Strategic Decision‑Making Based on Gender Equality in Uzbekistan: A Qualitative Survey‑Based Corporate Governance Analysis

The given research paper explores how gender equality can be used in strategic decision making in a corporate governance system in Uzbekistan. The growing interest in inclusive leadership across the world has put a spotlight on gender diversity as a determinant of organizational performance, innovation capacity, ethical leadership, and strategic sustainability in the long term. Nevertheless, there is still a dearth of empirical studies devoted to the Central Asian economies and Uzbekistan is one of these. This research thus adds to the literature by examining the effect of gender equality perceptions on the quality of strategic decisions made in Uzbek organizations based on the qualitative survey-based data. Qualitative descriptive analysis was used to analyse a simulated data of 100 respondents who were representatives of the employees, managers, and academic professionals in Uzbekistan and an ordered logistic regression framework was employed to make interpretations on possible relations between gender equality perceptions and strategic decision effectiveness. The results show that there is a positive relationship between the gender-focused leadership and the perceived strategic decision quality, the climate of innovation, and transparency of governance. These findings are consistent with the international research on the topic of corporate governance where it is assumed that gender diversity improves monitoring of boards, risk assessment, and responsiveness to stakeholders. Some of the policy implications identified in the study include women leadership development programs, corporate governance reforms to embrace diversity disclosure, and institutional interventions that promote inclusive organizational cultures. These actions can improve the corporate competitiveness and sustainable economic development of Uzbekistan. Although the data used in methodological demonstration is simulated, the research shows how qualitative survey methods in combination with economics modelling can offer a useful detail on new governance issues in transitional economies.