ISTR Sixth International Conference Toronto, Canada / July 11-14, 2004 Contesting Citizenship and Civil Society in a Divided World

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	Abstracts

Gender role and equality in Tajikistan: situation analysis and key challenges
by
Tarek Mahmus Hussain
Project Officer, UNICEF, 9 Ozodi Zanon Street, Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Gender roles in Tajik society are influenced both by old Soviet system, with its strong emphasis on gender equality in the public sphere and traditional Tajik values where women played a central role in the private, family sphere. Gender equality in the Soviet system was superficial; for example, in rural areas, the hard working of the land was done by female peasants in the collective farms whereas male members of the collective farms were involved in more prestigious and less physically strenuous work such as technician, engineer or administration. Likewise, being in the centre of family life doesn #8217;t mean that women have equal rights with their male family members. They remain under the authority of their husband, father or brother, who possess the major decision-making authority.

Since independence, traditional cultural and social values have become more dominant. The difficult transition has also resulted in the discontinuation of many state structures and benefits that supported women in maintaining their heavy responsibilities, such as child allowances and child care facilities. Today, women are more marginalized, due both to weak state protection and to lack of knowledge about their Constitutional rights and their rights under Islamic law.

The status within the family for young girls and newly married daughters-in-law is very low and deserves particular attention. Girls are considered as temporary members of their own family; once married, a woman is expected to be at the service of her in-laws and to obey them. Usually, their status may be raised only through childbearing, with strong preference for sons. A WHO study (2000) showed that women prefer to bear sons, as they believe their daughters suffer more in their adult life.

Gender-based violence is endemic though as with much else, solid data is non-existent. Its reality is starting to be recognized as a social problem. In a recent survey by WHO, more than a third of the women interviewed reported experiencing physical violence, and more than half reported experiencing different forms of psychological violence. On average, 30 women a month are admitted to hospital with severe burns. Lack of access to information about rights and to social services, compounded by traditional practices that accept physical and psychological violence as the norm and by disinterested and uninformed authorities, makes the issue of domestic violence difficult to address.

The shift to more conservative and traditional gender roles has seriously affected girls' enrolment in education. In 1998, there were only 89 girls for every 100 boys in lower secondary education and 63 girls for every 100 boys in higher secondary education. In technical and vocational education, the number of enrolled boys fell by 28of girls fell by 53education. At the university level, women constitute only one fourth of all students.

The Government's National Plan of Action to Improve the Situation of Women for 1998-2005 and the 2001, Main Directions of State Policies for Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Men and Women in Tajikistan for 2001-2010 are two instruments for achieving gender equity. The Committee on Women and Family Issues is the government institution entrusted with women's rights at national and regional level. However, budget resources for the implementation of the plan are limited and ministerial structures have not yet been established.

The increasing participation of women in civil society, especially in NGOs, is encouraging. There are currently 128 registered women's NGOs. A number of small-scale projects provide micro-credits and micro-grants to private enterprises, i.e. through the National Social Investment Fund of Tajikistan (NSIFT) and the NGO Gender and Development, but their reach is limited. Some 20 national and international agencies have formed a coalition to jointly lobby for legislation on micro-credit institutions. It is vital support a macroeconomic framework that makes the link between poverty at the micro level and macroeconomic policy-making and should enable institutional, legal and judicial reform that includes special provisions for gender equality.

Date received: September 30, 2003

Copyright © 2003 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # caml-67.