Uzbekistan Country Gender Assessment: Update

 Gender, Rural Livelihoods and Forestry in Uzbekistan: 
Socio-economic Analysis in the Forestry Sector. 
p. 42. Forthcoming. 

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Mainstreaming Gender in ADB Operations, by Sector
27
Women are mainly responsible for hygiene and sanitation in the households. adB’s 2017 study 
revealed that about 70% of women oversee the care of household members, especially the 
disabled, children, and the sick.
80
In the urban areas, women who live in multistory buildings spend 1–2 hours daily collecting 
water for drinking and household needs. Water supply to higher floors, and often even to the 
first floor, is often nonexistent because most Soviet-era pipelines, junctions, and central heating 
systems are in dire need of major repair.
81
poor sanitation magnifies the drudgery of women, 
who are usually responsible for disposing of solid and liquid domestic waste. Maintaining the 
necessary sanitary and hygiene levels is very challenging, especially since Uzbek households 
usually consist of up to three nuclear families living in a two- or three-room flat, 35.4% of which 
have either nonfunctioning sewerage or no sewerage system at all.
82
In many rural or low-income households, women do not buy washing machines or rarely use 
them on account of the irregular supply of water, power supply unsustainability, and the high 
price of electricity: machine laundry would require 8–10 hours of electricity per month.
83
even 
when water is accessible, it is hard and requires filtering. Notably, households spend almost as 
much time doing hand laundry as they do bringing water home (footnote 82).
In all of the above, women experience more acutely the impact of limited supplies of poor-
quality water. Women’s need for water and sanitation in public places (e.g., schools and clinics) 
is also different.
at the institutional level, women are underrepresented in WSS sector staff, both in lower-level 
positions and at managerial or decision-making levels. Senior and mid-level management staff, 
and economists, engineers, and operators, are male. Women usually fill junior, and consequently 
low-paying, technical positions (e.g., controllers, laboratory assistants, cleaners). In 2017, 
women in the central apparatus of the Ministry of Housing and Communal Services (MHCS) 
represented only 10% of total staff members. In Uzkommunhizmat,
84
only 5% of employees are 
female.
85
turnover among women controllers is high, mainly because of the low salaries and 
frequent travel. transport and transport fees are not included in remuneration schemes.
a 2015 a resolution by the Cabinet of Ministers required 45% of Suvokava personnel to be 
women.
86
However, in 2016 adB reported that only 11% of provincial and 18% of Suvokava 
80 
adB. 2017.
 Feasibility Study: Western Uzbekistan Water Supply System Development Project. 
Manila.
81 
adB field survey in 2017 for this CGa update.
82 
UN economic Commission for europe. 2016. 
Water Quality in the Amudarya and Syrdarya Water Basins
.
http://www.cawater-info.net/library/rus/gender/02_gender_and_water.pdf.
83 
UN development programme and Institute for Social Research under the Cabinet of Ministers. 2016.
 Socio-economic 
Study of Housing for Integrated Rural Development Project Beneficiary Households
. prepared for adB. tashkent. p. 46.
84 
the Uzbekistan Communal Services agency, the state agency and population organized under the decree of the 
president # 445 of august 2006.
85 
Cabinet of Ministers. 2015. 
On Measures to Implement the Main Directions of Development of Water Supply Organizations