Gender gaps in Central Asia: A reassessment.
Zvi Lerman
Environmental Economics and Management, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram Campus, Jerusalem, 91904
E-mail: zvi.lerman@mail.huji.ac.il
https://doi.org/10.29258/CAJWR/2021-R1.v7-2/47-73.engResearch paper
This article belongs to the Special Section “30 years of farm restructuring and water management reforms in Central Asia”
Abstract
The article reviews the latest available statistical information on gender inequalities in labor markets and in access to financial institutions, social services, and education. After a general review of agricultural development, household food security and rural poverty, population structure, and labor outmigration in Central Asia, the article examines the women’s role in the labor market, including both formal and informal female employment, the feminization of agriculture in the region, gender gaps in education and wages, and constraints on women’s access to extension services and land ownership. It is observed that women’s asset ownership rights and their access to supply and product markets are constrained by social norms. The article concludes with some conclusions and policy recommendations. This reassessment is designed to strengthen the qualitative approaches of the gender literature with some quantitative approaches from agricultural and development economics.
Download the article (eng)For citation: Lerman, Z. (2021) ‘Gender gaps in Central Asia: A reassessment’, Central Asian Journal of Water Research, 7(2), pp. 47–73. doi: 10.29258/CAJWR/2021-R1.v7-2/47-73.eng.
[1] This article is based in part on presentations at the International Forum “Food Policy, Rural Development and Gender Equality in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia: current trends and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic” (10-17 March 2021, three webinars) organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow. The Forum papers cited by presenter’s name and date (2021, March xx) are the major resource for the original research presented in this article, and they all can be found on https://inagres.hse.ru/en/faogenderwebinars/#usefulmaterials under Speakers’ presentations. The author is grateful to the Forum coordinators Dono Abdurazakova and Anna Jenderedjian of FAO/REUT for the insightful and thought-provoking comments they offered during the review of earlier versions of the manuscript. Alexey Naumov of HSE liaised between the presenters and the author. The useful comments of two anonymous referees and the journal Editor are gratefully acknowledged. All opinions expressed in this article are solely the author’s and do not reflect in any way the policies of FAO or HSE
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asset ownership, female employment, feminization of agriculture., gender discrimination, gender inequality, women’s access to education
