Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 10 August 2020, a meeting was held in the Senate of the Oliy Majlis, organized by the Commission on Ensuring Gender Equality of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Senate Committee on Women and Gender Equality of the Oliy Majlis. Members of the Commission and the Committee, representatives of international structures and non-governmental non-profit organizations took part in an open dialogue on the participation of women in the judiciary.

It was noted that in our country, at the state level, attention is paid to the comprehensive support of women, to improve their status in society. As the head of state noted, "Today, no woman should be a passive observer, but on the contrary, they should become active participants in the democratic reforms carried out in the country." And the judicial sphere is no exception. In order to implement the tasks set by the President of the country to increase the number of women judges, the Commission on Gender Equality, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), UNDP began joint cooperation within the framework of the project entitled “Interaction on the path of ensuring rule of law in Uzbekistan”.

In the course of a constructive dialogue to determine areas of cooperation in the field of ensuring gender equality for judges, specific vectors of joint activities were identified. Thus, during the dialogue, the issue of holding practical seminars, round tables and international conferences on raising the activity of women judges, wide involvement of women lawyers and lawyers in the work of the judicial system and ensuring gender equality of judges was comprehensively discussed.

They also talked about the reasons for the passive participation of women in this area and measures for their activation, considered the experience of a number of foreign countries in this direction.

In particular, they spoke about the need to eliminate gender inequality by increasing the number of girls in law schools, including gender-related classes in the educational programs of law schools. The emphasis was also placed on the need to take measures to enhance the participation of women in other structures and the mastery of women in legal professions, to establish interaction between women lawyers.

The need was noted for improving working conditions, introducing a quota system for the bodies responsible for the selection and appointment of judges in order to increase the attractiveness of the profession of a judge for women.

The participants in the dialogue made proposals to enhance the participation of women in the judicial system. In particular, a proposal was put forward to establish "schools for young women judges" at the country’s higher legal educational institutions, and to attract prominent legal scholars and practitioners to their activities.

Based on the proposals and opinions expressed by the participants in the dialogue, measures for the implementation of the joint project were determined and appropriate recommendations were adopted.