Chapter 5. Restricted access to productive and financial resources

This chapter presents an overview of women’s restricted access to productive and financial resources. It examines discriminatory social institutions – formal and informal laws, social norms and practices – that restrict women’s access to and control over critical productive and economic resources and assets across 12 Eurasian countries, covering areas such as secure access to land, secure access to non-land assets, secure access to formal financial services and workplace rights. The chapter also seeks to provide policy makers with the necessary tools and evidence to design effective gender-responsive policies in order to improve women’s economic empowerment.

Box 5.1. Measuring women’s restricted access to productive and financial resources

The restricted access to productive and financial resources (RAPFR) sub-index captures women’s restricted access to and control over critical productive and economic resources and assets. This includes: discriminatory laws that deny women access to land, decent work and financial resources; discriminatory customary practices in ownership or decision-making over land, household property and other assets; discriminatory practices or attitudes towards women’s formal work; and social norms dictating that women’s property ownership or access to credit should be mediated by men.

The sub-index is composed of four indicators, all of which take into account non-statutory (societal) discrimination against women in traditional, religious and customary laws and practices:

“Secure access to land assets” captures the share of women land titleholders and the level of their legal protection, i.e. whether women and men have equal and secure access to land.
“Secure access to non-land assets” captures the share of women house owners and the level of their legal protection, i.e. whether women and men have equal and secure access to non-land assets.
“Secure access to formal financial services” captures the share of women holding a bank account and the level of their legal protection, i.e. whether women and men have equal access to formal financial services.
“Workplace rights” captures the share of women managers and the social and legal acceptance of working mothers, i.e. whether women and men enjoy equal rights and opportunities in the workplace. This includes issues related to employment protection during pregnancy, maternity/parental leave, equal remuneration for work of equal value and equal access to professions.

Figure 5.1. Level of discrimination regarding women’s access to productive and financial resources

Women’s economic empowerment is restricted by insecure workplace rights. The region’s average level of discrimination of 26% in the RAPFR sub-index is the second worst score across the four sub-indices of the SIGI. The region has a lower level of discrimination than the global average in secure access to non-land assets (17% versus 24%) and to formal financial resources (10% versus 13%), and it performs better in the indicator of secure access to land-assets (10% versus 27%), but it scores poorly in workplace rights (50% versus 44%). The ten countries ranked in this sub-index1 span from very low to medium levels of discrimination (Figure 5.1). Belarus is the best performer, with a level of discrimination of 15%, followed by Ukraine (18%). Six follow with a low level of discrimination (from 20% in Mongolia to 29% in Kyrgyzstan), while Kazakhstan (31%), Tajikistan (34%) and Moldova (37%) lag behind.

Discrimination is most pervasive in Central Asia. Women in Central Asia face a higher level of discrimination (28%) than women in Eastern Europe (23%) and the Caucasus (24%) (Figure 5.2). SIGI scores in the workplace rights indicator of this sub-index are similar across all sub-regions. In the three remaining indicators, sub-regional disparities are observed. For instance, discrimination against women in non-land assets is three times higher in Central Asia than in the Caucasus. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the law provides men and women with the same legal rights and access to land assets. However, prevailing customary, religious or traditional practices hinder women in exercising their rights in Central Asian countries.

Discrimination is particularly high in women’s workplace rights. Women are proscribed from working the same night hours as men in five countries2 and from entering certain types of jobs in ten countries.3 In Eurasia, 53% of women participate in the labour force, compared to 71% of men (World Bank, n.d.[1]). These regional averages fall close to the global average: around the world, 49% of women and 75% of men participate in the labour force. Across eight countries in the region,4 women earn about 30% less than men on average per month, from 14% less in Moldova to 49% less in Azerbaijan (UNECE, n.d.[2]).

Figure 5.2. SIGI results in the “restricted access to productive and financial resources” indicators

Belarus performs relatively well due to laws promoting women’s economic rights. With a level of discrimination of 15%, Belarus performs relatively well in this sub-index compared to neighbouring countries (but ranks 34th at the world level). Belarusian legislation does not discriminate against women in relation to rights of ownership, use, decision-making power or use as collateral of land and non-land assets. Partial community is the default marital property regime. In addition, there is no legal discrimination against married or unmarried women with regard to access to formal financial services, including opening a bank account and obtaining credit. The law mandates equal remuneration for work of equal value and protects women from discrimination on the basis of sex in employment. Furthermore, paid maternity and parental leave schemes are available. Parental leave can be taken fully or partially by the father, the grandparents or other relatives of the child until the child reaches the age of three. In addition, the dismissal of pregnant women is prohibited and mothers are guaranteed an equivalent position after maternity leave. Nevertheless, women still face certain legal restrictions in the workplace, such as the type of work they can undertake. Belarusian women are excluded from numerous occupations in approximately 70 jobs. Furthermore, it is not prohibited for prospective employers to ask about family status.

Secure access to land assets

Key messages

Governments have taken first steps to strengthen women’s land rights. This is the case across the region, and is in line with international standards concerning women’s land rights (Box 5.2).
- All countries explicitly recognise women’s rights to access land on equal terms with men.
- In six countries,5 joint titling is compulsory for married couples.
Measures to secure women’s access to land are lacking in practice.
- At the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union,6 women were often disadvantaged in land privatisation and restitution schemes, as men were largely listed as the de facto heads of household and landholders. This discrimination in practice still persists today.
- Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are the region’s only two countries that have implemented public measures to protect women’s land rights, and no country has promoted legal literacy programmes.
- Only half of the region’s countries7 have developed public measures, programmes and projects to ensure women’s participation in co-operatives, producer organisations and/or rural committees.
Women’s access to land is not protected. Legal equality for women’s land rights in national legal codes has not proven sufficient to protect women’s access to land on the ground.
- Women represent 34% of the agricultural labour force in the region but only 27% of agricultural landholders.
- Further efforts are needed to measure gender gaps in access to land. Eight countries8 do not collect sex-disaggregated data and/or statistics on land, including information on agricultural ownership by men and women.
Discriminatory customary laws prevail in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Traditional patrilineal kinship systems limit women’s land rights in countries like Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine are the leading performers in this indicator. In these countries, women enjoy the same rights to access land assets as men both in law and in practice. In Moldova, land ownership can be awarded to vulnerable groups such as widows and women (World Bank, 2014[3]). The country’s Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (2015-20) includes measures to promote opportunities for young women in running family farms and to support women’s economic empowerment in rural settings (FAO, 2016[4]).

Key policy recommendations

Establish implementing measures to increase women’s access to land. The government of Kazakhstan included measures to equalise women’s and men’s access to land in the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Gender Equality Strategy for 2012-16.
Develop legal literacy programmes to help women, families and communities understand their statutory rights to land. While legal frameworks in the region guarantee women’s land rights on equal terms with men, they are largely thwarted by women’s general lack of awareness of their rights.
Promote joint land titling to increase registration of women’s land rights. In Moldova, the law9 provides for joint ownership of assets purchased or constructed by spouses during marriage – even when information for one of the spouses is not registered for the property in question.
Promote women’s participation and leadership in global, national and local institutions, in governance mechanisms in rural areas and in bodies concerned with the ownership and use of land, in order to increase women’s autonomy, voice, agency and decision-making power. In Armenia, the Community Agricultural Resource Management and Competitiveness project aimed, in part, to ensure women’s participation in co-operatives, producer organisations and rural committees (CEDAW, 2016[5]).
Collect sex-disaggregated data at the individual level to gain a better understanding of barriers to women’s land access and ownership. Data collection needs to be coupled with qualitative research methods to take local conditions into account. Currently, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova collect comparable data on land and agricultural ownership by men and women.
Design awareness-raising campaigns about women’s land rights to tackle discriminatory patrilineal inheritance traditions and practices that favour men over women. In 2017, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) designed gender-awareness programmes to enhance women’s access to land in Uzbekistan (Box 5.3).
Adopt an integrated approach to bring inheritance rights into the debate. Women’s inheritance and ownership rights should be at the centre of the formulation of land policies, programmes and projects.

Box 5.2. International standards concerning women’s land rights

Women’s equal access to, use of and control over land is grounded in core international human rights instruments.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) recognises the right to property (Art. 2).
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976) guarantees equality between women and men (Art. 3).
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1976) calls on States Parties to “undertake to ensure the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights” (Art. 3).
The CEDAW (1979) acknowledges that “States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in rural areas in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, that they participate in and benefit from rural development” (Art. 14.2).
The ILO’s 1989 Convention Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (No. 169) states that “the rights of ownership and possession of the peoples concerned over the lands which they traditionally occupy shall be recognised” (Art. 14.1).
The Beijing Platform for Action (1995) calls on governments to “ensure women’s equal access to economic resources, including land” and “to formulate and implement policies and programmes that provide access to and control of land” (Para. 58(n)).
The Habitat Agenda (1996) commits governments to providing “legal security of tenure and equal access to land to all people, including women and those living in poverty”, and to undertaking “legislative and administrative reforms to give women full and equal access to economic resources, including the right to inheritance and to ownership of land” (Para. 40 (b)).
The CEDAW Committee considers “women’s rights to land, natural resources, as well as fisheries as fundamental human rights” (CEDAW Committee, 2016[6]).
The SDG framework (2015) recognises women’s secure access to land as a key pillar of women’s economic empowerment. The international community has committed to secure, enforce and monitor progress on women’s land rights in order to achieve the 2030 Agenda by including land-specific SDG indicators (1.4.210 and 5.a.111).

In-depth analysis of secure access to land assets

Comprehensive legal frameworks aim to secure women’s rights to land in the region. All 12 Eurasian countries specifically recognise women’s rights to own, use and make decisions about land, and to use it as collateral on equal terms with men during marriage and after divorce. One measure adopted by some governments to strengthen women’s land rights is to incorporate provisions for joint registration into the legal and policy framework for married, divorced and abandoned women and widows. Furthermore, half of the region’s countries12 have made joint land titling compulsory for married couples, and three13 of them have implemented this measure for de facto unions as well.

Gender gaps in land ownership persist despite legal gender equality. The limited data available make clear that women are disadvantaged with respect to men. For instance, in the four countries14 where data is available, 27% of landholders are women (from 12% in Kyrgyzstan to 36% in Moldova). This stands in stark contrast to their participation in the rural economy as agricultural workers. Women in Eurasia are more likely to work in agriculture than their male counterparts: 30% of women are employed in agricultural sector versus 26% of men (Figure 5.3). In Belarus, nearly two-thirds of all female workers are employed in the agricultural sector (66%), compared to only 13% of male workers.

The history of Eurasia has shaped the obstacles women face to access land. In many countries in the region, women continue to feel the effects of discriminatory practices used during the post-Soviet privatisation or restitution of land. In Moldova, for instance, women gained only 1% of assets after land privatisation reforms (Kissyelova, 2004[7]). During this period, men often remained the only name legally registered, even when strategies encouraged registration of both spouses (Stanley, Lamb and De Martino, 2013[8]). This situation was illustrated in Mongolia: following the privatisation of state-owned property, most immovable and movable assets were registered to heads of household, who were men in a majority of cases. Moreover, when women were the heads of household, the distribution of assets appears to have been discriminatory (FAO, 2017[9]). In Tajikistan, property certificates are commonly issued in the husband’s name only or in the name of the wife’s father or brothers-in-law (ADB, 2016[10]; USAID, 2010[11]). In Uzbekistan, while women’s land rights are guaranteed under the Family Code and the Land Code, there is evidence to suggest that men are typically the de facto head of household and thus may be likely to administer joint assets without the consent of the wife. In addition, there are reports of land being deeded solely to the de facto head of household (FAO, 2017[9]).

Figure 5.3. Share of female agricultural holders and workers

Due to deeply embedded patrilineal kinship systems, the highest levels of discrimination against women’s rights to access land assets in practice are found in Central Asia and the Caucasus. In eight countries 15, women are denied the same rights to access land assets as men under traditional, religious and/or customary laws. Evidence from this region attests to the role of traditional patrilineal kinship systems in limiting women’s land and property rights (Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan). Youngest sons are seen as the care providers for their parents and are consequently granted full inheritance claims over family property. This is to the detriment of married daughters, who lose their inheritance rights since they enter their husbands’ families upon marriage. In Armenia, patrilocal marriages, more common in rural areas, see brides go to live with their husbands’ families. Within this traditional form of marriage, women usually do not claim their ownership rights over land, either within their own families or within their new stepfamilies, due to a fear that this might be seen as confrontational (FAO, 2017[12]). In Tajikistan, where all land is state owned,16 women face strong discrimination in accessing land. Women are often excluded from receiving individual or household plots because they are often thought to lack farming knowledge and the ability to cultivate their own land (USAID, 2010[11]).

Legal illiteracy and unregistered marriages compound restrictions to women’s land and property rights. In countries where discriminatory traditional practices exist, there is a general lack of knowledge about women’s rights over land among the population, including rural women and civil servants. Many Georgian women are unaware of their land ownership rights under civil law, and most property is registered in the name of the husband or the male head of household. Women in Georgia are more often “co-owners” of property (e.g. as shareholders of parents’ property, or in the case of a divorce). Unregistered marriages are especially problematic for women because they deprive them of their rights to joint land property.

Further efforts are required to improve female land ownership. No country in the region has promoted legal literacy programmes and projects to enable women to understand their land and property rights. Only two countries in Central Asia17 have implemented public measures to protect women’s land rights. In efforts to promote, protect and empower rural women, half of the region’s countries18 have implemented measures in national programmes to enhance women’s participation in co-operatives, producer organisations and rural committees, and to provide training for rural women and capacity-building activities for female-led co-operatives.

Box 5.3. Promoting women’s access to land in Uzbekistan

In 2017, the ADB launched the Horticulture Value Chain Development Project, which aims to mitigate environmental, social and gender impact in the farming sector in Uzbekistan.

The project entails a comprehensive Gender Action Plan to enhance women’s access to land. It will ensure that loans from participating commercial banks prioritise women and reach at least 20% of the female farmers in the vicinity. It will also set up associations of women farmers in Bukhara, Fergana, Syrdarya, Surkhandarya and Tashkent, and establish groups of women to promote new agribusiness enterprises and new farms.

Moreover, the project aims to raise awareness of the role women play in agriculture and their needs. Success stories about women’s groups and associations of female farmers will be disseminated through the local media. Gender-awareness programmes for the main stakeholders and beneficiaries were developed. Examples include the Council of Farmers, participating commercial banks and representatives of the Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Programme.

Source: ADB, Uzbekistan Country Gender Assessment, https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/institutional-document/479841/uzbekistan-country-gender-assessment-update.pdf.

Secure access to non-land assets

Key messages

Legal frameworks enshrine equal rights to access non-land assets for women and men across the region.
- All countries guarantee women’s property rights on an equal footing with men.
- No country recognises men as the sole administrator of property, and this removes an important barrier to women’s property rights.
But measures to strengthen women’s access to property are missing. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are the only countries in the region that have implemented public measures to protect women’s property rights.
Discriminatory practices hinder women’s access to non-land assets in Central Asia and in Georgia in the Caucasus. Due to traditional and religious practices under patrilineal systems, women’s access to and control over property remains vulnerable, as men are traditionally expected to care of their parents and thus inherit family property and assets.
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Ukraine score best in this indicator thanks to strong legislative frameworks protecting women’s rights to non-land assets. The frameworks guarantee women and men the same rights and secure access to non-land assets both in law and in practice. In Armenia, spouses have equal property rights, and any property purchased during the marriage is owned jointly. Both spouses must agree on the administration of marital property.

Key policy recommendations

Implement public measures to strengthen women’s property rights. In this context, Kazakhstan’s 2030 Family and Gender Policy aims to increase female ownership of non-land assets.
Promote jointly titled property, which would specifically unlock women’s access to formal financial services (Box 5.4). A change in the regulations covering asset registration could provide women with equal rights to property and enable them to use assets as collateral to secure loans.
Conduct innovative and holistic awareness-raising campaigns at the community level to ensure that the entire community, and not just women, understands the legal framework regarding women’s property rights. Uzbekistan presents a good-practice example (Box 5.5).
Adopt an integrated approach to make inheritance rights part of the debate.

Box 5.4. International standards with respect to women’s property rights

Women’s rights to property and non-land assets are guaranteed under numerous international and regional instruments.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) establishes the right of everyone to own property regardless of sex (Art. 17.1 and 2).
The CEDAW (1979) explicitly calls on States Parties to take all appropriate measures to ensure the same rights for both spouses in respect of the ownership, acquisition, management, administration, enjoyment and disposition of property (Art. 16.1 (h)).
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) calls on national and international NGOs and women’s groups to protect women’s right to full and equal access to economic resources, including the right to inherit land and other property (Para. 60).

In-depth analysis of secure access to non-land assets

Eurasian countries protect women’s rights to access non-land assets through strong legislative frameworks. All countries recognise women’s rights to own, use and make decisions about non-land assets and to use these assets as collateral on equal terms with men during marriage and after divorce. Furthermore, no country entitles husbands to solely administer and dispose of marital property. In Ukraine, for instance, marital property is to be administered by the spouses jointly. In Moldova, Law No. 121 (2012) prohibits discrimination in the sale or lease of movable or immovable property. The legal frameworks governing property and assets of 11 countries apply to all groups of women. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have implemented public measures to protect women’s property and non-land assets rights, in particular within the context of inheritance.

But gender inequalities in access to property still prevail. Across the region, women are still significantly less likely to own a house in their own name. In Kyrgyzstan, for example, only 19% of documented homeowners are women, while in Armenia, women account for 26% of all house owners. In Kyrgyzstan, 7% of women own a house alone, in comparison with 31% of men (DHS, 2012[13]).

Figure 5.4. Legal frameworks governing property rights

Several barriers to women’s inheritance of non-land assets persist. Women’s access to property and tenure security is closely related to inheritance practices. Despite strengthened legislative frameworks, discriminatory traditional or religious practices in all countries19 of the Central Asian sub-region and in Georgia restrict women’s rights to inherit (Figure 5.4). These inheritance practices have a strong influence on attitudes to property ownership and often discriminate against women. Property and non-land assets are often registered solely in the husband’s name. This is particularly true in rural areas, where women often have little involvement in economic decisions. In addition, many married women live in properties belonging not to their husbands but to their fathers-in-law. Women’s ability to own and manage property is limited due to traditional gender roles, which place men in charge of non-land assets. In Turkmenistan, property rights in some Muslim communities are governed by religious laws that favour men. In Mongolia, joint ownership practices are uncommon despite the guarantees of the Mongolian Civil Code and Constitution (Khan, Van Den Brink and Aslam, 2013[14]).

Box 5.5. Improving women’s access to property in Uzbekistan

In 2011, the ADB launched the Housing for Integrated Rural Development Investment Programme (HIRDIP) in Uzbekistan with a clear gender action plan to improve women’s access to property.

Outreach campaigns took place under the programme, and participating commercial banks implemented new gender policies under the supervision of the Women’s Committee of Uzbekistan. Applicants to the programme were ranked via a 19-question scorecard that gave preference to women by awarding extra points to widowed and divorced women with children, teachers and health care workers, and people with home-based businesses, most of whom are women.

As an outcome, women became owners of 4 300 homes constructed under the programme between 2012 and 2015 (26.5% of the total). Access to high-quality electricity, natural gas and piped water significantly reduced the burden of housework, enabling women to use the time gained to set up home-based businesses. In 2015-16, women owned 823 of the 2 003 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) established by HIRDIP home buyers and received 40% of the micro loans for SMEs available to programme participants.

Source: ADB (2018), “Uzbekistan country gender assessment update”, https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/institutional-document/479841/uzbekistan-country-gender-assessment-update.pdf.

Secure access to formal financial services

Key messages

Women have equal rights to access formal financial services thanks to political commitments that have translated into legal reforms (Box 5.6). All countries in the region have removed legal barriers to women’s access to bank accounts and credits.
This access does not fully address women’s needs for financial inclusion. Gender gaps in access to bank accounts in financial institution have been closed at the regional level, and female ownership of accounts almost doubled between 2011 and 2017 (World Bank, 2017[15]). However, improving women’s economic empowerment requires also guaranteeing women equal access to loans, building financial literacy and offering training opportunities that understand and address the specificities of women’s individual situations.
Lack of asset ownership, collateral and financial literacy hinders financial inclusion for women. Across the region, women are exposed to many difficulties in gaining access to credit. This is due to traditional stereotypes viewing women’s role as a supplementary earner, to women’s lack of appropriate skills and to institutional barriers that discourage women from taking out bank loans.
Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova score best in this indicator. These countries guarantee women and men the same rights to open a bank account in a formal financial institution and to obtain credit, in both law and in practice.

Key policy recommendations

Adopt an integrated and multiple-entry-points approach and mainstream gender and women’s financial inclusion into the national policy agendas. Women’s financial inclusion requires better access to asset ownership, education and financial literacy, in particular among women belonging to minority groups and living in rural areas. The government of Kyrgyzstan is supporting gender-based approaches in credit institutions (2015-17 National Action Plan on Gender Equality). The plan aimed to include gender experts to analyse the national microfinance strategy, conduct an inventory of the lending terms and conditions of the financial institutions, and develop specific recommendations to improve women’s access to financial services.
Support financial and digital literacy programmes among women and girls, particularly among vulnerable and minority groups. Training in information and communications technology (ICT) and financial literacy in school curriculums is central to women’s financial empowerment. These programmes allow women and girls to improve their ability to make transactions and manage budgets, and to learn about the importance of saving money, even at a young age.
Implement women’s entrepreneurship programmes to improve women’s access to finance and economic empowerment (Box 5.7). In 2016, Belarus became one of the first Eastern European countries to launch a Women in Business programme implemented by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The programme promotes women’s entrepreneurship and supports SMEs led by women through access to finance and know-how solutions necessary for business growth.

Box 5.6. International standards on women’s rights to formal financial services

Women’s access to formal financial services is enshrined in a number of international treaties.

The CEDAW (1979) calls on States Parties “to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in other areas of economic and social life in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the same rights, in particular: the right to bank loans, mortgages and other forms of financial credit” (Art. 13 (b)).
The Beijing Platform for Action (1995) states that governments should “promote and support women’s self-employment and the development of small enterprises, and strengthen women’s access to credit and capital on appropriate terms equal to those of men through the scaling up of institutions dedicated to promoting women’s entrepreneurship, including, as appropriate, non-traditional and mutual credit schemes, as well as innovative linkages with financial institutions (para.166 (a)).
The CEDAW Committee, in its general recommendation No. 25 (2004), noted that States Parties should implement special temporary measures where necessary in the areas of credit and loans, as well as in legal awareness. Such measures should be directed at women who are subject to multiple forms of discrimination, including rural women.

In-depth analysis of secure access to formal financial resources

Laws and policies promote women’s equal access to formal financial services in the region. The legal frameworks of all Eurasian countries provide women with the same rights as men to open a bank account at a formal financial institution and they guarantee women’s equal access to credit. Governments are taking steps to improve women’s financial inclusion: more than half of the region’s countries20 have promoted gender-sensitive measures to expand women’s access to formal financial services. In Kazakhstan, for instance, numerous government programmes have been established to promote women’s economic empowerment and ensure equal access to financial services by 2030 through the establishment of training centres on business management and entrepreneurship. They include the 2020 Business Road Map, the 2020 Employment Road Map and the 2009-15 Programme on Microcredit for Female Entrepreneurship.

Women in Eurasia benefit from improved access to bank accounts. Regionally, 50% of all account holders are women, ranging from 44% in Tajikistan to 54% in Georgia (Figure 5.5). In some countries, there is a reverse gender gap in bank account ownership: women hold more bank accounts than men in Belarus (54%), Kazakhstan (54%), Moldova (53%), Mongolia (52%) and Ukraine (53%). But relative equality in access to formal bank accounts hides gender gaps in other areas of women’s financial inclusion, such as saving patterns, access to formal credit and the size of loans.

Eurasian women face more difficulties in accessing credit than men, particularly women in living rural areas. Women are slightly less likely (14%) to borrow money from a financial institution than their male counterparts (16%). Women in the Caucasus are more likely to borrow money from a financial institution (19%) than women in Central Asia (13%) and Eastern Europe (11%) (Demirgüç-Kunt et al., 2018[16]) (Figure 5.5). At the regional level, 9% of all women own a credit card, compared to 11% of men. Urban women are more independent in loan-related decisions compared to their rural counterparts. In Kyrgyzstan, for instance, the proportion of women who received a loan in the previous five years was higher in urban areas (25%) than in rural areas (16%). Some 35% of urban women who received a credit initiated the process themselves, and in 28% of cases it was their husband or partner, compared to 16% and 34% in rural areas, respectively (NSC, 2016[17]).

Figure 5.5. The gender gap in accessing financial services

Women still face barriers to financial services in certain sub-regions. The customary, religious or traditional practices or laws of two countries21 in Central Asia still discriminate against women’s legal right to open a bank account at a formal institution, and two-thirds of the countries22 in Eurasia, most of them in Central Asia (four countries) and the Caucasus (three countries), discriminate against women’s rights to obtain credit. This is due to prejudices about their ability to repay loans and to the difficulty for women to draw up business plans and provide collateral owing to financial illiteracy and the fact that property is often registered in the name of the husband or male head of household. In Kyrgyzstan, for instance, social norms and cultural practices restrict women’s freedom to pledge their own property as collateral without acquiring any other consent. This may inhibit women from accessing sizeable loans: only 1-2% of loans of over EUR 3 800 are granted to women (EBRD, 2013[18]). In Mongolia, due to the unequal distribution of assets and property, women often require the consent of the husband, who is the head of the household, to apply for a loan or credit using the property as collateral (Khan, Van Den Brink and Aslam, 2013[14]). Bureaucratic challenges, including high taxes, heavy customs procedures and numerous inspections, further hinder women’s access to credit.

Box 5.7. The Women in Business programme in Eurasia

The Women in Business programme, implemented by the EBRD, is promoting women’s access to credit in Eurasia. The programme works alongside women-led SMEs to promote women’s participation in business through a range of initiatives, including improved access to finance (EBRD, 2017[19]).

The programme provides access to finance through credit lines to local banks devoted to women-led businesses, and works closely with partner financial institutions to guarantee that financial products are able to better meet the needs of these women-led SMEs. This involves helping the banks build their internal capacity and introduce procedures and organisational structures to efficiently start or expand lending to women.

The programme began in 2016 and to date has been implemented in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Ukraine. By mid-2017, credit amounting to more than EUR 36.3 million had been provided through six partner banks in the Eurasia region (EU4Business, 2017[20]).

Female entrepreneurs continue to face an uphill battle because of restricted access to formal financial services. At a time when the number of female-run enterprises is steadily increasing, access to finance is the most important obstacle for entrepreneurship among women. On average, while 7% of men report having borrowed for business purposes, only 5% of women did the same (Demirgüç-Kunt et al., 2018[16]). Because of women’s lower likelihood of owning property, banks’ collateral requirements have a greater impact on women than men. In Kazakhstan, for instance, access to finance was identified as a major constraint by 15% of women-led firms, compared to 7% of firms led by men (World Bank, 2013[21]). Another obstacle to women’s entrepreneurship is their lower self-confidence and openness to risks. In Georgia, a fear of failure is reported by 42% of female entrepreneurs, compared to 31% of their male counterparts (GEM, 2014[22]). Women also face greater bureaucratic obstacles than men to register a business, as well as harassment and discrimination by tax authorities. In Tajikistan, registering companies takes women ten days more than men on average (Sattar, 2012[23]). In addition, social norms may discourage some women from pursuing entrepreneurial activities. In Ukraine, female entrepreneurs tend to operate businesses that are small and in strongly feminised and less profitable sectors, while men tend to engage in entrepreneurship activities in the information and technology, engineering services, transport, construction and manufacturing sectors (USAID, 2017[24]).

Workplace rights

Key messages

Governments have taken steps to combat workplace discrimination in an effort to close gender gaps in outcomes.
- All countries but Turkmenistan have introduced legislation on equal pay and prohibited discrimination in the workplace based on sex.
- All countries have adopted measures to offer paid maternity leave, and paid parental leave entitlements are available in seven countries.
However, gender gaps in labour market outcomes are persistent.
- Female labour-force participation stands at 53%, compared to 71% for men, and the gender wage gap is around 30% in the region.
- Occupational segregation and glass ceilings are pervasive: 13% of women are employed in the industry sector compared to 31% of men, and women account for only 9% of board members of central banks, 15% of members of the governing boards of trade unions and fewer than 15% of board members of companies registered on the stock exchanges.
Discrimination continues to obstruct equal employment opportunities for women across the region.
- Women are prohibited from working the same night hours as men in five countries23 and from entering certain types of jobs in ten countries.24
- 16% of the population think it is not perfectly acceptable for a woman to work outside the home for a pay.
- 56% of the population consider that men make better business executives than women do, from 46% in Ukraine to 75% in Azerbaijan.
- Due to social norms, people still consider caring responsibilities and household work to be a female domain, and this hinders men from taking parental/paternity leave entitlements. Uptake remains low: in Belarus, for instance, only 1% of fathers accept parental leave entitlements.
Mongolia is the best performer in this indicator, with a level of discrimination of 17%. The government has prioritised eliminating gender-based discrimination in the workplace. The passage of the 2011 Law on Promotion of Gender Equality underlined Mongolia’s commitment to equality in the workplace. Women are guaranteed equal rights in employment and labour relations, companies are required to report on implementation of gender-equality initiatives and the status of sexual harassment in the workplace and paid maternal leave is available for 17 weeks. However, other child leave schemes are not guaranteed. Women hold more than 40% of all managerial positions in Mongolia.

Key policy recommendations

Remove discriminatory legal provisions affecting women’s equal access to employment (Box 5.8). For instance, lists of banned professions for non-pregnant and non-nursing women should be eliminated. These discriminatory labour laws prevent women from freely choosing their profession or type of job and from exercising their legal right to work. They also reinforce the idea that women should be confined to their domestic and reproductive roles. Belarus has reduced the number of professions in which female work is prohibited, but women are still prohibited from doing 70 jobs, down from 270.25
- Implement measures to close the gender wage gap and promote greater transparency in pay, promotion and reward processes in the public and private sectors. Measures to close the wage gap include mentoring programmes, where women can learn how to negotiate their salary and working conditions.
Increase women’s participation and leadership in male-dominated sectors. Traditionally male-dominated industries and occupations, such as construction, infrastructure, transport and mining, often provide skilled, well-paid and high-status jobs. In Kyrgyzstan, the Osh Auto Transport Enterprise collaborated with the EBRD to tackle gender stereotypes in the transport sector and increase women’s participation (Box 5.10).
- Address social norms restricting women’s economic contribution. Policy makers should promote awareness of the benefits for children and the family of a fulfilled mother, including both homemakers and mothers who work outside the home. It is important to challenge social norms that assume men should be favoured when jobs are scarce or that men make better managers than women.
- Implement measures aimed at promoting work-life balance, such as free or affordable early-childcare services, particularly for low-income families, and flexible work arrangements (flexible hours or flexi-time schemes) for both fathers and mothers. The Azerbaijan 2020: Look into the Future Development Concept highlighted plans to increase the number of kindergartens and to facilitate childcare for working parents (Government of Azerbaijan, 2015[25]).
Provide employees with paid paternity or parental leave benefits, and progressively increase the length of these entitlements. Longer child-related programmes lessen the disparities in leave-taking between low- and high-income families and reduce the burden of women’s unpaid care and domestic work. In 2016, the government of Moldova amended the Labour Code26 to include 14 days of fully paid paternity leave.
Encourage men to take paternity and parental leave entitlements, and promote awareness-raising campaigns about healthy masculinities and the importance of equal sharing of parenting responsibilities. Partnerships between diverse NGOs can have a major role in changing attitudes on caregiving.

Box 5.8. International standards concerning women’s workplace rights

Women’s rights in the workplace have been guaranteed through numerous international agreements and conventions.

The CEDAW (1979) calls on States Parties to “take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of employment in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the same rights, in particular:
- the right to work as an inalienable right of all human beings
- the right to the same employment opportunities, including the application of the same criteria for selection in matters of employment
- the right to free choice of profession and employment, the right to promotion, job security and all benefits and conditions of service, and the right to receive vocational training and retraining, including apprenticeships, advanced vocational training and recurrent training
- the right to equal remuneration, including benefits, and to equal treatment in respect of work of equal value, as well as equality of treatment in the evaluation of the quality of work”.
The Beijing Platform for Action (1995) underlines the need to take appropriate measures in consideration of women’s reproductive role and functions and “eliminate discriminatory practices by employers [...] such as the denial of employment and dismissal due to pregnancy or breast-feeding, or requiring proof of contraceptive use, and take effective measures to ensure that pregnant women, women on maternity leave or women re-entering the labour market after childbearing are not discriminated against” (Para. 165 (c)).
Core ILO conventions establish key labour standards that promote effective equality between women and men in employment.
- The Equal Remuneration Convention of 1951 (No. 100) has been ratified by all governments in Eurasia.
- The Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention of 1958 (No. 111) has been ratified by all countries in the region.
- The Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention of 1981 (No. 156) has been ratified by three of the region’s countries.27
- The Maternity Protection Convention of 2000 (No. 183) has been ratified by one third28 of the region’s countries.
- The Domestic Workers Convention of 2011 (No. 189) has not yet been ratified by any Eurasian country.
The SDG Frameworks (2015) recognise the importance to “achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, and equal pay for work of equal value by 2030” (target 8.5). Furthermore, the 2030 Agenda set two indicators (8.5.1 and 8.5.2) to measure and monitor progress in this area.

In-depth analysis of workplace rights

Governments have made progress on women’s pay and employment conditions. All Eurasian countries have ratified ILO Convention No. 100 on Equal Remuneration (1951), and all countries but Georgia have introduced legislation on equal remuneration for work of equal value (Box 5.9). In addition, all countries but one prohibit discrimination in employment based on sex.29 The legal frameworks of Belarus and Tajikistan mandate equal remuneration for work of equal value (World Bank, 2018[26]). Two-thirds of the region’s countries30 have specific bodies tasked with receiving, investigating, adjudicating and enforcing complaints based on discrimination in employment, while six countries31 impose penalties for companies in cases of gender discrimination in recruitment and promotions.

Box 5.9. The principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value

The principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value is set out in ILO Convention No. 100 (1951). It calls on member states to “ensure the application to all workers of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value”. To date, 173 countries have ratified this convention.

Considering that most labour markets are characterised by horizontal gender segregation and that minimum wages in female-predominant sectors are lower in many cases, countries are recommended to respect the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value rather than equal pay for equal work.

Equal remuneration for work of equal value covers broader cases where women and men carry out different work in different sectors, while equal pay for equal work limits the application of the equal pay principle for work done by two individuals in the same area of activity and within the same working unit. Examples of jobs that are of equal value include: cleaners (mostly women) and drivers (mostly men); and social affairs managers (mostly women) and engineers (mostly men).

All governments have adopted measures to offer paid maternity leave. All countries in Eurasia require employers to offer paid maternity leave and all but Azerbaijan protect women’s employment when they are on maternity leave. All the countries meet the requirements of ILO Convention No. 183 on Maternity Protection (Box 5.8) and provide for at least 14 weeks of paid leave. At the regional level, women are entitled to take on average 20 weeks of paid maternity leave, ranging from 17 weeks in Mongolia to 28 weeks in Turkmenistan. In addition, three countries32 in Central Asia and two countries33 in Eastern Europe prohibit employers from asking about a woman’s pregnancy or her intention to have children during recruitment or promotion processes.

Most governments promote parental leave. Parental leave schemes are guaranteed in ten countries34, and seven35 of them grant paid parental leave. Paternity leave is available in seven countries36, among which only Moldova establishes paid entitlements to fathers.

Figure 5.6. Attitudes towards women’s employment and female labour participation

These efforts have not been enough to close gender gaps in labour-market outcomes.

Men are more likely than women to work in all Eurasian countries. Across Eurasia, women have poorer employment outcomes than men: only 53% of women participate in the labour force, compared to 71% of men (World Bank, n.d.[1]). Female labour-force participation is higher in the Caucasus (57%) than in Central Asia (53%) and Eastern Europe (48%).
Men are also likely to earn more money than women. Across eight countries in the region,37 women earn about 30% less than men on average, ranging from 14% in Moldova to 49% in Azerbaijan (UNECE, n.d.[2]).
Women’s labour-force participation is marked by horizontal segregation in Eurasia. For example, 58% of women are employed in the services sector, compared to 43% of men. The second most important sector for working women is agriculture, which employs 29% of them compared to 26% of working men. Gender segregation is more pronounced in the industry sector, which employs 31% of working men compared to 13% of working women (World Bank, n.d.[1]). Gender stereotypes play an important role in proliferating horizontal segregation. In Belarus, for instance, qualitative studies among schoolgirls under the age of ten show that dream jobs follow a highly gendered pattern. Moreover, 77% of Belarusian male university students are reported to believe that women should expect to be the main caregivers as mothers and housewives (World Bank, 2014[27]).
Men still dominate managerial positions across the region. In ten countries where data is available,38 35% of all managers are women, ranging from 15% in Tajikistan to 46% in Belarus. The regional average is above the global average of 24%. While gender equality in decision-making positions in business is gaining ground in Eastern European countries, where women hold 43% of all managerial positions, countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia still lag behind, with 33% and 32%, respectively.

Discriminatory formal and informal laws impede equal employment opportunities. Discrimination on the basis of sex in employment is prohibited in 11 countries,39 yet legal restrictions persist across all sub-regions. The legal frameworks of Azerbaijan, Moldova and Ukraine are comprehensive, specifically covering non-discrimination on the basis of sex in job advertisements, selection criteria, recruitment, hiring, promotions, training, assignments and termination of contracts. But restrictions across the region range from laws prohibiting women from working the same night hours as men (five countries40) to laws barring them from pursuing the same professions as men (ten countries41). In Uzbekistan, the labour code42 restricts women’s ability to access the labour market by including dispositions that prohibit women from working in certain industries (mining, construction and metalworking). In six countries,43 customary, religious and/or traditional laws discriminate against women’s legal right to enter certain professions. In Mongolia, for instance, discriminatory practices encourage women to pursue unpaid positions within the family sphere. When women do enter the labour market, customary practices consider certain job and employment sectors as inaccessible to women, such as mining or construction (Khan, Van Den Brink and Aslam, 2013[14]).

Discriminatory social norms curtail women’s ability to enjoy economic autonomy. At the regional level, 16% of the population think it is not perfectly acceptable for a woman to work outside the home for pay. This figure increases to 22% in Central Asia, followed by the Caucasus (18%) and Eastern Europe (9%) (Figure 5.6). In Belarus, for instance, 68% favour a traditional family arrangement where the man works and the woman takes care of the house and children (EBRD, 2016[28]). Challenges to women’s advancement to managerial roles include traditional ideas about women’s status in society that restrict their access to professional networks, which are dominated by men. In eight countries,44 56% of the population consider that men make better business executives than women do, from 46% in Ukraine to 75% in Azerbaijan (Inglehart, 2014[29]).

Men’s reluctance to benefit from paternal leave reflects traditional views of masculinity. Although paid parental leave schemes are granted in seven countries45, men are unlikely to take their paternity or parental leave entitlements. For instance, only 1% of Belarusian fathers take advantage of parental leave (CEDAW, 2016[30]). In Armenia, 87% of men declare they would not take paternity leave after the birth of a child (compared to 23% of women), and 48% mention that this is because their spouse or someone else would take care of the child (2% of women) (CRRC, n.d.[31]).

Box 5.10. An initiative in Kyrgyzstan to bring women into the transport sector

The Osh Auto Transport Enterprise has been working closely with the EBRD to tackle gender issues, and in particular to address the company’s low number of female drivers: only one out of 164 drivers was a woman.

Under this initiative, an Equal Opportunities and Non-Discrimination Policy and an Equal Opportunities Action Plan were jointly developed to attract and retain qualified female staff. Simultaneously, several human resources policies and practices were revised under a new corporate development plan.

This led to 11 women being trained to become bus drivers, challenging social norms and the male-dominated environment in the transport sector. Of the women who were trained, five were recruited, significantly raising the initial share of female drivers and staff.

Source: EBRD, https://www.wherewomenwork.com/Career/1290/EBRD-year-of-gender-equality-policies.

References

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[4] FAO (2016), Country Programming Framework for Ukraine, Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, http://www.fao.org/3/a-bp567e.pdf (accessed on 18 March 2019).

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[7] Kissyelova, O. (2004), Women’s Economic Empowerment and Access to Financing and Assets in CIS countries: Issues, Good Practices and Policy Options, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Geneva, http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/Gender/documents/gender.2004.wee.pdf (accessed on 18 March 2019).

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Notes

← 1. Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Ukraine.

← 2. Azerbaijan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine

← 3. Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

← 4. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Ukraine.

← 5. Azerbaijan, Moldova, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

← 6. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

← 7. Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine.

← 8. Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

← 9. Law No. 1543 on Immovable Property Cadastre, Art. 39.

← 10. Indicator 1.4.2: Proportion of total adult population with secure tenure rights to land, with legally recognised documentation and who perceive their rights to land as secure, by sex and by type of tenure.

← 11. Indicator 5.a.1: (a) Percentage of people with ownership or secure rights over agricultural land (out of total agricultural population), by sex; and (b) share of women among owners or rights-bearers of agricultural land, by type of tenure.

← 12. Azerbaijan, Moldova, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

← 13. Azerbaijan, Moldova and Ukraine.

← 14. Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova.

← 15. Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

← 16. District and local governments are responsible for allocating land plots for limited or perpetual use, meaning that those wishing to establish a family dekhan farm must petition their local government for land (Land Code, Art. 8-9).

← 17. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

← 18. Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine.

← 19. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

← 20. Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

← 21. Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

← 22. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

← 23. Azerbaijan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine.

← 24. Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

← 25. Labour Code of the Republic of Belarus, Art. 262; Resolution No. 35 of 12 June 2014.

← 26. Law No. 71, Art. 124.

← 27. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

← 28. Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Moldova.

← 29. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

← 30. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

← 31. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Ukraine.

← 32. Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Turkmenistan

← 33. Moldova, Ukraine

← 34. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan

← 35. Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan

← 36. Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan

← 37. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Ukraine.

← 38. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine.

← 39. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

← 40. Azerbaijan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine.

← 41. Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

← 42. Labour Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Art. 225, Order No. 865 of 5 January 2000.

← 43. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Uzbekistan.

← 44. Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

← 45. Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan

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