Gender statistics are statistics that adequately reflect the real situation of women and men in all strategic areas in order to identify gender differences and study them systematically.
Gender statistics is a field of statistics which cuts across the traditional fields to identify, produce and disseminate statistics that reflect the realities of the lives of women and men and policy issues relating to gender equality.
Gender statistics refers to all statistical topics where data about a person is collected. It is not a discrete or isolated field, but on the contrary, it is a direction related to all other areas of statistics, such as statistics of the economy, agriculture, health, employment, demography, etc. It allows you to study the differences in the position of men and women in society. Such statistics are necessary in the development of policies aimed at addressing gender issues and achieving gender equality.
Gender equality takes place when men and women are equally important in social terms, have equal rights and responsibilities, and have equal chances (equal access to resources and opportunities) to take advantage of them. Formal equality or " equality on paper” is equality enshrined in law.
What are gender statistics for?
Gender statistics serve many purposes, but first of all, they are needed to detect hidden problems concerning the conditions and different status of women and men. In this regard, gender statistics are essential for successful planning, targeting, effective monitoring and evaluation of the impact of development programmes. Thus, gender statistics are a tool for promoting justice and equality, as well as improving the quality of life of all population groups. Gender statistics contribute to achieving sustainable and inclusive economic growth and development.
In many cases, the interest in examining the differences and similarities between women and men is aimed at understanding the nature and causes of gender inequality. Thus, statistics are needed to measure progress.
Gender statistics are needed to provide an evidence base for research and policy development, to assess differences in the situations of women and men and how their conditions are changing or not. In addition, gender statistics have an important role in improving the whole statistical system, pushing it to describe more accurately and fully the activities and characteristics of the whole population, which is made of women and men.
Gender statistics are also required for research to support the development and testing of explanations and theories to understand better how gender operates in a society. Furthermore, gender statistics are needed to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of policy developments.
International commitments on gender statistics
A strong international mandate for gender statistics has been established by the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Beijing Platform for Action, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The above-mentioned Convention is the only international treaty that addresses women's rights and interests in a comprehensive manner and, as such, it is one of the most important accountability mechanisms. States that have ratified or acceded to the Convention are legally obliged to implement all the provisions of the Convention in practice and report in progress reports to the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women every four years. Gender statistics are an important basis for this reporting, and the Committee, following its review of the national report, submits its concluding observations with recommendations for further steps needed to improve the situation of women's rights at the national level.
The importance of gender statistics is highlighted in another international document - the Beijing Platform for Action, adopted in 1995 by the Fourth UN World Conference on Women. It encourages organizations at the regional, national and international level to regularly collect, analyze and present data disaggregated, age and other factors, in order to adequately reflect the situation of women and men in all critical areas and spheres when formulating policies and programs.
Nationally and internationally agreed development goals, such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), have increased the demand for gender statistics. In total, 189 countries have committed to working together to address inequalities in a number of areas, including education, wages and participation in decision-making. The UN Millennium Declaration identified quantitative indicators that should be used to measure progress towards the eight MDGs. The goals required that data be disaggregated by gender and contain other characteristics (e.g., urban-rural comparisons), thus going beyond national calculations to better understand the situation of different groups in society.
In 2015, the MDGs were replaced by new goals and targets - the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Goal 5, as reflected in the SDGs, provides for gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.
There is a global consensus that gender statistics are essential for women's empowerment and gender equality, both of which are essential for poverty eradication, inclusive economic growth and sustainable development. Thus, the field of gender statistics currently plays a role not only in activities aimed at achieving gender equality, but also in development-related activities, including such areas as poverty reduction, environmental protection, budgeting and financing, which until recently were considered to be non-gender-related.
A practical manual prepared by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in collaboration with the World Bank Institute in 2010 can serve as a guide for the development of gender statistics.
Ways to ensure gender equality in Uzbekistan
Since the first days of independence, the Republic of Uzbekistan has demonstrated its commitment to democratic principles to the world by adhering to almost 70 major international human rights instruments. These are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Millennium Development Goals, the Sustainable Development Goals and others.
The Republic, based on its own model of socio-economic transformation of society, assigns a key role to solving issues of national development on the basis of equality of women and men and the empowerment of women in society and the state, the development of civil society institutions and the private sector as important partners capable of taking the initiative in the development and implementation of economic and legal mechanisms.
The Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan secures for each person the whole range of personal, social, political, cultural and economic rights contained in the International Bill of Human Rights. The Basic Law secures for each person the rights that are not alienated by anyone to life, freedom, and personal inviolability.
Over the years of independence, the republic has also adopted many legislative acts in the field of citizens' rights and freedoms. These are laws: “On elections to the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan”, “On social protection of disabled people”, “On property”, “On education”, “On citizens' appeals”, “On guarantees and freedom of access to information”, “On public associations "," On employment of the population "," On guarantees of equal rights and opportunities for women and men "," On the protection of women from oppression and violence" and many others.
Ensuring the full participation of women in the electoral process and equality of electoral standards for women and men of the country are enshrined in the Election Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and are also reflected in the laws of the Republic of Uzbekistan: "On elections to the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan", "On the nationwide discussion of draft laws", "On the referendum of the Republic of Uzbekistan".
The Law "On elections to the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan" dated August 29, 2003 (Article 22) provides that the number of women must be at least 30% of the total number of candidates nominated by a political party. This is also provided for by the Election Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which also stipulates the procedure for nominating candidates for deputies of local Kengashes (Article 91: the number of women must be at least thirty percent of the total number of candidates for local "Kengashes nominated by a political party").
The Family Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan (1998) enshrines the equality of the personal and property rights of women and men in marriage (article 2) and the duties of both spouses in raising and caring for children, as well as in all other family matters (article 21).
Considering the access of women and girls to education, vocational training and the development of their abilities as a decisive factor in empowering and improving their well-being, in the republic the right to education for all citizens regardless of their gender is guaranteed by the Constitution of Uzbekistan (Article 41). Equal rights of women and men to receive education are also established by the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On Education", physical development and sports - the Law "On Physical Culture and Sports" (Article 2).
The Labour Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan (1995) uses a protectionist approach to women's right to employment. The employer does not have the right to refuse a woman employment on the basis of her pregnancy or having many children, the articles of the Code include some provisions protecting women from working in harmful or difficult conditions, as well as other benefits during pregnancy. At the same time, their remuneration remains at the level not less than in the previous job.
The Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On guarantees of equal rights and opportunities for women and men" dated September 2, 2019 provides for the regulation of relations in the field of ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men. For the first time, the Law provides definitions of direct and indirect discrimination based on gender.
The legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan provides for a set of measures aimed at preventing violence against women. The Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan establishes various types of punishment for violent acts committed against women (Articles 103,115,118,121,136).
The Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On Protection of Women from Oppression and Violence" dated September 2, 2019 establishes the rights of victims of harassment and violence, and also reveals the main directions of state policy in the field of protecting women from harassment and violence.
All normative legal acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan have been brought into line with the articles of the Constitution and do not contain any provisions that discriminate against women. Direct or indirect violation or restriction of the equality of citizens is prosecuted under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan (Article 141).
During the years of independence, a lot of work has been done in the republic to implement measures to ensure gender equality. Institutional development has made significant progress since the establishment of the Women's Committee in 1991, at that time headed by the Deputy Prime Minister responsible for social protection of the family, motherhood and childhood.
Much attention is paid to the development and support of women's entrepreneurship. In 1991, the Association of Business Women of Uzbekistan "Tadbirkor Ayol" was established, the purpose of which is to expand and protect the economic and social rights of women, support their entrepreneurial and public initiatives, help in ensuring the use of financial and information resources.
In the republic, in order to coordinate the activities of all governmental and non-governmental organizations related to the protection of human rights, the National Center of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Human Rights was formed (1996).
In order to prevent gender discrimination of women, in 2019, the Commission on Ensuring Gender Equality of the Republic of Uzbekistan was created, chaired by the Chairman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
In 2020, the Ministry for Support of the Mahalla and Family of the Republic of Uzbekistan was created, whose tasks also included the duties previously carried out by the Women's Committee.
A number of tasks of the Ministry for Support of the Mahalla and Family include:
maintaining a unified state policy to strengthen the institution of the family;
ensuring the effective implementation of state policy to support women, protecting their rights and legitimate interests, enhancing their role and activity in the social and political life of the country, ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men;
timely identification of women's problems, provision of social, legal, psychological and material assistance to women in need of assistance and who are in difficult social situations, including women with disabilities;
ensuring the employment of women, improving their working conditions, providing women, especially young girls in rural areas, comprehensive targeted support in matters of their wide involvement in family and private entrepreneurship, handicrafts and others.
Gender statistics in Uzbekistan
The first steps to promote gender statistics in Uzbekistan were made back in the late 1990s. Since that time, brochures with gender indicators have been regularly published in the republic. Each publication becomes a step forward, a milestone in the development and dissemination of gender indicators. For example, the brochure “Women and Men in Uzbekistan” published in 2002 by the Ministry of Macroeconomics and Statistics and the Women's Committee (with the support of UNDP and ADB) was the first publication to bring together indicators in 9 strategic directions, including first-time data on governance, political life and entrepreneurship. Since then, with the help of international organizations, a number of publications of a similar nature have appeared, presenting the key gender indicators available in administrative sources and survey results.
By the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. PP-4235 dated March 7, 2019, the State Statistics Committee, together with a number of ministries and departments of the Republic of Uzbekistan, was assigned to post on the website "gender.stat.uz" minimum gender indicators and other information recommended by the Commission on Statistics The United Nations and their constant renewal.
Data on gender statistics in Uzbekistan are collected from a number of sources. In addition to the administrative reports available by gender and statistical surveys, there are data from the multi-indicator cluster survey, as well as data generated by other ministries and departments.
This site is the first attempt to create an electronic database of gender statistics with the aim of further improving gender-related information, regular and timely release of gender-disaggregated data. It takes into account the recommendations of international organizations in the direction of systematization, introduction and development of new indicators that allow for a comparative analysis of the status of women and men in society. This work is carried out as part of the development of all branches of national statistics, aimed at adequately reflecting new aspects of the country's socio-economic development, due to the deepening of reforms and democratization of society.
At the national level, programmes and activities are being implemented to improve the status of women and strengthen their economic rights. The intensification of the activities of state authorities, public and scientific organizations of the republic in addressing gender issues contributes to the growth of domestic demand for statistical information describing gender equality issues, and the range of users of this information is also expanding.