Locations9 October 2019, 10:00 a.m.
National Library
Opening statement by Dr (Ms) Pratibha Mehta,
UNDP Resident Representative in Tajikistan
Honourable Deputy Chairman of the Majlisi Namoyandagon Majlisi Oli of the Republic of Tajikistan – Ms Hayriniso Yusufi;
Honourable representative of the office of the President
Minister of Labor, Migration and Employment of Population of the Republic of Tajikistan – Ms Tagoyzoda Sumangul Said;
Head of the Committee on Women and Family Affairs – Ms Kosimzoda Idigul Tago;
Head of the Committee of Youth Affairs and Sports – Mr Abdullozoda Ahtam Rustam;
Head of the Committee on Tourism Development – Mr. Numon Abdugafforzoda;
Distinguished Guests, colleagues and friends,
It is a great pleasure to be here today and to speak at this important Forum on political and legal awareness of women and girls in Tajikistan.
Appointment of Madame Ozoda Emomali Rahmon as the Ambassador of the International organization ‘Women Political Leaders’, which is another recognition of women empowerment and gender equality efforts in Tajikistan. I am convinced that this nomination will boost women’s political participation and gender equality agenda in the country.
Promotion of gender equality and women’s social-economic and political empowerment are all part of the SDGs, and Goal 5 which in particular to be achieved by 2030.
Gender equality has been identified as an accelerator for SDG achievement in Tajikistan and it is very important to focus on gender disaggregation statistics and analysing the national planning and implementation in gender sensitive sectors.
I would like to commend the efforts of the Government of Tajikistan in advancing gender equality in Tajikistan through creation of national legal framework which adheres to international legal standards for promotion and protection of women rights. For example, Law on State Guarantees of Equal Rights and Opportunities for Men and Women, and National Gender Policy (2010), National Strategy for Enhancing the Role of Women in the Republic of Tajikistan, Law on prevention of Domestic Violence adopted in 2013 and all other actions aimed at improvement of women’s participation in education, labor market, entrepreneurship, and in politics.
The Government of Tajikistan has specially taken a number of steps to promote women’s entrepreneurship, skills development. I want to commend the State Investment Committee for taking lead to promote women entrepreneurship agenda. The taskforce acting under the umbrella of the Investment committee serves as an effective platform to strengthen the role and position of women in the private sector and to promote more inclusive business environment. The special fund to support women-led businesses, established with the initiative of the President and managed by the Committee of Women and Family Affairs is contributing a lot to support development of small and medium enterprises in the country through provision of affordable loans to women entrepreneurs. Gender equality is most important priority for all UN Agencies.
During the past 10 years, UNDP mobilized over $10mln for implementation of projects and initiatives focused on women empowerment and gender equality through creation of employment opportunities in different sectors, such as economics, business, energy and agriculture. On average, women comprise 37% of all people reached by UNDP through its livelihood support and vocational trainings interventions. Support to economic empowerment of women remains one of strategic priorities for UNDP and we will continue working on improving financial literacy of women and girls and build their capacity in entrepreneurship and business skills.
However, still much remains to be done to promote, protect and achieve women’s rights and gender equality in Tajikistan. Women and girls are still underrepresented in formal workforce and in decision making positions in the Government and Parliament. In Parliament, only 21 percent (13 out of 62) legislators are women and only one ministry (Ministry of Labor, Migration and Employment of Population), two committees (Committee on Women and Family Affairs and Committee on Language and Terminology) and one agency (Agency on Statistics) are headed by women. There are no women ambassadors in diplomatic corps of the country. Only 26% of women are involved in industry and service sectors, and only 20% of women are engaged in the private sector mainly due to the weak institutional support, low level of education (early drop outs from school), limited access to resources (land as collateral) and gender stereotypes. The sharp disparity in women’s economic activity is directly related to their family status. Women leave the labor market, as they marry, start families and have increased household obligations.
In Tajikistan, in the area of gender equality, women’s vulnerability persists mainly due to a low level of education, attitude and gender stereotypes in private and public sphere. Reducing the number of women in positions of power, thus leading to a small scale of gender equality in a male-dominated society.
While women are engaged in earning role and are managing business, their entrepreneurial progress is limited despite favourable laws in the country such as equal right to land, property and accessing bank loans. But women of Tajikistan require continued support to develop their business skills and utilise the opportunities for business and jobs. We should also think together how to diversify the economic spheres for women’s engagement, to help women enter higher value chains and social business. Female financial literacy and gender sensitive entrepreneurship development approaches are essential in breaking barriers to tap into 50% of human capital of the country. Gender stereotype is also one of the most factors.
UNDP has initiated a new project on Community Security and prevention of violence against women to strengthen the existing legal framework and enhance assistance to the survivors of domestic violence.
The global importance to end violence against women and girls has led to a highly ambitious joint European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) spotlight initiative to end all forms of violence, Tajikistan is one of the countries for spotlight.
UN will continue working on promotion of gender equality, women empowerment, prevention of violence against women and build strong partnership with other organizations to work on all levels of Tajik society to ensure that Tajikistan is thriving to the right path on this issue.
I hope todays Forum will take us one step closer to women and girls’ empowerment and gender equality in Tajikistan. Thank you very much for your attention!
