Factors influencing the choice of profession by Uzbek women

: This research aims to evaluate the reasons for the women of in chosen organizations and spheres to choose stereotypically feminine professions in the vast majority of cases even though those professions are lower in status and less paid. Thereby, statistical committee states that the least paid spheres of Uzbekistan are healthcare and education, and the biggest proportion of positions in those spheres are occupied by women (UzStat. uz). The investigation found out that females of the jobs with high percentage of female workforce tend to choose their professions due to the parents’ and society’s pressure, whereas women with “uncommon” occupations have selected their spheres in accordance with their personal interests. In addition 75% of women of the latter type of job admitted the existence of discrimination in the workplace.


Introduction
Uzbekistan is strict in adhering to its traditional concepts; even the occupation of rather atheistic Soviets could do little change to religious beliefs of our people. Thereby, patriarchal country does not allow the majority of women work, and thus has the low rate of women in the workforce [1]. At this point according to Erdem and et, (2016) the rate of women employment should be exactly 50% of the total employment in order to reach the steady state income per capital [2]. In other words, gender gap in employment, measured by male rates minus female rates, must be equal to zero. Which is not related to Uzbekistan because FLFP was reported to be 39,44% in 2021 (World Bank) [3]. This means that Uzbekistan's equilibrium of the labor market in gender structure has still space to grow. ILO (2020) states that 33% of working age females are engaged to unpaid work in Uzbekistan, in contrast only 3% of working age men are busy with unpaid jobs, which is a dramatic difference [4]. Such situation makes our women more vulnerable to economic turbulences. Additionally, cutting them from producing any economic value for the budget of the country. Jacobs, E and Bahn, K., (2019) says that when women join the labor force, economies tend to grow more [5]. Indeed, there is a significant relationship between a country's per capita Gross Domestic Product and women's labor force participation rate. However, due to the lack of the empirical studies on the correlation between Female Labor Force Participation and Gross Domestic Product, drawbacks of low proportion of female workforce is still unseen in our country. According to u-feminization theory (Verick, S. 2014) the spheres where the largest proportion of females are busy tend to shrink with technological advancement, leaving women unemployed which is happening in our country too [6]. The current study will emphasize why the expansion of female workforce is still slow in our country.

Literature review 2.1 Relationship between early marriage and labor force participation of those women
Before conducting a qualitative research several international works on likewise themes were analyzed. For instance, the study of Raj, A., and et (2019) examines these issues among decision makers and girls exposed to early marriage prevention programs in Oromia, Ethiopia and Jharkhand, India [7]. Fattakhova, J., (2021) offers to improve of social protection of persons who cannot compete in the labour market, women are more vulnerable from this perspective [8]. The phenomenon of low Business faculty attainment of girls was studied by Zaman, N., and et (2018) through semi-structured interviews with students who have recently entered or are about to enter college [9]. As a first step, a semi-structured interview protocol for 20 girls was developed by a group of women interviewers from five universities through group discussions on five key areas. They found that girls make conscious and informed decisions by refusing to run a business.

Relationship between pressure in the job market and female's job choices
The article of Kireyeva, A., and et (2021) examined indicators such as women's participation in leadership positions, employment in the labor market, education, pay gaps and women's participation in parliament of Kazakhstan [10]. Women's participation in the National Assembly was identified as one of the most important factors for the development of gender equality. Case studies were conducted with academic and administrative staff in a university setting to determine the factors that contribute to job satisfaction and the importance of female and male employees. The relationship between gender and job satisfaction factors was found in specific factors, such as personal work space and job stability (Smagina, O., 2020) [11]. The results of research by Zake, S., (2017) single-sex academic environment women's colleges within the U.S system confirmed that students attending second-level women's colleges face the same homosexual environment as their higher-level women's colleges and are more likely to enter professional peer-reviewed positions in women's colleges [12]. The next investigation examined how women cope with market and out-of-market pressures during Uzbekistan's agricultural trade. It explored the relationship between institutional and cultural implications and the economic "value" of women's work (Lombardozzi, L., 2021) [13].

Control group evaluation method
Firstly, we provided a statistical evidence from the spheres with highest and lowest female labor force participation rates from 1997 to 2020 and made an effort to conduct an interviews from those women who are occupied in those spheres. The statistical data provided us with a certain evidence about women's profession preference in the female labor market. After assessing economic industries with higher or vice versa trends we decided to maintain interviews from exactly those women who are occupied in the assessed occupations.

Group division method
A case study was used to understand the specific subject of the qualitative analysis in details, focusing on gaining a holistic understanding of the case. As analyzing the labor force of the whole Uzbekistan is too time consuming, costly and labor intensive, it was decided to interview 64 women who were workers at schools, banks, hospitals tax offices, IT industry and military force. It was interesting to define their motivation and concerns about their jobs. Also, it was crucial to define the ways of making the labor market conditions more flexible for women. So, we took 64 women employed in various organizations and companies as a control group. Then we divided our control group in to two subgroups the first (subgroup #1) consisting of the women working in jobs with higher female participation rates and the second subgroup (subgroup #2) women with lower female participation. Thus, after we separated control group consisting of 64 respondents we obtained two smaller groups consisting of 32 women each. The groups were asked the same questions, because we wanted to compare the results and to be able to compare it was vital to give them the same opportunities in our case questions. Interviews were conveyed in hybrid form, because some of our respondents were very respected women working to the international companies, they were contacted via telegram messenger and asked questions in written form. Other respondent women were the members of the spheres as education, banking and insurance, and healthcare, all of these women have enough experience in their sphere in order to adequately evaluate the conditions in the labor market.

Interview questions
Interview of our study was in hybrid format however the questions of both online and offline interviews were identical. Respondents of the study were asked mainly the following seven questions: 1. Their names and ages? 2. Their motivation to choose their occupation? 3. Did they ever faced a discrimination while career? 4. Which professions suit girls and reasons in their opinion? 5. Which professions do not suit girls and reasons in their opinion? 6. Does it seem that there is a lack of female participants in their sphere? 7. Could they offer ways of attracting more women to the jobs with lower FLFPR? The body part of the questions and responses were allocated in the figure 1, but the answers to the questions cannot be represented in the diagram and it only shows the design approach of the study. The question about the discrimination was given as it is considered to be hypothetically the main reason for women's choice of particular jobs, neglecting the others.

Evaluation of the economic industries with the highest and lowest female contribution
The table 1 represents all the spheres of Uzbek GDP with their salary and female participation rates in those areas. We can definitely notice that finance and insurance was always a leader on wages. And female participation in that sphere is not minimal however it is below average, ranging from 38.2% to 37.4% in 2017 till 2020, respectively. The floor of the participation rates was on 2019, estimating 34.8%, which is out of order. It was mentioned earlier that education and healthcare are the 'poorest' fields, and are predominantly occupied by female workers. It should be taken into account that healthcare is a bit more occupied by women than education, but the difference is neglecting. Another the least paid occupations are in accommodation and consuming and again the female participation rates are higher than 50% for all the demonstrated years. Trade is another field is preferred by Uzbek women, and the rate fells only in 2020, considering 49.7%, which is by approximately 2% less than the previous year (2019). Information and communication is one of the perspective future areas with increasing share of female labor force participation. The average salary grew in all the spheres however, the tendency of participation of women in them had a fluctuating trend. For instance, even women employers' beloved system of education saw decrease for the years of 2018 and 2020, falling lower in contrast with the previous years. Healthcare takes the vast majority of female work force, higher than education. the highest rates of participation in that field was in 2018 (67.5%). Which then reached its normal rates again, a bit more than 70% for each year. Construction, and transportation and storage are the least occupied by women spheres for all the years, despite income in those spheres is higher than in education or healthcare (figure 2).

Analyzing the answers obtained from the case study respondents
After we started contacting females in the spheres with smallest and largest proportion of female labor force participation rates (FLFPR):

Subgroup #1 (respondents of the subgroup with high FLFPR)
It would be a shame to say that I was forced to choose this profession by my family, because my parents, told me that I would have to study for 9 years instead of 4 to become a doctor. I faced the discrimination by my parents and teachers. A woman can entrust all professions related to intelligence, attention, perception, responsibility, perseverance to girls. The reason is that a woman takes responsibility seriously and strives to complete every job in a timely manner. Professions that require physical strength are not for women for example, mining, loader, etc. The reason is natural weakness (compared to men), the structure of the female body (it is adapted to reproduction, and men are bread winners by nature). In the place where I work is made up of 90% women workers. There is a lack of female representatives in the military, governmental departments, Ministries, National Guard, bank, and management fields. The proposal to attract girls to the upper mentioned spheres is to radically change our mentality (revolution), conditions for girls must be widened to pave the way. However, I doubt that situation will be better particularly in our small community [Abdulakhatova B., age 38, teacher].
The respondent shows the longitude of the study for her intention of becoming a doctor hindered her from that job, because the additional years of University can postpone the marriage of the girl and that may prevent parents to allow their girl child to study. The older age of the girl creates challenges for her getting married.
I am from the generation of teachers, my grandfather Rizaev Ganijon worked as a teacher in one of the first schools established in Chust, today it is a school number 2, my aunts and uncles motivated me to continue this profession. I have never been humiliated or discriminated during my career, I can find a good, positive solution to any situation. I think that such professions as design, embroidering, positions in the banking sector (in which the working hours must end at 5 o'clock) and medicine are suitable for girls. The reasons why exactly those professions is the fact that a woman is usually valued for her ability to do all things both at work and at home. Driving, piloting, engineering, military, internal affairs, and legal professions are not suitable for girls, because, first of all, no schedule, no fixed working hours in those workplaces, then strong stress and very hard work are required, as a result, household arrangements , child rearing will be postponed. There are enough women working in my sphere. I think that the main reason for the small number of girls in some fields is the attitude of the people around them in these fields. Apart from the laughter of colleagues, for example, in the legal field, the true nature of the profession has a great influence, but I think that solving and overcoming difficult situations among criminal people, among the bad actors of society, has a negative effect on the female psyche. It follows from this that it is possible to ensure the work of women in a field where women are rare, which is a very complicated process, and I hope that such work will definitely , will be implemented and the "heart" of our society will be healed, superstition will gain priority and we will achieve unprecedented victories. [Ganiyeva M., age 45, teacher] This respondent has chosen her job in accordance with the family traditions; in fact she also had no alternative choice. However, notably she is happy with her decision. Because keeping balance between work and life is the main priority for her.
The desire to help people was my motivation to choose my job, besides I wanted to be my mother's colleagues. I do not remember such a situation when I was discriminated for my profession. Medicine (for example, obstetrician-gynecology), tailor, seamstress, nurse, educator are very suitable jobs for girls to work. If we take the profession of obstetriciangynecology, there are few people working in this field at present (the reason: the duration of study is very long an d the majority of people consider that there is no need for girls to study), and if we take into account the religious views of the people, most men want their women to be treated only by a female doctor. All professions that do not correspond to women's nature and require a lot of physical labor. For example: construction. There is almost no men in a boarding house, where I work we hardly have any men. But now, if you look at any field, the activity of women is obvious. If you go to a bank, 40/50% are women, 70% of school teachers are women, if you go to the tax office, 30/40% are women, if you go to the market, 70% are women. I am satisfied with all the reforms regarding enhancing female conditions. I am sure that the opportunities given to women by our president will bear fruit after 7 years or 10 years. Now the role of women in society has significantly improved. For the past 6 years, parents have not considered it necessary to educate girls and get higher education a decade before. Now, everywhere, girls are going to tutors with books, girls are reading books on buses. Such scenes are sure to please a person. [Raxmonova, S. age 27, nurse] The respondent also is in the sphere because her mother is also a nurse. Additionally, she mentions the longevity of the University years for becoming a holder of women lacking jobs as doctoring.
I chose psychology because I was interested in the character of people and to avoid getting into various complicated situations. I chose it because defectology is dependent on psychology and I wanted to help people with defects to find their way in life. I had a situation when I was discriminated, but I did not pay much attention to it. Teaching, cooking, singing, hairdressing, driving, accounting jobs are well-suited for girls. The reason is that for women, they are not forced to spend too much effort. Therefore, all professions with light work are suitable for women. Thereby, all professions that require heavy labor are not suitable. For example, a plumber, car service worker jobs. Women's number is enough where I work. There are more female educators than men educators. I have a suggestion regarding the enhancement of females in some fields, it would be better if women work in the banking sector, in various political parties and in the authorities. [Tursunova, M., age 33, defectologist at school] The respondent brought her own wish as the argument in her way to choose the job, which is good. However, the uncommon character of her job shows that common professions are usually pushed to women by society or parents.
My grandmother motivated me to choose this profession because she was also a teacher. I have not faced a discriminatory situation. I think sewing, nursing are appropriate for women, because given the conditions of the area where we live, these professions are very common among them. I think women should not become soldiers or drivers. There are enough women where I work. I believe that every woman should choose the profession she wants and strive for it. [Inayatova, I., age 33, teacher] I am a teacher of Russian at the university. A good knowledge of the language prompted me to choose this profession. And I was never discriminated due to my gender in the place where I work. We see that University teachers as well as school teachers do not feel any pressure in their workplace, even though the share of women participation is lower in higher education due to the data required by statistics committee of Uzbekistan.

Subgroup # 2. (respondents of the subgroup with high FLFPR)
The followings are the answers of the holders of professions which are uncommon among women, thus those professions have very low participation rates. The first respondent is very special because she is disabled, but despite this she is a STEM worker and runs IT classes. There are very few IT girls in Uzbekistan, despite the work is flexible in time and very prestigious.
From the very beginning my interest in mathematics was very strong and my ability is limited. That is why I always dreamed of working without leaving the room. So, information technology is the career that I want and is suitable for me. And I chose this profession because of the greatest demand on my mind and perception, not just for physical causes. There were many instances of discrimination in my life. But at the same time, I was surrounded by good people who gave me strength. For me, it was the strength to find my way. The most important thing is to be able to imagine yourself in that position by casting the scissors clearly. Then no beating and humiliation can be an obstacle for a person. I think all professions are suitable for girls. The important thing is to love one's profession. Only then, when working in this profession, a person does not get tired, on the contrary, he rests. His achievements open the way to a new milestone. I didn't think about improper jobs for girls. Girls are usually fragile so, I think hard labor jobs are not suitable for girls. I must add that the professions of builder, plumber, and driver are not typical for girls. There are very few girls in my (IT) field, just like there are few girls in the military. The IT field always requires research. If our daughters gets married and takes a break from the IT field for more than 6 months, it will seem like they are far behind from novices. And this is an area where constant renewal of the field requires a lot of thought and a lot of work. I think to attract girls to the sphere depends on it should be interesting for her from a young age. For this, parents should also know this field well. To answer when your child asks questions. Because the child is not always with the teacher. Family environment is definitely important. When our children choose a profession.
[Primova H., age 40, web developer] This respondent is an absolute role model, who could inspire the young generation. Some people do not choose her path despite their good health conditions, whereas she had already passed through an interesting journey to reach her goal.
The choice of exact science is connected with my family. My grandfather is a design engineer, my father studied automotive engineering and now also work in related fields. My mother studied in National University of Uzbekistan at the Faculty of Engineering and Mathematics and works as a mathematics teacher. Technical subjects and the exact sciences have always been much easier for me than the humanities. It is difficult for girls to make a career in this area, because in most cases, when people see me, they do not quite correctly assess me at the very beginning, they do not believe in competence and professionalism. It takes some time to show and prove knowledge. Do I advise girls to go into this area? More likely no than yes. We have to work twice as hard to stay afloat. Unfortunately, in our country, the mentality of our people is not quite prepared to accept such girls! There is a big gap in my opinion, but it's bad. [Abdurakhimova, M., age 21, data scientist, programmer] The observee feels a great pressure due to her profession that is why she does not even advise her field to other girls. This must be an indicator of a red flag in the country.
First time when I entered my field, I just wanted to try it out, and then I liked it and kept learning more. Hmm, I definitely face discrimination; it was especially harsh at the beginning of my career. My first programing teacher used to joke around using discriminating jokes. Me being not confident in my own abilities made the situation worse. I suppose any job that makes you use your brain as a main tool is genderless in my opinion. So, STEM fields, Art, Music, Business, Politics… are all good for both genders. But I can't judge fairly the hard labor intensive jobs since I have never worked in that sphere. There is absolutely a bias in IT, I don't have the exact numbers, but I think the ratio in for Uzbekistan is about 8:2 (Male: Female). [Bakhronova, D., age 23, Frontend Developer,Super Dispatch] Bakhronova is one more STEM girl facing discrimination in men oriented sphere. But we must admit that it is not easy for any girl to overcome social challenges in pursuing a certain career. The respondents of the second subgroup are very strong women who made impossible possible.
I work in the position of chief state tax inspector of the district state tax inspection. I would like to work in the field of organ. After graduating from the institute, I wanted to get a job at the Department of Internal Affairs, but because I was over 30 years old, I could not receive that job, so I chose my current field. There is no discrimination during the work, but sometimes when change the department job responsibilities, men in my workplace say I you can't work there due to my gender. I can't say exactly what profession is suitable for girls, in any field, let them be experts in their work, let them find success and respect. But I don't think the military is suitable for girls. There are no other women but me in the place where I work. It would be nice if they got 3 or 4 more female workers. By the decision of the President, it was confirmed that 10% of the employees in each economic sector should be women. It would be nice if there were 10% more women. There are females eligible for the job I work, but the administration does not want to hire them. Because, we have to work till night and women usually cannot stay they have a family burden, my director would rather hire a man who can allow working till late. [Xusanova, M., age 34, chief state tax inspector] Participant is the only woman in the state tax inspection, although she claims that she is not being discriminated, the phrase of her colleagues about her incapability to accomplish a particular work, is already discrimination. Sometimes our women do not notice the discrimination, which shows their legal illiteracy.
The reason for my choice of this profession is, it gives opportunity to create something, or solve some social issue, automate repeatable actions. As a developer you can always feel that you are growing, you are learning something new. Maybe there were some discrimination but to be honest I didn't notice it that much. From my personal experience I always received support from my colleagues, I saw their trust in me that I can do something. I think everyone should just follow their interests, like they have to do what they really love to do. The difference between male and female in STEM field is not balanced globally (80/20 or 90/10 in my opinion), and as STEM related jobs will be demanded mostly in the future, there is a possibility of unemployment percentage rise among females. [Rafikova, H., age 24, Software Engineer at Epam system] I am a specialist in gender and social issues in the project of international banks. I chose this profession by chance. I never thought or dreamed of becoming a gender expert myself. It happened by chance that I am working at this job. There are, there have been and will continue to be humiliations throughout the career in Uzbekistan. Discriminations goes through all the women in the workplace. This is because male employees think that female employees are not good at what they do. This is one way to discriminate against female employees. Another issue is the teacher-disciple issue. For example, new employees are assigned or asked to learn on the job so that men avoid training in the first place. There are many reasons for this, first of all, they think that a woman is weak and cannot learn, or they are afraid of losing their deeds in their hands. I will answer the question about appropriate professions for women a little differently. I do not say that this profession is suitable for men and this profession is suitable for women, because we are talking about creating the same opportunities for men and women. Therefore, both men and women can get the profession they want. But anyway I would advise women to avoid professions that carry heavy loads and work with strong chemicals. The reason is that we are mothers first! In order to bring the health future generation, only these 2 areas should be refrained from professions that work with heavy loads and strong chemicals, drugs, because they will be mothers. I cannot say that other professions are impossible. The number of women in my workplace is very low, if we take it as 100% (percentage), 90% men and 10% women In order to attract women to professions that are rare for girls and women, we must first of all have this thing in the family, that is, in education. There should not be an upbringing where a girl touches the ground and becomes a wife. It is necessary to strengthen the girl's interest in learning and studying. Then maybe she will choose a profession of mathematics, chemistry, physics or military. For this, it should be grown more freely. Another aspect is the education system outside the family. In the school, the division between girls and boys starts from the 1st grade. I wish there were some gender topics in the education system starting from grade 1. If topics about gender equality or creation of equal opportunities for women and men are included in the etiquette, if the child grows up listening to it, it will open his eyes a lot by the time he reaches the upper classes. Boys also become more respectful of girls. There will be a friendship between the boy and the girl who won't hit. But I am opposed to creating special opportunities for girls to focus on male-dominated professions, because we do not want to increase the role of women. We want women to use the same opportunities that are given only to men. That's why I don't want to do something special for women. Let's treat both sexes in the same way. [Umarova, D., age 34, gender and social issues in the project of international banks specialist] I work at the Ministry of Internal Affairs the reason for my choice was a high desire to help people legally. I do not remember a situation when I was discriminated in my job. Women can become doctors, teachers and mothers. Child upbringing and health are the first priority for a woman. So, occupations that cause severe physical and mental stress for a woman are not suitable for females. There are not enough girls in my sphere, thus I do have no recommendations to attract more women to men dominant jobs. There are enough of women everywhere. [Shokarimova, G., age 23, military worker] The respondents from internal affairs commonly stated that the do not feel pressure from men in their workplace. This is positive sign, however they do not think that measures must be taken to enhance girls to male predominant jobs.

Source: authors estimations in Excel
We should note that females from the group with high women participation rates is coded as 1, and women with less FLFPR coded as two. Both groups offerred different solutions to enhance female labor force in the job market, however 38% of 1st group respondents claimed that there is no need to support women in any field as there is enough of them in any field. Their thesis is probnly based on their surrounding and with enough women in surrounding they might think there is no gender bias everywhere. Women from the second group was not forced by relatives or stereotypes to choose their profession, but 25% of the first group respondents admitted that they were forged to choose their profession. Personal interst of the respondents as a reason to choose that profession differs much by groups, for the second group being almost twice as much as of the first group. But the respondents of the second group emphasised the family support in their interst whereas in the first group participants intersts were sometimes neglicted by parents. By about five times more women of the second group answered that there is no limit for the professions to choose from the women (59%), in contrast only 12% of the first group cited the same. The vast majority of the first group respondents ( Table 2) considered stereotipical occupations to be the most proper for females to work. Whereas the second group participants do not have such formulations. However, for the question about inappropriate professions both groups respondents earned almost an equal proportions, (by 15% prevailing by the second group) answering that hard work requiring jobs are not convenient for the fragile girls' or women to work, as they give a birth to a child at the end of the day. Job with fixed hours were one of the reasons for the inconvenience of the job for a woman in th efirst group (25%) but the second group did not mention this isde of the issue. Interestingly, even some respondents of the first group inspite of working at places with the high female perticipation admitted that they face discriminations at worklace, thus the high percentage of positive answers for the second group was predictable, as 75% of them told that they had humiliating moments in their workplace. The last question shown in the table was an absolute identical in cases of both groups, all the women adequately evaluated the number of females in their spheres.

Possible results of the study according to the answer table
Now, deriving fom the interview we may estimate that there is no concrete time for the end of the working day and due to the burden of the families and children females are not allowed to work in some sphres of the economy of the country. Jobs requiring physical strength are not popular among the women of all over the world so Uzbekistan is not an exception. The very humble number of women soldiers in the army is explained with the stereotypes that women should be at home by 5 o'clock and the dinner should always be ready. But inspite this fact, there were some women from both groups who admitted the need of presence of women in the military force, meaning that stereotypes are changing as Uzbekistan gets more integrated with the world.

Conclusion
The reasons for low labor participating of women in some economic structures is poor labor law adherence. Workers usually work more than 8 hours in banks, tax departments, financial institutions. The next reason is stereotypes imposed by media, women must be responsible for all the work of her husband's family, and strong and independent women who keep the balance between her family and work are not shown as heroes. Military, construction and likewise industries are seen as too masculine for women. Women are related to agricultural spheres which is shrinking throughout the globe (ILO, 2020). The gender bias in the workplace goes beyond how men treat women. As such, in the daily life of Uzbekistan, one can observe the discriminatory attitude towards a woman who is the victim of any violence from another woman. It is no secret that gender inequality in the workplace exists in almost every country and suffers even in the most developed societies. It was found that the big share of the women in "common" for women to work spheres choose their profession to match the stereotypes of the society, stereotypes are often promoted by media, thereby media must transform attitude of looking at women only as at home servants to stronger independent members of society. Another reason for choices was due to the family bonds, thus parents must enhance interests of their daughters. The next was convenience of the work time frame with their family responsibilities, meaning that adhering legal labor hours may be crucial for the women in working or not in particular industry.