IMPLICATION OF INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT ON RURAL WOMEN’S WELFARE: CASE OF UZBEKISTAN

Abstract

Background. Lack of water supply and sanitation infrastructure in rural areas affects people’s health, welfare and living conditions, negatively impacts the rural environment, and can stall rural development and prosperity. Improving equitable and sustainable access to safe and improved water supply and sanitation in rural areas is therefore an important national development objective. This article presents to what extend the welfare level of the rural women in Uzbekistan correlates with socio-economic factors such as access to water supply and sanitation services in Uzbekistan. Methods. This article is based on comparative analysis of the gender aspects of welfare of rural women in Bukhara region. The gender aspects assessment of the water supply and sanitation sector identifies that rural women experience the unequal access to infrastructure in comparison with urban population and urban women. The utilizing of the concept of analysis based on identification of inequalities by going “beyond income, beyond averages and beyond today” demonstrates that there is no direct impact of the socio-economic factors on poverty rate of the family [1;6].