This report assesses the current state of women’s employment rights vis-à-vis international standards and is submitted pursuant to the European Union’s Generalized System of Preferences Plus Programme (GSP+). The main areas of concern are unequal pay, limited access to certain sectors due to gender stereotypes and a government-issued list of occupations from which women are barred, and discrimination against gay and transgender women.
State policy for the protection of women’s rights in Kyrgyzstan is based on international commitments and on legislative and political measures adopted since independence. Kyrgyzstan has ratified all of the GSP+ conventions, and laws which relate to women in the labour force include the Labour Code, the Law On State Guarantees of Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities for Men and Women, and the Law On the Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in Persons. However, there is no comprehensive antidiscrimination legislation in Kyrgyzstan. The Labour Code contains a general prohibition against discrimination in employment, but does not clearly define discrimination or its forms. It does include a list of prohibited grounds for discrimination, including ‘gender’, but grounds such as health status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender
expression are not included. The open list may not make it possible to clearly understand which signs or situations fall under its effect and may have negative consequences for the correct and consistent application of the Law.