Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In the World Bank’s annual Women, Business and the Law report, which assesses global progress towards gender equality in the legal sphere, Uzbekistan ranked among the top five countries that have made significant progress.

The report assesses the situation of women in 190 countries across 10 indicators, including security, freedom of movement, employment, wages, marriage, parenthood, childcare, entrepreneurship, governance property" and "pension provision".

Since October 2022, as World Bank experts emphasized, only 18 countries in the world, which is less than 10% of the total number assessed in the index, have implemented legal reforms, improving the situation of women within the framework of the criteria mentioned above.

These 18 countries have implemented a total of 47 reforms aimed at achieving gender equality.

In particular, in the Europe and Central Asia region, five economies, including Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus and Moldova, have implemented nine such reforms. Uzbekistan, along with Jordan, Malaysia, Sierra Leone and Togo, is one of the five countries that have achieved the greatest success.

Since October 2022, four legal reforms have been implemented in Uzbekistan, which have had a positive impact on the country’s rating.

These changes include guarantees of equal pay for women and men, the removal of restrictions on women’s work in certain industries, and the fight against domestic violence.

“The World Bank welcomes the progress Uzbekistan has made in promoting gender equality. Recent legal reforms have significantly expanded women’s civil, labor and economic rights, said Tatyana Proskuryakova, World Bank Regional Director for Central Asia.

“We were pleased to contribute to the implementation of these reforms by providing the government with the necessary financial and analytical assistance. Continued efforts to empower women in Uzbekistan will help build a fairer and more prosperous society, the benefits of which can be enjoyed by all citizens, regardless of their gender,” she added.