DUSHANBE, July 5, 2010, Asia-Plus — Lack of efficient mechanisms in legislation to provide equal opportunities for women and men in land use leads to discrimination of women, and therefore, Tajikistan’s new land code must take into account gender aspects, participants in a news conference noted in Dushanbe today.
Organized by the Dushanbe Office of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), the news conference was dedicated to consider gender aspects of land reforms in Tajikistan.
Ms. Nargis Bozorova, and expert from the gender group, in particular, noted that though women were the main labor force in the country’s agrarian sector there was a gender inequality in access to land in Tajikistan. “Compared to men, women on average have less land and do not have an equal access to the decision-making processes in the agricultural sector, distribution of financial profits from harvests and do not have equal access to loans,” Ms. Bozorova said.
Another expert from the gender group, Ms. Tatiana Bozrikova, considers that unequal access of women and men to land has resulted from gender stereotypes existing in society and improper introduction of gender approaches to the agricultural reforms policy.
Experts note that the country’s new land code must provide for protection of interests of women.
We will recall that by government’s instruction a working group has developed changes and addenda to the country’s land code. They are currently finalizing the code and it must be submitted for consideration to the government by September 2010.
