Abstract

This paper examines the structural barriers shaping women’s political participation in Uzbekistan, focusing on how socio-cultural norms, institutional dynamics, and economic constraints interact to limit women’s access to political leadership and decision-making processes. While Uzbekistan has made visible progress in aligning with international gender equality frameworks and increasing women’s formal representation, significant challenges remain in ensuring their meaningful political inclusion.

The study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative data. Empirical evidence is drawn from focus group discussions with women deputies across five regions of Uzbekistan, semi-structured interviews with participants of political leadership programs, and an online survey of female parliamentarians at national and local levels. These data are complemented by analysis of international legal frameworks and secondary sources to situate Uzbekistan within broader global trends.

The paper argues that barriers to women’s political participation are systemic and multidimensional, operating across three interconnected domains: socio-cultural, socio-economic, and security-related. Deeply entrenched gender stereotypes and patriarchal norms continue to confine women to domestic roles, shaping both societal expectations and women’s self-perception as political actors. At the same time, financial constraints, limited access to political networks, and insufficient institutional support restrict women’s ability to enter and sustain political careers. Furthermore, harassment, intimidation, and reputational risks, including online abuse can create a hostile political environment that disproportionately affects women. These findings demonstrate that formal legal equality and policy reforms alone are insufficient to dismantle structural inequalities.

By highlighting the gap between formal commitments and lived realities, this study contributes to broader scholarly debates on gender, power, and political participation in Central Eurasia and beyond. It challenges approaches that equate numerical representation with substantive inclusion, emphasizing instead the importance of agency, influence, and institutional transformation. The paper calls for a shift from symbolic representation toward meaningful participation, requiring coordinated changes in legal frameworks, institutional practices, and societal attitudes. In doing so, it advances an interdisciplinary understanding of how gendered power structures operate within political systems and offers insights relevant to comparative studies of women’s political participation in transitional and post-Soviet contexts.