'Empowered women - strength of society.' Campaign to combat gender stereotypes to launch on the International Women's Day in Kazakhstan

In honour of International Women's Day, the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Kazakhstan, the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Population Fund teamed up with national postal operator 'Kazpost' to launch a campaign to combat gender stereotypes.

The organizers of the action developed posters with slogans in Kazakh and Russian languages featuring Kazpost employees. With the support of the national postal operator, posters were placed in 2000 branches in all regions of the country. Visitors are invited to scan the poster's QR-code with their smartphones and participate in the International Women's Day online quiz. After answering simple questions, the participants can win in the prize draw.

“This year’s International Women’s Day is entitled “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”. This theme is aligned with the priority theme for the upcoming 67th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women. With this campaign we want to celebrate the women and girls who are championing the advancement of sustainable development due to strength, resilience, and commitment to making the world a better place and inspire us all. Let us take this day to honour the incredible achievements of women, celebrate our diversity, and recommit ourselves to advancing gender equality in all areas of life”, noted Michaela Friberg-Storey, UN Resident Coordinator in Kazakhstan.

The main goal of the campaign “Empowered woman - strength of society” is to combat gender stereotypes and call for gender equality.

“UNDP recognizes that women’s full participation in decision making in innovation, technological change and digitalization is a pre-requisite to deliver transformative impact in societies and achieve the SDGs. We strongly believe, that only by normalizing the pivotal role of women and girls in these sectors we can tackle the complex economic and social inequities for the sustainable development for all”, said Katarzyna Wawiernia, UNDP Resident Representative in Kazakhstan.

"For many years UNFPA has advocated for women and girls, promoting legal and policy reforms and gender-sensitive data collection, and supporting initiatives that improve women's and girls' health and expand their choices in life. Today, it is widely recognised that improving women’s status and advancing their rights yields benefits for whole societies. Gender equality cannot be achieved without the involvement of men and boys. Our programmes encourage men and boys to abandon harmful stereotypes, embrace respectful, healthy relationships, and support the human rights of all people, everywhere", said Ronny Lindström, UNFPA Representative in Kazakhstan and Country Director for Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan.

Summing up the results of the action and drawing of prizes will take place in the end of March.

On a global scale, women are underrepresented in the tech field as ICT specialists, in the C-suite of tech companies, as tech start-up owners and gig workers. Women make up only 28 per cent of the STEM industry board seats, while the share of female CEOs and women in management is only 3 per cent and 17 per cent respectively.

"Kazpost employs women of different professions and worldviews, and the proportion of women among our employees is 74 percent. Their main goal is to succeed, strive to develop their professional and personal competencies. Therefore, gender equality is one of the main goals in implementing the principles of sustainable development of the company. We live in the age of digital technologies, which allows women to embrace the opportunities to develop their business on electronic trading platforms, engage in distance learning and strike a balance between work and family - that is, to develop in all aspects of life. The theme of the International Women's Day just emphasizes this. I am sure that the merit of women in this regard will not remain unnoticed,” said Assel Zhanassova, Chairperson of the Board of Kazpost JSC.