Speech of Consuelo Vidal, UN Resident Coordinator in Uzbekistan at the International Conference “Pathways to gender equality and decent work in Uzbekistan”

I am honoured to be here today to open this important conference on Pathways to Gender Equality and Decent Work in Uzbekistan.

I would like to begin by commending the Government of Uzbekistan for its significant reforms in recent years to improve the livelihoods and working conditions of women. These reforms have included expanding girls' access to education, increasing the representation of women in parliament, civil service, and management, and implementing targeted support for women and youth in the labour market.

The world is facing a number of major challenges that disproportionately affect the most disadvantaged and vulnerable, such as women in the informal economy and in insecure forms of work, youth who are neither in employment nor in education or training, migrants and those belonging to ethnic and racial minorities, older persons, and those with disabilities or living with HIV/AIDS.

Women’s overrepresentation in sectors severely impacted by the pandemic and in informal employment deepened their greater vulnerability, exacerbating pre-existing decent work deficits and widening inequalities and discrimination in the societies. The unequal distribution of unpaid care work and limited access to maternity benefits, care services and parental leave, have further deepened disparities underscoring the need for a gender-responsive recovery.

The UN Secretary-General has called for urgent action to achieve gender equality and has warned that global progress on women’s rights is “vanishing before our eyes”, calling for “collective action” worldwide by governments, civil society and the private sector to provide gender-responsive education, improve skills training and invest more in “bridging the digital gender divide”.

In this context, when it is more important than ever to advance gender equality and decent work for all, the ILO's transformative agenda on gender equality provides a roadmap for achieving this goal.

• The agenda calls for a number of measures, including:
• Ensuring equal pay for work of equal value.
• Expanding policies providing adequate paid care leave and promoting a more balanced sharing of work and family responsibilities.
• Promoting employment creation and lifelong learning policies that close gender skills gaps.
• Investing in education, healthcare, social work, the care economy, and other sectors, addressing understaffing and improving working conditions.
• Removing legal and other types of barriers to entry to and advancement in education, training, employment, and careers, including by combating gender stereotypes.
• Preventing and protecting against violence and harassment in the world of work.

The “Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions” is another important initiative that can help to advance gender equality and decent work.

One of the complementary supportive areas of the Accelerator is the mobilization of public and private domestic and international resources to invest in universal social protection and gender-responsive employment interventions, with a view to creating quality jobs.

Sufficient investment in the care sector is one of the entry points of the Accelerator to facilitate the creation of decent jobs, entrepreneurship opportunities, the provision of quality services to older persons, children, and people with disabilities, and reduce the unpaid care burden carried by family members, particularly women, while facilitating women’s effective labour force participation.

Dear ladies and gentlemen,

Uzbekistan has confirmed its strong commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Its draft Second Voluntary National Review, to be presented at the UN Social and Economic Council, ECOSOC, in July reveals the potential and opportunities of Uzbekistan for

-achieving further results under SDG 5 and SDG 8 and

-for strengthening policies to support women and youth, and gender equality.

In this regard, Uzbekistan is also a strong supporter of the ILO's transformative agenda on gender equality. The Government has ratified a number of ILO Conventions on gender equality, is working to implement these Conventions and has expressed its interest in continuing to collaborate with the UN System to further advance gender equality and decent work.

So, to conclude,

I would like to express that we welcome the tripartite statement to be announced today reaffirming the commitment of the Government and social partners to its international commitments and decent work agenda, and investment in SDGs 5 and 8 calling for achieving gender equality, empowerment of all women and girls. 

Several UN Agencies, Funds and Programmes, such as UNFPA, UNDP, UNICEF and UN Women are already working jointly with the ILO to support the country in achieving these objectives and I believe that, by working together, we can achieve gender equality and decent work for all in Uzbekistan.

Thank you.