Nearly 40% of Women in Senior Civil Service Roles in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan Leading the Way Towards Gender Equality
Kazakhstan is making significant strides towards gender equality, with women now representing 55.8% of the country’s civil service and holding 39.1% of senior positions, as reported by the Ministry of Culture and Information. This progress is a result of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s initiative to implement special quotas to increase women’s representation in government bodies.
Currently, women hold 18.9% of parliamentary seats and 22.7% of positions in local representative bodies. Moreover, women’s entrepreneurship is flourishing, with women owning 48% of small and medium-sized businesses. The Damu Entrepreneurship Development Fund has supported over 105,000 women-led projects, allocating 4.1 billion tenge (US$8.2 million) to empower female entrepreneurs.
In the realm of housing, the Umai mortgage program, in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank, has helped 3,660 women purchase homes in the past three years, totaling 41.2 billion tenge (US$82.8 million). Additionally, widows will now receive separate categorization for state housing support.
To combat domestic violence, a new law has led to the creation of a specialized department under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. 280 female investigators now handle violent sexual crimes against women and minors, while 16,000 women have received protection from violence inspectors. The number of Family Support Centers has grown from 33 to 104, with mobile teams actively identifying at-risk families.
The IT-Aiel project, in partnership with TechnoWomen and Astana Hub, has trained 18,000 women in digital sciences, cybersecurity, and e-commerce, resulting in a 45% increase in graduates’ incomes. Additionally, this year will commemorate two essential dates in the gender agenda – the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 “Women. Peace. Security”. These milestones highlight international efforts to promote women’s rights and achieve gender equality on a global scale.
