Women's political rights reviewed

In an effort to accelerate the process of democratisation in the country and its integration into the international community, the Uzbek parliament (or Oliy Majlis - Supreme Assembly) this week considered implementation of the 1952 UN Convention on the Political Rights of Women. While Uzbekistan joined the convention in 1997, this was the first time its implementation has been closely scrutinised. "This is a sign of change in our country," Dona Abdurazakova, gender adviser to the United Nations Development Programme, told IRIN from the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. "It's an opportunity for our country to focus on the issue of women's rights." During Monday's meeting, which was initiated by the Uzbek Parliamentary Commission for Family and Women's Affairs and held jointly with the Committee for International Affairs and Inter-Parliamentary Relations, discussion focused on the implementation of the Convention in the eastern Namangan region of the country. Situated in the Ferghana Valley, one of 12 provinces in this vast landlocked Central Asian country, Namangan has a population of almost two million. However, representation of women in governing bodies remains low. Abdurazakova said no women from the province had been elected to the parliament, while at the regional assembly, only three of 60 deputies were women. "It is difficult to compare with other regions or provinces, but nationwide representation in the Supreme Assembly of Uzbekistan is 9.9 percent and 12.7 percent at the local governing bodies or district level," she conceded. The meeting appealed to all parties concerned, including governmental structures and civil society institutions, to strengthen their work towards improving the existing situation by taking specific measures to increase women's participation in public life. Uzbekistan ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1995 and, in January 2001, the government submitted its initial report to the UN CEDAW committee. Following its concluding observations, the government approved a national action plan on CEDAW in which equal rights and opportunities legislation, domestic violence, trafficking of women, and other matters were listed as issues of primary concern. Despite these efforts, however, much work remains to be done. "Women's political rights are not protected, because of the common view that women are the secondary sex in society - even amongst the elite," Marfua Tokhtakhodjayeva, head of the Tashkent Women's Resource Centre, told IRIN. "At most, it approves [of] women as mothers and wives - but not as activists and leaders," she said. Indeed, the biggest challenge facing women in Uzbekistan is how to change society's perception of them. "One of the obstacles preventing women from active participation in public life is the concept, supported and implemented at all levels, that a woman's primary role is to be a mother and to care for the children and the home," Abdurazakova said. "This concept is the essence of prevailing public attitudes and stereotypes about women," she maintained. Commenting on the overall state of women, she cautioned that the implementation of international commitments would only yield results if the work targeted not only political participation but also undertook a wider approach across all sectors and levels to raise social awareness of the need for women's participation, and the benefits it would bring. Monday's meeting concluded with the adoption of a resolution on women's political rights, which is to be made public shortly.