Uzbekistan new indd

1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
Women  
Men 
Source: Graph constructed based on data developed by Brücker, Capuano, and Marfouk
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Marina Kayumova
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obstacles. They acknowledged that “Everything is 
very difficult for women in Uzbekistan. It is very diffi-
cult for women to succeed in Uzbekistan. Women will 
not be promoted...If you are a woman you will need 
the support and patronage of a man (husband, father, 
brother).”
Many men seemed to concur. The male respon-
dents who took part in the study all recognized the 
unequal position of women in Uzbek society. All 
male respondents were asked what they believed 
would have happened to them if they had been a 
woman. They all agreed that their projected life sce-
narios would not be the same: “I think I would not 
be able to achieve what I achieved in life as a man. 
This is one of the problems of our society. I know the 
environment in Tashkent; as a woman she must have 
a family. After she has a family, it is not her decision: 
it is up to the family and husband to decide. I know for 
sure that if I were born as a girl, I would not be able 
to do what I did.” In a similar vein, another male re-
spondent elaborated: “I never thought I would be an-
swering such a question. I don’t know how my career 
would develop in this case. In our patriarchal, very 
conservative society, of course it is much more diffi-
cult for a woman career-wise. Many husbands do not 
favor a situation when their wife works. For a wom-
an it all depends on her partner and his position. In 
many cases a woman just cannot decide and does not 
have the freedom of choice. Family plays a huge role in 
our society of course, and it influences women’s career 
choices.” Some of the responses were sharp: “If I were 
a woman there would be no career plan in Uzbekistan 
for me.”
Hence, if policymakers want to counter the 
emigration of highly skilled women they would do 
well to pay attention to gender discrimination not 
only in in the domestic labor market,
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 but also in 
society at large. The increase of highly skilled fe-
male emigration should be a warning signal for 
policymakers.