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Gender Specialists
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Mekhri Khudayberdiyeva, Uzbekistan
Many Asian Development Bank (ADB) projects may not be overtly focused on gender issues. But each and every one has a gender dimension, because each and every project affects women one way or another: creating opportunities for greater economic activity; improving access to health, education, and water supply; and—hopefully—creating spaces for personal fulfillment. Those who keep gender issues high on ADB’s agenda are the gender specialists in its resident missions. Most have been activists promoting women’s rights in their own countries. Others have arrived in the gender field from academic or private sector work.
Enter Mekhri Khudayberdiyeva, Gender Specialist from the Central Asian republic of Uzbekistan. With a doctorate in economics, she joined ADB as a gender consultant in 2000 and has been active in helping women’s nongovernment organizations (NGOs) get more women involved in business and improve their chances of earning incomes and creating livelihoods.
“It’s all very new since Uzbekistan gained independence in 1991,” she explains. During Soviet times, there were strict quotas for women’s participation in political representation. The abolition of this system for women in the 1980s produced a sharp decline in the number of women in Parliament and other decisionmaking positions. Women accounted for 35% of members in the Supreme Soviet of Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. By contrast they accounted for only 9% of parliamentarians in the Oliy Majlis in 2002. The transition to a market economy has rendered women less competitive, with 62% of women officially unemployed in 2002.
Kheng Samvada, Cambodia
But now women are trying to get together to improve this situation and find new ways of earning incomes, supporting their families, and contributing to the country.
“We continuously work to widen our channels through discussions with the ministries. Sometimes the Government needs to first identify the gender issues— to understand that there even is a problem. It works when Government, NGOs, and ADB are involved,” she says.
Now meet Kheng Samvada, ADB Gender Specialist in Cambodia. Although only with ADB since June 2003, Ms. Kheng has been involved in gender issues for over 20 years. She was with the Government’s Women’s Association of Cambodia during 1980–1992, and for the 7 years prior to joining ADB, she worked with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Cambodia on Children in Difficult Circumstances Project, including trafficking issues.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, agreed to in 1997 by the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, participating developed ountries and economies in transition have agreed to meet, by 2008–2012, greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.
“Being a gender specialist is very different from being a project officer,” she says. “Gender needs to be integrated in every project. We must be proactive all the time.” And the Government is being proactive as well. There is a Ministry of Women’s Affairs, and equality is recognized in the Cambodian constitution. But as Ms. Kheng explains, “in reality, there’s still a lot to do. The work really hasn’t changed that much since 1980, though now we look at the relationship between men and women. We now understand better that men need to be involved to improve their awareness. We can’t just work with women in isolation from men. If men are not so involved, there is little impact.”
National Gender Specialists in ADB Resident Missions
Bangladesh: Ferdousi Sultana BegumIn Cambodia’s agriculture sector, which accounts for over a third of the country’s gross domestic product, gender is a major issue. “Women dominate agriculture,” says Ms. Kheng. They are basically the unpaid family labor. Yet, many women do not receive agricultural extension training.”
While almost equal numbers of boys and girls are enrolled in preschool and primary school, only 63 girls are enrolled for every 100 boys in lower secondary school. Why?
“In rural areas, mothers want their girls to help around the house, so the gender gap in schooling increases,” explains Ms. Kheng. And then, parents worry about security; distance to school is another issue. If a girl loses her virginity, her future is ruined. Many people in villages want their daughters to get married at the age of 15–17. Normally the man comes to live with the woman’s family, so that means extra labor in rural areas.”
The Government is keen on keeping gender issues prominent. Women’s Affairs is the fifth priority ministry in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework out of six ministries. And Ms. Kheng is just as keen on ensuring it is translated into reality.
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