Working women earn about 61% of what men earn on average in Uzbekistan, the World Bank (WB) reported on March 2. According to WB estimates, working women earn about 60% of what men earn in neighboring Tajikistan, 75% in the Kyrgyz Republic, and 78% in Kazakhstan. This figure reaches 80% globally.
Over two-thirds of respondents across the Central Asian region in 2022 said that women should prioritize caregiving and home responsibilities over work outside of the home, while men should be the primary breadwinners (see Figure 1). Between 20-50% also said that married women should earn less than their husbands for the sake of family harmony. And these patterns were relatively similar whether respondents lived in urban or rural areas.
All of this demonstrates the high prevalence of restrictive gender norms and expectations.
WB found out that for a woman to get a call back for a job as a driver she would have to submit 180% more applications than a man with identical qualifications. For a man to get an interview as an accountant, he would have to send 79% more applications than a woman candidate, and for an office manager job, as many as 685% more applications.
Last year, Uzbekistan was the first in Central Asia to join 95 other countries around the world and almost all high-income countries in mandating equal pay between men and women for work of equal value, the statement reads.
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