Gender Rapid Assessment Impact of COVID-19 in the Kyrgyz Republic

UN Women with the support of Swiss Government, European Union and United Nations joint Spotlight Initiative and UNFPA carried out a gender rapid assessment to explore the impact of COVID-19 on the livelihoods of women and men in the Kyrgyz Republic. 

One of the objectives of this study was to examine the general context, and how the epidemic and measures taken by the country's authorities affected women and men, especially vulnerable groups, such as women living with HIV, the elderly, women survivors of violence, women entrepreneurs and ethnic minorities.

“Gender assessment is a gender and age desegregated data analysis, which gives us a complete picture of how the quarantine and pandemic affected the population of Kyrgyzstan. When conducting the study, we used two approaches: human rights-based approach allowed us to see how services were provided without discrimination on the basis of gender, age, disability, or other characteristics,” said Ulziisuren Jamsran, UN Women Representative in the Kyrgyz Republic.

She notes that the gender approach was used to study the opportunities of women and men in accessing resources, how the restrictions imposed on citizens affected their economic situation and employment, as well as unpaid domestic work, reproductive health and other aspects. The assessment revealed gender power relations in government organizations that managed the processes of crisis response and the roles women and men played in it. The study showed that representation of men in the commandant’s offices and the republican headquarters was 80%. 

Assessment showed people’s awareness, their source of information and preparedness for the pandemic. According to the data from the analysis, people aged 18-45 learned all the basic information about quarantine and the situation in the country through social media, people aged 45 and above - through radio, television and newspapers. Women survivors of violence were getting the information through SMS and only 3.5% of them were able to prepare for quarantine. Women living with HIV learned all the information from their friends, family and their community, while ethnic minorities and women entrepreneurs through official government sites.

The study also reflects recommendations for state authorities, at both central and local levels, civil society organizations and international organizations.

The results of the assessment are available at: https://kyrgyzstan.un.org/sites/default/files/2020-06/ENG_Gender%20Rapi…

Media Contact: 

Nargiz Koshoibekova

UN Women

Communications consultant 

+996 550 98 12 21

Nargiz.koshoibekova@unwomen.org