Gender equality - in the focus of expert discussions
UNFPA and the National Institute for Democracy and Human Rights under the President of Turkmenistan completed a series of thematic round tables on gender equality and the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
The target audience of the seminars, held in the capital and provincial centers, included government officials, representatives of local administrations, law enforcement officials and public organizations - a total of 120 participants.
The main areas of discussions were the key aspects of the concept of gender equality, Turkmenistan's international commitments in this area and the implementation of the National Action Plan on Gender Equality for 2015-2020, the adoption of which has become an important stage in ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men in Turkmenistan.
The intensive deliberations, conducted by a group of national experts, touched up topics such as the role of women in society, employment, reproductive health and reproductive rights.
The interactive format of the meeting allowed the participants to get qualified answers to the concerned questions and to voice a number of proposals to improve the current practice of promoting gender equality in the country. In particular, it is proposed to strengthen the emphasis on explaining the principles and benefits of gender equality among young people and in the education system.
Participants also spoke in favor of facilitating the involvement of women in small-scale businesses as additional source of family income.
In general, positive feedback were made on the practice of holding such discussion platforms in the light of raising public awareness of current trends and approaches in the field of gender issues.
“UNFPA is a lead UN agency that promotes gender equality and addresses relevant challenges at national, regional and global levels,” commented Ms. Bayramgul Garabayeva, UNFPA Assistant Representative.
The key aim of UNFPA in Turkmenistan is to promote gender equality through support in the effective and dynamic implementation of the National Plan.
