Preparations have begun in Turkmenistan for a wide celebration of the first spring holiday - International Women's Day. The program of cultural events includes the international conference and exhibition "Bagtyýarlyk baharynyň şekillendiriş sungatyndaky waspy", scheduled for March 1–2, honoring mothers of large families, a beauty contest among university students and many other celebrations.
Respect for a woman-mother, her work and talent is one of the centuries-old traditions of the Turkmen people, which has been strongly developed over the years of independence, becoming the basis of the modern state policy of gender equality. Thanks to the development of its constitutional, institutional and legal foundations, all conditions have been created in Turkmenistan for education, physical and intellectual development, free and fruitful work of women, the realization of their creative potential and entrepreneurial initiative. Today, women in Turkmenistan are widely represented in the structures of all branches of state power, including in both houses of parliament.
The country has acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and its Optional Protocol. And in its strategy for promoting gender equality, Turkmenistan is consistently taking steps to implement into national legislation international legal norms and provisions regarding the creation of equal rights and opportunities for men and women. Turkmenistan is successfully implementing the second action plan for ensuring gender equality for 2021-2025, which is a comprehensive program document that defines the strategic directions and key priorities of the state gender policy.
Our country is consistently taking practical steps to enhance the role of women in state and public life, not only at the national level, but also strives to contribute to achieving gender balance at the regional and global levels. In August last year, a regular meeting of the Dialogue of Women Leaders of Central Asian Countries was held in the Avaza National Tourist Zone, which discussed in detail the gender agenda of the region. In 2022, Turkmenistan chairs this informal regional platform, launched with the support of the United Nations Development Program and the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia, with the aim of supporting women in the region, increasing their political, economic and social role and empowering them to have a greater impact on processes making decisions on issues related to sustainable development.
And on April 20, 2021, during the regular meeting of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC), Turkmenistan was elected to the membership of the Executive Board of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (“UN Women”) for the period 2022- 2024 years.
