Gender equality plays a key role in securing peace and harmony in society and in the full realization of human potential. What has our country achieved in this field during the years of independence?
Shahzoda Rahimova, an expert at the Sustainable Development Center, offered the following assessment:
— Thirty-five years of independence is a historical span long enough to assess not individual decisions, but the profound changes that have taken place in society. One of the most visible dimensions of this transformation has been state policy toward women.
Over the years of independence, it was not only legislation that changed. The very philosophy of state policy was gradually transformed: from a predominant focus on the social protection of women and support for motherhood to the creation of conditions for education, professional fulfillment, economic independence, and women's participation in decision-making. This shift is arguably the central content of modern Uzbekistan's gender evolution.
Today, the issue of gender equality can no longer be viewed solely as a social or demographic problem. Women's participation in the economy, science, entrepreneurship, and public administration is directly linked to the quality of human capital, labor productivity, innovative development, and social resilience. For this reason, the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal of gender equality is becoming part of the country's broader socioeconomic development agenda.
Uzbekistan's gender policy has passed through several stages since independence. In the 1990s and the early 2000s, the main priorities were objectively the social protection of the family, motherhood, and childhood, along with the preservation of social stability during the transition period. A regulatory framework was taking shape, and the principal directions of state support for women were being defined.
Between 2000 and 2016, the legal and institutional framework for protecting women's rights and interests developed gradually, yet a number of systemic constraints persisted that held back the expansion of their opportunities in education, employment, economic activity, and public administration. Limited access to higher education and to certain professions, along with the comparatively low representation of women in leadership positions, remained significant factors impeding the fuller realization of their human and professional potential.
By 2017, higher education coverage of the population stood at roughly 9%, while the share of women among students in the higher education system remained below 40%. Questions of preventing domestic violence and providing protection from it had also not yet taken shape as an independent and comprehensively regulated area of state policy. Taken together, these factors pointed to a persistent gap between the formal enshrinement of equal rights and women's real opportunities in various spheres of public life.
A qualitative turning point came after 2017. It was in this period that gender policy began to acquire a more systemic character: alongside social support, questions of equal opportunity, employment, education, entrepreneurship, political participation, and protection from violence moved to the forefront.
One of the key outcomes has been the formation of a coherent legal framework. The Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, in its new version, establishes that women and men have equal rights and opportunities and that the state ensures the equality of their rights and opportunities in various spheres of life.
The adoption of the laws "On Guarantees of Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men" and "On Protection of Women from Harassment and Violence" was of major importance. The qualitative changes of recent years have also been reflected in international assessments. The World Bank's Women, Business and the Law 2026 ranking is indicative: Uzbekistan rose to 48th place out of 190 countries and entered the top five states by pace of reform, receiving maximum scores in the areas of freedom of movement, marriage, pay, childcare, and asset ownership.
These figures matter above all because they show that the next stage of gender policy is linked less to the adoption of new norms than to ensuring their full implementation. In other words, equality must work not only in the text of the law, but also in the labor market, in entrepreneurship, in the education system, and in everyday life.
Positive momentum is also visible in international assessments of sustainable development. In the Sustainable Development Report 2026, Uzbekistan ranked 65th out of 169 countries in the overall Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ranking, scoring 73.0 points. Under SDG 5, "Gender Equality," the indicators assessed include women's representation in parliament, the ratio of years of education for women and men, women's participation in the labor force, and the availability of family planning services.
Women's economic activity deserves particular attention: in Uzbekistan it stands at 55.7% of the corresponding level among men. On the one hand, this indicates notable progress; on the other, it shows that economic activity remains one of the most significant areas for further growth.
One of the most visible changes of recent years has been the expansion of women's access to higher education. Today, the number of female students at Uzbekistan's higher education institutions exceeds 904,000, or 54% of the total student body.
This result is linked not only to the general expansion of the higher education system, but also to targeted measures of state support. In particular, the number of educational grants for young women from low-income families is increasing, and opportunities for higher education are being expanded for women who have work experience but did not previously obtain a higher education diploma.
The decision to cover the cost of women's master's degree studies from the state budget has been especially significant. This approach reflects a change in the very logic of social policy: state support is gradually becoming not only an instrument of social protection, but also an investment in a woman's professional and intellectual capital.
Expanded access to education for women is also gradually reflected in the sphere of science. According to data presented in 2026, women make up 61% of trainee researchers and doctoral candidates. In addition, over the past seven years more than 5,200 women have earned PhD and DSc degrees.
This is already a qualitatively different level of participation. A woman is becoming not merely a recipient of educational services, but a participant in shaping the country's scientific and technological potential.
At the same time, a new task is emerging for the education and science system: to ensure the transition from quantitative growth to qualitative representation by expanding women's presence in engineering, technological, and digital fields and increasing their participation in leading research teams and major research projects.
The role of women in public administration and decision-making is changing as well. Following the 2024 parliamentary elections, women obtained 38% of the seats in the Legislative Chamber, while their share in the Senate stands at 27%. In public administration, the share of women has reached about 35%, and in entrepreneurship about 45%.
Economic independence is becoming the logical continuation of educational and political progress. In 2026, the goal has been set to secure income for 1.5 million women, including drawing 400,000 women into entrepreneurship. More than 25 trillion sums are to be directed toward these purposes, and under the Hamroh program, 3,000 women's business projects are to be financed in the amount of about 1 trillion sums.
Recorded by Nazokat Usmanova, UzA correspondent
Shahzoda Rahimova Sustainable Development Center — Expert