The Republic of Kazakhstan has joined over 20 international conventions and agreements, including the UN Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and to the Convention on Political Rights of Women. Presently, additional five conventions are in the process of being prepared for ratification. Among them, Convention on Equal Pay to Women and Men for Equal Labour , On minimum age for work and so forth. Amounting to over 100, women s NGOs are very active in the area of political advancement of women. However, declared equality of rights between men and women is not always supported by real guarantees and equal opportunities for their fulfilment.
Women are underrepresented in all levels of decision-making.
Among ministers, I am the only one female. There are few women in the decision-making positions even in traditionally female spheres of public life. In order to achieve the gender balance in the society, we have started the gender expertise of the entire national legislation, as well as development of the draft law on equal rights and opportunities. Since last year, a statistical brochure Women and men of Kazakhstan is being published to reflect all aspects of the gender situation in the country. East and west , as well s in many other mass media.