In most regions of Uzbekistan, kindergartens have been temporarily closed due to extreme heat. Meanwhile, none of the state bodies and structures that claim to promote gender policy — neither the Women's Committee of Uzbekistan, nor the Gender Commission under the Senate, nor the women's wings of political parties — have come up with an initiative to support working parents during this period.
According to the National Statistics Committee, women in Uzbekistan spend almost 2.5 times more time on unpaid domestic work than men (5.36 hours vs. 2.18 hours). This includes both housework and childcare.
The International Labour Organization notes that women perform 76.2% of all unpaid care work. A 2025 study by the UNDP on informal employment in Uzbekistan also found that family responsibilities, especially caring for children and the elderly, often limit women's ability to work full-time.
World Bank experts have pointed out that childcare responsibilities are one of the main reasons for low female labor force participation in the country.
Therefore, even the temporary suspension of kindergartens cannot be assessed solely as a sanitary or climate measure. It is necessary to consider that this decision has gender consequences that require separate assessment and support measures.
At first glance, closing kindergartens for a few days may seem insignificant for women's opportunities. However, a recent study by the US National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) refutes this assumption.
The authors proved that the sudden need for childcare is not distributed gender-neutrally. Using data on temporary school and childcare closures due to wildfires, researchers found that even short-term and unpredictable disruptions in the childcare system create additional burdens that fall primarily on mothers.
The researchers show that the impact of such 'care shocks' is most strongly reflected in mothers' employment. While male employment indicators remain almost unchanged, women are often forced to reduce working hours, take leave, or not go to work at all. Although the study is based on US data, its findings illustrate a general pattern: when the organized childcare system suddenly stops, women in most cases are forced to take on additional care responsibilities, which limits their ability to continue working.
Closing kindergartens during extreme heat is a necessary measure to protect children's health. However, without appropriate support measures, this decision leads to a redistribution of care responsibilities and effectively shifts climate risks onto women in families with young children. In other words, if the process of climate adaptation in education is not accompanied by social adaptation measures for families, it exacerbates the existing gender inequality in the distribution of unpaid care work.
Since the bulk of unpaid care work in Uzbekistan falls on women, such decisions disproportionately negatively affect working mothers, increasing the risk of forced leave, reduced working hours, and exit from paid employment.
Even short-term disruptions in the childcare system affect women's labor market participation, so they should be accompanied by support measures based on gender considerations.
In such situations, a special paid childcare leave is necessary. Legislation should provide for paid leave for one parent (or legal guardian) during the period of forced closure of kindergartens due to extreme weather or other circumstances.
Flexible working hours during the heatwave. State bodies could become flagships in this matter by switching to remote work, flexible schedules, or shifting work shifts during abnormal heat.
Adapting kindergartens to climatic conditions. It is possible to introduce a shortened working day in kindergartens or close them only during the hottest hours (this measure, combined with a flexible work schedule, would significantly reduce the burden on mothers). If this is not possible, at least a few kindergartens should organize duty groups for children of medical workers, emergency services personnel, and other parents who cannot work remotely.
Gender-sensitive policy decisions. State bodies should be obliged to conduct gender impact assessments of decisions being made. Before closing kindergartens, it is necessary to assess how many parents will be affected, which sectors of employment will be most affected, and what support measures are needed.
Investing in climate adaptation of kindergartens. This may include installing air conditioners and cooling systems, sun protection coatings, organizing a special drinking water regime, shading playgrounds, modernizing ventilation systems, and creating backup power for cooling systems. If at least a few kindergartens in the region have such conditions, they can become hubs for organizing the aforementioned duty groups.
Monitoring consequences. The state can already collect materials for future interventions and gender-sensitive policy formation. In particular, data can be collected on all temporarily closed kindergartens: how many parents could not go to work and how this was formalized (sick leave, unpaid leave, annual paid leave). This data should be collected in a gender-disaggregated form (separately for men and women). In addition, it is necessary to find out how the closure of kindergartens affected parents' plans for the week. Given the high level of informal employment in the country, this measure will reveal consequences that cannot be captured by monitoring the official labor market.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, the Asian continent is warming faster than the global average, and abnormal heat has become one of the main climatic features of recent years. In 2025, prolonged heatwaves also affected Central Asian countries.
This means that temporary closure of kindergartens during extreme heat is likely to become more frequent. Therefore, this process requires providing parents, primarily women who currently bear the main burden of unpaid care work, with pre-planned social support measures. Climate risks should not become exclusively women's problem, so measures to protect children and support parents should go hand in hand.
Source: www.gazeta.uz