UNDP Country Office in Uzbekistan and the Women’s Committee announced a competition for journalists for the best coverage of issues on elimination of discrimination against women in August 2007.

The contest was aimed at motivating journalists of Uzbekistan to cover gender-related issues to raise gender awareness and knowledge of UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), as well as eliminate gender stereotypes in the community.

The contest was held within the project "Legislative and Institutional Capacity Development for Women’s Empowerment in Uzbekistan", which is directed at supporting and building the capacity of the government, civil society and mass media in reducing the gender gaps via raising awareness of and implementing the recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) to Uzbekistan.

Seventeen journalists from various parts of Uzbekistan presented their 50 works to the contest. The jury board, which included representatives of several international organizations, evaluated presented works and selected the winners.

In line with the decision of the jury board, Dilbar Bekchanova from Urgench won the first place among print media representatives, while Galiya Ibragimova (Tashkent) and Gulbahar Tangirova (Termez) took the second place and Khafiza Burkhonova from Tashkent received the third place.

Works of Nargis Kasimova (Tashkent) and Salimahon Rustamova (Ferghana) were named the best among internet and broadcasting media respectively. At the same time, the contest organizers awarded Kamola Atajanova with the special prize for her blog dedicated to the women and gender-related issues.

Kyoko Postill, UNDP Deputy Resident Representatives in Uzbekistan, said: "The majority of works received covers life of prominent Uzbek women and daily problems. But there are a lot of issues, which require wide coverage of media. We should not forget that mass media is key tool for raising awareness of population, government and civil society. Through your work we can help society to identify gender discriminations and stereotypes, which can be eliminated only in joint efforts."

The statistical bulletin "Women and Men of Uzbekistan" was also presented within the awarding ceremony. The statistical bulletin "Women and Men of Uzbekistan" is published on a regular basis (no less than once in two years). The given statistical collection is the regular publication of State Statistics Committee of the Republic Uzbekistan, published in cooperation with Women’s Committee of Uzbekistan, UNDP, ADB and Civic Initiative Support Center and devoted to gender development in Uzbekistan.

This statistical bulletin presents data on demography, healthcare, education, employment and unemployment, social security, criminality, etc., broken down by sex. This year’s bulletin is enriched with a new chapter on the usage of free time by men and women.

Representatives of the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Swiss Embassy in Tashkent presented their gender programmes and shared their experience.