As you know, Turkmenistan enhances the role of women in our society and ensures the protection and implementation of their rights. The gender-oriented policy pursued in the country is supported by legislative support. The fundamental international documents in this area are harmoniously implemented in national legislation. The constitutional principle of equality of rights and freedoms of men and women in Turkmenistan is the basis of the legislative and regulatory framework that does not allow discrimination based on gender. In 2015, Turkmenistan adopted the law “On State Guarantees for Ensuring Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities for Women and Men”. The Government of Turkmenistan has implemented the National Action Plan for Gender Equality for 2015-2020 and is currently implementing the signed plan for 2021-2025.
Recently, on March 18, 2022, on the eve of the spring holiday of Novruz Bayramy, the public association “Keik Okara” with the support of the Governance Support Program (GSP) in Turkmenistan, project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) held a one-day seminar for representatives of public associations (PAs) to discuss the promotion of gender equality in society. The seminar was held in a dual format – offline and online to connect an international expert, representatives of international organizations and velayats’ (regions’) PAs.
The purpose of the seminar was to jointly discuss the achievements and activities for the development of gender equality, which are carried out within the framework of the implementation of national programs and international legal conventions, agreements in the gender field, including the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, as well as the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDG 5).
Mr. Sabir Agabalayev facilitator of the seminar, Deputy Chairman of the PA “Keik Okara” and a representative of the GSP, welcomed the participants, and after that, Mrs. Bermet Stakeeva, Executive Director of the Forum of Women’s Public Associations of Kyrgyzstan, spoke via videoconference link with an overview of international standards for gender equality, who spoke about international legislative documents regulating gender equality, their main requirements, achievements, etc.
Further, B. Stakeeva spoke about the practice of applying international standards of gender equality by public organizations of Kyrgyzstan, as well as the experience of the forum of women’s PAs in Kyrgyzstan in promoting gender equality and protecting women’s rights.
In the second half of the workshop, speakers were local experts. So, Sabir Agabalayev made a presentation “Review of the Legislation of Turkmenistan on Gender Equality”, and Subi Ibragimova made a presentation “Experience of PA “Keik Okara”, project on prevention of gender-based violence against women”.
In the final part of the seminar, the participants discussed the standard of the Code of Ethics for internal use by public organizations developed by the PA “Keik Okara” in the aspect of gender equality. It is important to note that the Code of Ethics is based on the principles of the law of Turkmenistan “On ethics and official conduct of a civil servant” adopted on March 26, 2016, and that for many donors, international organizations, the presence of such a code in partner organizations is one of the main requirements for cooperation.
After each session, time was allotted for discussions, questions and answers. The participants of the seminar shared their knowledge about the situation of gender equality in Turkmenistan, which, according to the international expert, meets modern standards. B. Stakeeva also noted that the experience of Turkmenistan can be a good example for countries in the region and that for good interaction between public organizations to promote gender equality, both in the country and in the Central Asian region, it is necessary to establish links with global and regional platforms, participate in online discussions of international and regional networks and platforms, identify the most suitable organizations and networks for future cooperation, etc. To determine the degree of assimilation of the information material of the seminar on gender equality, the participants filled out a pre-test before the start of the seminar and a post-test at the end of the seminar.
At the end of the meeting, the hosts thanked the participants and the international expert, wished everyone fruitful cooperation, and expressed their hope to meet regularly at such events. As a result of the seminar, local and international experts presented recommendations on the promotion of gender equality by public organizations, the involvement of public organizations in various international and regional platforms on gender equality, as well as the standard of the Code of Ethics for internal use by public associations, developed by the PA “Keik Okara” in the aspect of gender equality.
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