Eastern Europe & Central Asia – Gender Equality, Social Protection & Rural Development

This publication is a collection of articles written by economists, sociologists, and gender specialists and practitioners from twelve post-Soviet countries in Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia. It is unique in its effort to review and analyze the issues that are at the intersection of gender equality, social protection and rural development in the region. Overall, there is a lack of research, documented knowledge and public discourse on this subject and a multi-disciplinary approach is necessary for ensuring an in-depth and rigorous understanding of these intersecting issues in the context of the region..

Across the region, women form a majority in the rural population, and a significant proportion of the labour force engaged in agriculture. However, the overarching trend in terms of rural women’s employment is their engagement in informal, low-skilled and low-paid jobs. Women’s access to assets and productive resources is also significantly lower than that of rural men’s. Rural women’s participation in public life has reduced dramatically over the last decades, and generous social welfare is no longer a social norm.

CONTENTS

Introduction 1

Armenia – Astghik Mirzakhanyan

Women and sustainable rural development 3

Azerbaijan – Rena Ibragimbekova

Gender issues in agriculture in Azerbaijan 7

Belarus – Olga Pashkevich

Gender aspects of employment and social protection in the context

of development of rural areas in the Republic of Belarus 13

Georgia – Charita Jashi

Challenges and perspectives of gender equality in the agricultural sector of Georgia 17

Kazakhstan – Meruert Makhmutova

Rural development, social protection and gender equality in Kazakhstan 21

Kyrgyzstan – Gulnara Kurmanova

Gender and rural issues in Kyrgyzstan 27

Moldova – Maria Vremis

Basic gender characteristics and social protection of the rural population in Moldova 33

Russia – Natalia Zubarevich

Development of rural areas in Russia: Social and gender issues 39

Tajikistan – Tatiana Bozrikova

Key priorities to overcome the unequal access of rural women to resources in Tajikistan 43

Turkmenistan – Leila Toylyeva

Gender approaches in Turkmenistan 47

Ukraine – Larisa Kobelyanskaya

Gender issues, social protection and development of rural areas in Ukraine 53

Uzbekistan – Bakhodur Eshonov

Transition or transformation?

Social and gender aspects of rural development as an integral

part of the reform strategy in Uzbekistan 59

Via IFAD – Direct Link to Full 72-Page FAO 2016 Publication:

http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5575e.pdf