in the structure of employment has increased from 44% to 45.7%. An increasing number of women entrepreneurs, who opened their business and achieve significant success. According to recent reports, the heads of small enterprises 40.4% and 13.7% of micro-enterprises are the fair sex.

It should also be noted that, taking into account the key role of women in the upbringing of healthy generation, Uzbekistan has adopted a number of acts to provide them with social support programs. In particular, the non-working mothers are paid allowances for child care up to 2 years. In addition, labor contracts include benefits such as financial assistance for women in pregnancy and childbirth, maternity leave until the child 2 or 3 years and a reduction in working hours by one hour in the event of their having children younger than three years.

The formation of our country as a democratic state with a strong civil society is a key factor in the growth of social and political participation of women. It is clear that over the years of independence of Uzbekistan in this direction have already achieved a great deal. Undoubtedly, women have favorable conditions of life, work and education of the younger generation will continue to be a serious tool for achieving them and our country as a whole has great achievements and successes.

Jahon Information Agency