Presentation of the book "...Sister speaks with sister, or Women about women" took place today in hotel Radisson SAS in Tashkent, press release of the UNDP said.

Representatives of state bodies, international organizations, NGOs and mass media participated in the event.

The book was prepared in the framework of the gender project of United Nations Development Programme in Uzbekistan, which aims to support and build 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 CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) Committee to Uzbekistan.

Gender project of UNDP announced contest "The best articles for book "…Sister speaks with sister, or Women about women"" in January 2007. The contest aimed to encourage and support journalists, covering gender issues, through publication of their best materials as a separate book dedicated to the women of Uzbekistan, as well as to improve the awareness on gender issues among the population. The best journalist articles aimed at increasing the role of women in modern Uzbekistan, written by women about women, were selected as a result.

Over 60 journalists from all regions of Uzbekistan participated in the contest and works of 31 authors, selected on competitive basis, were included into the book. Three winners were selected on the result of contest and four participants received complimentary prizes.

Ms. Kyoko Posill, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative, opened the presentation: "As acknowledged by the report of the UN Committee in August 2006, Uzbekistan has reached gender parity in primary, basic secondary and vocational education, thus meeting one of the Millennium Development Goals much earlier than the target date of 2015.Moreover, the 2004 amendment to the Election Law that mandates at least 30% of the nominations to be women is one of those rare legislations in the world that ensures women a higher number of seats in the national parliament.

We are very happy to be working with our national partners to improve the status of women in Uzbekistan.Especially pertinent is our recently-started project that focuses on the legislative, administrative and capacity-building aspects of meeting even more of the international obligations on women’s rights.Women in Uzbekistan are well educated and many areas of work are open to them for their active participation in the socio-economic development of the country."

Ms. Kyoko further noted that the book was written in clear, gender sensitive terms and could serve as a textbook for the students of faculties and departments of journalism in Uzbekistan, in addition to being an excellent resource to academics and media professionals.