Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 12 November 2020, a press conference was held in Tashkent on the initiative of the Commission on Ensuring Gender Equality of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the work carried out in our country in the field of ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men.

It was attended by the Chairperson of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Chairperson of the Commission on Ensuring Gender Equality of the Republic of Uzbekistan Tanzila Narbaeva.

The press conference was also attended by representatives of the ministries of employment and labor relations, health care, internal affairs, higher and secondary specialized education, public education, the Committee on Religious Affairs, and the media.

It was noted that the reforms carried out in the renewed Uzbekistan, while ensuring human interests as one of the priority values, are also aimed at raising the status of women in society, protecting their rights and opportunities. At the same time, increasing the political, social and economic activity of women is one of the priority directions of state policy.

In particular, over the past three years, important measures have been taken to strengthen the legislative and institutional framework for gender equality. Approximately 20 normative legal acts were adopted, including 2 laws, 1 presidential decree, 4 presidential decrees, 13 decrees of the Cabinet of Ministers aimed at protecting the rights and interests of women. An inventory of legislation was carried out for compliance with the standards for the protection of women's rights to work and business.

In accordance with the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On guarantees of equal rights and opportunities for women and men", recommendations have also been developed for the establishment of an Advisory Council on Gender Equality in all ministries and departments and in labor collectives, advisory councils have been created.

In order to prevent discrimination against women, the Commission on Ensuring Gender Equality of the Republic of Uzbekistan was established.

Ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men in the social, economic and political spheres is one of the main factors in strengthening peace and economic stability in our society. With this in mind, a draft "Strategy for achieving gender equality in the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2020-2030" has been prepared and is being coordinated with state and non-governmental organizations. It is noteworthy that all areas of this Strategy are developed in accordance with the UN Sustainable Development Goals until 2030.

By a joint decision of the Ministry of Employment and Labor Relations and the Ministry of Health from 10 June 2019, the "List of jobs with unfavorable working conditions, where full or partial use of female labor is prohibited" was canceled.

Equality between men and women plays an important role in ensuring the well-being of the people, peace in society and economic stability. From this point of view, the issue of providing employment for women, expanding opportunities for them to fully realize their aspirations and abilities is constantly in the center of attention of our state. Thus, in order to increase the participation of women in government, a reserve of more than 6,000 active women has been formed. Currently, training sessions are being organized on a systematic basis to prepare them for various leadership positions.

16 women occupy leadership positions in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 6 women are appointed by khokims and 1 woman is an ambassador. In addition, there are about 1,500 women in leadership positions at various levels.

According to the results of elections to the Oliy Majlis and local Kengashes in December 2019, women-deputies accounted for 32% of the total number of deputies of the Legislative Chamber, women-senators - 25% of members of the Senate. In local Kengashes, the number of women is 25.6%. According to this indicator, the parliament of Uzbekistan ranks 44th among 190 parliaments in the world.

Comprehensive support for women, especially young women living in difficult living conditions, is also constantly in the center of attention of the state. In particular, during 2018-2020, at the expense of the Public Fund for Support of Women and the Family, initial contributions were paid to 3878 women in need of housing living in difficult living conditions.

The practice of allocating grants to vocational education institutions at the expense of the State Fund for the Promotion of Employment to finance the costs of training women living in low-income families has been introduced.

A government resolution established the procedure for women to enter higher educational institutions on the basis of additional grants.

At the press conference it was especially noted that large-scale work is being carried out in our country to protect motherhood and childhood. In particular, it was established that from 1 June 2021, children under 5 years old will be provided with vitamins and nutritious micronutrients, children under 10 years old - with antiparasitic drugs, pregnant women, lactating mothers and children under 15 years old - with preparations containing iodine, women under 35 years old - folic acid and ferrum. These medicines and vitamins are distributed free of charge by family doctors.

In order to strengthen ties with foreign organizations, jointly with such international organizations as UNICEF, UNFPA, UN, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, USAID, OSCE, EBRD, on the basis of bilateral proposals, annual joint plans are also being developed and implemented.

Important steps have also been taken in recent years to protect women from harassment and violence. In accordance with the relevant law, the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan approved the Regulation on the issuance of protection orders to women who have suffered from harassment and violence, ensuring their implementation and monitoring.

At present, the internal affairs bodies have received more than 7 thousand applications for the issuance of protection orders, 6183 orders have been issued and issued to women.

During the coronavirus pandemic, in order to protect the rights of women, prevent harassment and violence against them, the Commission, in cooperation with the Association of NGOs and international organizations, launched the "Hotline" service on 10 April.

Until today, the Helpline has received about 3,000 calls, 40% of which are related to violence, women have been provided with psychological and legal assistance.

In order to eliminate the problems that arise in some dysfunctional families during the quarantine period, to prevent harassment and violence against women, the Telegram social network has launched the No Violence! Channel.

In order to support women in Uzbekistan, to popularize the life experience of successful women who have found their place in society, the website www.genkom.uz has been created.

In the media, including television and radio channels, in newspapers and magazines, more than 3 thousand propaganda events were also held, more than 2 thousand in social networks and on official information sites.

The press conference provided detailed information on the work carried out in our country to ensure equal rights and opportunities for women and men. The participants of the event answered in detail all the questions of interest to the journalists.