"Women empowerment issues in Tajikistan"

The Government of the country has done a lot to reduce gender stereotypes and promote equality between men and women in all societies.

Today, Tajikistan, along with the change of Central Asia, is actively involved in the policy of promoting and preserving the rights and freedoms of women, participating in various projects of international organizations, and adopting new laws and concepts at the state level.

In general, in order to address geographical issues over the 30 years of independence, Tajikistan has adopted more than 20 laws, programs, strategies, and regulations for the development of the Republic of Tajikistan (see chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://stat.tj/storage/posts/May2021/Tajikistan_Statistical_Publication. pdf), which are constantly being improved and converted in accordance with international documents.

In the National Development Strategy of Tajikistan for the period up to 2030, the geographical issue also occupies a special place. In particular, we are talking about equality of opportunity, reducing strict conditions, ensuring de facto gender equality and preventing all forms of war against women and girls. The strategies noted that women in Tajikistan do not have equal access to the material (land, finance, etc.) and non-material (education, healthcare, etc.) types of resources, which are factors limiting the development of women, society and the economy the country as a whole. . Strategy for monitoring and active participation of Tajikistan in Agenda 21 and the Development Goals (SDGs), approved by the 70th session of the entire Europe of the UN (September 2015).

In the Development Goals (SDGs), the fifth point is gender equality, and in accordance with scientific discoveries in Tajikistan, in many respects - in education, in entrepreneurship and in the public service, the principle of gender equality is being introduced.

To date, there has been a decline in mortality, an increase in the number of women in parliament and an increase in the number of women with at least a secondary education.

The President of the country spoke about achievements in geographical messages in his last message in December 2022, where he named figures that are clear evidence of the activity of women and girls in the country's economy. In particular, he noted that women account for 25% of the total number of civil servants, almost 20% of senior staff, 47% in culture, 39% in banking, 25% in communications, including in the field of information, and services - almost 40%. These figures have increased significantly compared to the figures of the 1990s.

In Tajikistan, presidential quotas have been established for the education of girls from distant regions in higher educational institutions. In general, over the past 20 years, more than 500,000 girls and women have completed all stages of development and acquired a profession. Of these, 239,000 have received higher education, and currently, another 100,000 girls are studying at the country's universities.

The government has established grants that help women expand their entrepreneurial activities. Unfortunately, only about 2 thousand small and medium-sized enterprises are headed by women and this is only 1% of the total volume of existing ones. Tajik women are more likely to work on a patent or certificate in small business, which again indicates women's limited access to financial resources, in particular to bank loans. Despite this, according to official data, in 2022, the country's banking institutions issued loans to more than 600 thousand women in the amount of more than 3 billion 400 million somoni, which is 2.4 times more than in 2018. And, in general, over the past 5 years, credit funds provided to women amounted to 12.1 billion somoni.

Despite the progress made in the field of ensuring gender equality in Tajikistan, there are still many issues that are waiting to be resolved.

For example, the level of participation of women in the labor sphere is relatively low, about 69% of women of working age are not engaged in paid activities, and the contribution of women to the gross national income is 4.5 times less than that of men.

According to the World Bank country gender assessment in Tajikistan, among men aged 15 to 24, only 7% do not study or work anywhere, and among women this figure is 49%. Women who have no education or only a primary education are three times less likely to be employed compared to women who have a secondary or higher education.

Gender disparities are also observed in terms of access to water supply, sanitation and hygiene services, which negatively affects the education, and health of women and girls. For example, in villages, women, girls and girls usually collect water from rivers and canals, and it is natural that carrying heavy buckets of water, especially over long distances, can be a danger to their health.

Another urgent problem in the gender issue is the number of divorces in Tajikistan, which is constantly growing. This leads to numerous problems, especially for young women without education and profession, who, with small children in their arms, are left without support. According to the Ministry of Justice in Tajikistan, following the results of 2021 alone, the number of divorces increased by 3,205 cases - from 10,536 in 2020 to 13,741. As a result of divorce, about 14,814 children remained in the upbringing of one of their parents.

The economic independence of women and employment in the labor market are the most important aspects of Tajik society, and this is the basis of the country's legislative framework aimed at strengthening the status of women in Tajikistan.