Women face a myriad of challenges in Uzbekistan, largely because of strict interpretation of Islamic law and traditional values. In Autumn 2000, a Gallup poll revealed that 50 percent of respondents called for the restriction of women's rights.

Suicide rates for women are high. Last year, 209 women in the Samarkand region attempted to commit suicide; 71 died. One of the main reasons for the self-destructive behavior is the burden of history, says Natalya Anarkulova, a lawyer specializing in women's rights. Traditionally, women had no rights and were afraid of opening up or opposing society. She said that Islamic law is still the stable "core" of conscience and makes women mostly insignificant.

Marfua Tokhtakhodjaeva, the chairman of Woman Resource Center of Uzbekistan, stressed that traditional segments of society exceed those segments that support greater rights for women. She added that the Uzbek press furthers such trends: "Uzbek-language mass media often examine public life, including relations between men and women, from a traditional and religious point of view."

Uzbekistan signed a convention on the removal of various types of discrimination against women in 1995 and incorporated it into its legislative framework. The presence of that convention has played a significant role in the development and implementation of state policy and of the development of the idea of women's rights as human rights. In addition to those changes, the CEDAW committee recommended more gender research centers in its member countries as well.

At the meeting, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, the Maldives, and Mongolia submitted their official reports on the state of women for the first time, and according to Tokhtakhodjaeva, the reports left a vivid impression on CEDAW members.

The above story is reposted with permission from Transitions Online (TOL). TOL (http://www.tol.cz) is an Internet magazine covering Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and the former Soviet Union. If you aren't already a member, you can fill out the registration form at <http://www.tol.cz/trialsubscr.html> to receive a free two-month trial membership. If you're a citizen of a post-communist country, FREE annual memberships are available at <http://www.tol.cz/trialsubscr2.html>.

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