Book · July 020 citations reads 1,675 13 authors

181
  NeMolchi  website:  https://nemolchi.uz/;  NeMolchi  Facebook  page:  https://www.facebook.com/nemolchi.uz/;  UNDP  Europe  and 
Central  Asia,  #HearMeToo:  Activists  in  Central  Asia  break  ground  in  fight  against  violence,  November  2018, 
https://www.eurasia.undp.org/content/rbec/en/home/stories/hearmetoo-activists-in-central-asia-break-ground-in-fight-agains.html   
182
 See point eight her: OHCHR, Sixth periodic report submitted by Uzbekistan under article 18 of the Convention, due in the 2019, 
November 
2019,http://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=6QkG1d%2FPPRiCAqhKb7yhsvglKm%2F71Q4iogAZSMgJYVs60KRy5crJ
6kEiuyr%2BMf3kQZOR7xy6os%2FgfVi6U8SWJyPdXstO1OxzL6OUntGaW7CwybNjFCtq%2FK%2FieKSvU65l; CIS-Legislation, Law of the 
Republic of Uzbekistan, September 2019, https://cis-legislation.com/document.fwx?rgn=118581; UZ Daily, President signs law on the 
protection of women from harassment, September 2019, https://www.uzdaily.uz/en/post/51593 
183
 ACCA, Law concerning the protection of women in Uzbekistan is inactive for four months, July 2020, https://acca.media/en/law-
concerning-the-protection-of-women-in-uzbekistan-is-inactive-for-four-months/  

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Spotlight on Uzbekistan 
38 
 
traditional or misogynistic conceptions of women’s role in society. Cultural conservatism includes 
criticism of women’s clothing including wearing jeans or shorts being used as a signifier of growing 
disrespect of traditional gender roles and family structures.
184
 Following a recent case in Fergana 
where a young women was attacked and had her jaw broken in a row over her wearing short shorts, 
women’s rights activists have been staging a virtual flashmob across Uzbekistan, posting pictures of 
themselves protesting alone with protest signs challenging attempts to control what women wear.    
 
Gradual religious liberalisation and growing religiosity, discussed in more detail below, has also been 
identified by women’s rights activist as reinforcing conservative cultural attitudes towards women 
including pressures to enforce hijab, the use of which remains effectively illegal in Uzbekistan. In 
2018 the Government introduced a law brought in that required the presentation of a legal civil 
marriage certificate before religious marriage could be performed by cleric as attempt to crack down 
on temporary Islamic marriages, polygamy, etc. which, according to Women’s rights campaigners, 
have been on the rise. The official Muftiate does do anti-polygamy work but lacks credibility and 
campaigners argue that a wider range of public interventions will be needed.