The World Bank has released its annual report "Women, Business and the Law," evaluating global progress towards gender equality in the legal sphere. The report assesses the situation of women in 190 countries, including Uzbekistan, across 10 indicators such as safety, freedom of movement, employment, pay, marriage, parenthood, childcare, entrepreneurship, property rights, and pension.
According to the latest edition of the report, only 18 countries, or less than 10% of those evaluated, implemented legal reforms improving women's positions within the specified indicators. These 18 countries collectively carried out 47 reforms to promote gender equality.
Among them, Uzbekistan, along with Jordan, Malaysia, Sierra Leone, and Togo, stood out for achieving significant progress. Uzbekistan implemented four legal reforms since October 2022, positively impacting women's positions, particularly in terms of pay and marriage. This led to a significant increase in Uzbekistan's rating by 11.9 points, reaching 82.5 out of 100 in the "Women, Business and the Law 2024" index.
The country scored equally with Singapore, Turkey, and the UAE, showcasing the best results in Central Asia. Uzbekistan introduced regulations ensuring equal pay for work of equal value between men and women and lifted restrictions on women's employment in certain sectors through the adoption of a new Labor Code in October 2022.
Further amendments were made to the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Responsibility in April 2023 to combat domestic violence, including physical, psychological, and economic abuse, with criminal liability established for these offenses.
The World Bank commended Uzbekistan's progress in advancing gender equality, acknowledging the recent legal reforms that significantly expanded women's civil, labor, and economic rights. Tatiana Proskuryakova, the World Bank's Regional Director for Central Asia, expressed satisfaction with contributing financial and analytical support to the government for implementing these reforms.
Efforts to further enhance women's rights and opportunities in Uzbekistan are seen as instrumental in building a fairer and more prosperous society that benefits all citizens regardless of gender. The report is available on the World Bank's website.
