Women's Resource Center

The Women's Resource Centre, Tashkent, was organised as an informal group at the beginning of 1994. Documents were given for registration as an independent, non-governmental organisation on 28th February 1995 to the Department of Justice, Tashkent Khokimiat, and on July 12th, 1995, the WRC was finally registered as a public society. The center's main activities focus on health, ecology and sustainable development, cultural development, human rights and the status of women. Its aims are to:

1. disseminate information;
2. foster enlightenment;
3. support the initiatives of inividuals; and
4. provide a forum for cooperation and mutual support.

The center conducts research on the position of women in Uzbek society, addressing such topics gender issues, fundamentalism, women and violence, health, and income generation. It brings women together at round tables and conferences, and has published a compilation of laws and regulations related to women's rights. The center is comprised of representatives of the local scientific and higher education communities.

Cofounder Marfua Tokhtakhodjaeva has published results of her research in several articles and two books, The Daughters of the Amazons: Central Asian Women Speak, and Between the Slogans of Communism and the Laws of Islam. In 1997, the center published a textbook Woman, Law and Society in Uzbekistan. Two thousand free copies of the book were distributed to universities, schools, public foundations, and NGOs in Tashkent.

Under a EU-funded project, the center investigated the economic condition of women in rural Uzbekistan in collaboration with Sapienco University in Rome. With support from the Eurasia Foundation, the center analyzed legislation pertaining to women's rights through the project "Women and Law: A Transition Period in Uzbekistan." It also conducted a regional study of income generating activities of large families in Central Asia, and the contributions of women to family income. The center is also working on a demographic survey of Uzbekistan with support from the Sisterhood is Global Institute. Recent projects also include studies of the status of women working in the textile industry and pharmaceuticals for the UN University in Helsinki, Finland, and of the socio-economic status of women in rural areas of Uzbekistan.

Last updated:    May 1999

For more information about the emerging Central Asian third sector see Civil Society in Central Asia (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1999).

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