The Position of Women in Central Asia Since the End of the Soviet Union - Essay Example

Has the position of women in Central Asia worsened since the end of the Soviet Union? Introduction After the collapseof the Soviet Union, discourse on Central Asia has concentrated on security matters. However, focus has shifted in recent areas with many scholars exploring gender roles in the region especially with a view of highlighting the position of women in Central Asia. The focus on the position of women through various periods of the history of central Asian provides important feedbacks on the role of social, economic and political policies on the gender relations in the region. Given the importance of religion to the people in this area, the role of Islam in the determination of social, economic and political practices should also be considered as central factors that has influenced the perspective towards the position of women in various periods of Central Asia history. Therefore, this essay explores the position of women in Central Asia prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union and after in order to determine whether their position has worsened or improved with emphasis being on various social, political and economic policies while also considering the influence of Islamic religion on these policies. Women under the Soviet Union Rule Among important perspective of the way women were treated in Central Asia can be drawn from the assertion by Lenin women “were the most oppressed of the oppressed and the most enslaved of the enslaved” (Kocaoglu, 2009). This view by the soviet leadership was especially informed by their perception of the position of women in the Central Asian society as stipulated by the Islamic religion and culture. It was based on this assumption that a number of policies that were seen as laying the groundwork for the liberalization of women from the patriarchal system that had excluded women full participation in important social, political and economic undertakings (Northrop, 2004). Emancipation of women under the policies put in place by the Soviet Union was based on the establishment of atheism as a way of reacting to the consequences of Islamic related traditions and customs that had previously informed the gender relations in Central Asia. Among the areas that efforts to liberate women were undertaken during the Soviet Union era in Central Asia on the selling and paying for brides. Laws that banned the practice paying bride price were put in place where those found to have contravened were punished by either hard labour or imprisonment. These laws also covered the practice of bride kidnapping and forced marriages with perpetrators facing jail terms. Further efforts to liberate women from what the soviets saw as religious based oppression was to undertake what was thought as the liberation of woman from veil. According to Edgar (2003), the veil represented the perverse expression of female inferiority that was being propagated in the Central Asian society and was therefore a symbol of the woman’s backwardness in her society. This stand led to a campaign that encouraged women to stop putting on the veil leading to the 1927 incidence where close to a thousand women publicly banned their veils. Education was an important tool that helped propagate the soviet unions’ policies to emancipate the woman with the content being western and secular in nature. Education gave women a wider platform to participate in social, political and economic forums that would further enhance their status in Central Asian society by presenting them with a voice and chance to exchange new ideas. Acquisition of education enabled women to participate in the new system on the basis of equal rights that motivated their active social roles. The restructuring in education meant that women had a chance to meet and exchange experiences, research and information at different forums (Cocoran-Nantes, 2005; Rather, 2013). It is during the period under Soviet rule that women in the Central Asian region experienced one of the highest educational and employment rates in the history of the region with about 90 percent of women who had reached the legal age of employment working or in school (Kuehnast and Nechemias, 2004). To further, ensure more women participated in various roles within government institutions, the soviet government established quotas that regulated the lowest number of female employees in any government institution. Further, there was the establishment of women organizations such as zhensovety to highlight various social issues that women in Central Asia were facing at the time. The groups were effective in enhancing the position of women in society since they had presence in even in local and remote areas of Central Asia (Cocoran-Nantes, 2005). Ishkanian (2003) points out that even with the gender-based occupational Segregation that characterised the employment sector during the Soviet Union era, representation of female workers in the economy was as high as 50.9 percent while their pay was approximately 70 to 85 percent of what men earned. Further, women were highly burdened by their duties as they were in most cases required to complete their assignments in factories and then perform all their domestic duties back at home. Therefore, for some women, working outside their homes did not necessarily contribute to a better lifestyle, but more responsibilities imposed on them by their large families and inadequate provisions of communal amenities such as canteens in addition to the shortage of labour-saving devices such as washing machine especially for those living outside main urban centres. Further, women were faced with health related challenges especially those related to pro-natal where the state was characterized by a shortage of lack of family planning. The available contraceptives could not take of the needs of the whole Central Asian female population making abortion the main means of birth control within the Soviet Union. State Of Women after Collapse of Soviet Union Rule When the Soviet Union collapsed, women were amongst the largest groups that were negatively affected by the new policies that aimed at transitioning the Central Asian society from communism to a market economy. Women became the first group that lost their employment positions, which led to crumbling of their living standards. To be able to sustain the economy that had previously relied on the support of revenue from the expansive resources under the Soviet Union control, the new states had to cut down on finances allocated to programmes they deemed had lesser importance to the development of the new states. Government programs that had benefitted women were among those whose funding was revoked because of budgetary control (Ishkanian, 2003). Lack of support to women by subsequent governments has continued even in a number of states that were involved in succession conflicts. Issues to do with gender are not given the necessary resources and level of attention to ensure the states enhance the position of women in the new dispensations (Kandiyoti, 2007). Another major shift in government policies is the reintroduction of Islamic religion into public practice and as a background of most of the laws for the Central Asian states. Although the Soviet Union formulated policies to prevent the dominance of Islam in Central Asian region for instance by banning the madrasahs, the states went back to rebuilding their Islamic backgrounds with Islamic culture and law plying a central role in the formulation of policies. Cocoran-Nantes (2005) notes this policy formulations that took the Central Asia society back to the cultural norms that is based on Islamic conservatism as women as the big losers. The author asserts Soviet rule had empowered women through socialism but the introduction of free market based democratization, which was supposed to present everyone in society with equal opportunity, had in fact restored the inequality in society. The inequality disadvantages women by reducing their chances of participation in areas such as education and employment as their role in society became increasingly determined through the conservative Islamic principles. Various cultural practices that had banned under the Soviet Union rule have now been re-introduced back to society. For instance, bride kidnapping has been on the rise in the Central Asian region especially in Kyrgyzstan where it is practised more than in any other state within the region. Bride kidnapping, which had been banned in the Soviet Union era, has now become one of the preferred means for men to get wives. Proponents of the practice claim it a traditional practice that asserts their identity as a people and they therefore do not see it as being wrong. Further, the Soviet Union had made it easy for women to demand and exercise their rights in matters concerning divorce. The return to old customs and practices based on Islamic religion makes it almost impossible for women to get divorce and largely gives their husbands an upper hand. The Soviet Union had made it illegal to practice polygamy and arranged marriages but they have since been reintroduced in all the Central Asian States. This reversal of gains made during the Soviet Union era presents backward development for women in the region as some of the essential rights they were granted have now been taken away (Sahadeo, Jeff and Russell Zanca, 2007). There are scholars who blame the current conditions that Central Asian women find themselves in on the reconstruction policies put in place during the Soviet Union era. Policies that were seen as promoting the affairs of women were mostly developed and implemented by states with no real support for autonomous empowerment efforts by political organization and activism. This policy were not supported by structures that would ensure they last for long term, but were based on the fulfilment of shorter interests of the soviet union (Luong, 2004). After the fall of the Soviet Union, there were no frameworks to support the efforts that had earlier on been used to take care of the interests of women. The new regimes in Central Asian states removed special policies for empowerment of women leading to the rise of unemployment while the removal of special political allocations has further reduced the number of female representatives in the states’ political structures. Consequently, women are now seen as “outsiders” in the new dispensation that is based on the social and cultural norms of the region fused with the principles of democracy (Corcoran-Nantes 2005, p.17). Conclusion Form the comparison of the position of women during the Soviet Union era and post Soviet Union period; it is apparent that the role of women in Central Asian society has worsened over the years. The Soviet Union had developed policies that elevated the position of women in society to ensure they participate fully in all social, economic, and political activities in Central Asia. Islamic religion was viewed as being oppressive toward women and therefore, banned from being exercised in public. Further developments that favoured the advancement of the position of women in Central Asian society during the Soviet Union era included making bride kidnapping, forced marriage and polygamy illegal. However, there has been a reversal of fortune since the fall of the Soviet Union with relegating women to their position in pre-soviet union era. The social void left by the soviets resulted in a period of transition in Central Asia where the now independent states decided to reintroduced their past socials practices. Given the Islamic basis of the Central Asian culture and traditions, government policies have continued to reflect the traditional view that women should be submissive and participate mostly in domestic responsibilities. Consequently, this essay concludes that the position of women in Central Asia has worsened since the end of the Soviet Union. References Corcoran-Nantes, Y. (2005) Lost voices: Central Asian women confronting transition. London: Zed Books. Edgar, A. L. (2003) Emancipation of the Unveiled: Turkmen Women under Soviet Rule, 1924–1929. The Russian Review, 62(1), 132-149. Ishkanian, A. (2003) Gendered Transitions: The Impact of the Post-Soviet Transition on Women in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Perspectives on Global Development and Technology, 2(3-4), 475-496. Kandiyoti, D. (2007). Between the hammer and the anvil: post-conflict reconstruction, Islam and womens rights. Third World Quarterly, 28(3), 503-517. Kocaoglu, T. (2009) The Myth of the Subordinated, Docile Woman. In Gender Politics in Post-Communist Eurasia, edited by Linda Racioppi and Katherine O‟Sullivan See. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press. Kuehnast, K. and Nechemias, C. (2004) Post-Soviet Women Encountering Transition: Nation Building, Economic Survival, and Civic Activism. Washington DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press. Luong, P. J. (Ed.) (2004) The transformation of Central Asia: States and societies from Soviet rule to independence. New York: Cornell University Press. Northrop, D. (2004) Veiled Empire: Gender and Power in Stalinist Central Asia. 1st ed. New York: Cornell University Press. Rather, F. (2013) Status of Women in Soviet Central Asia: A Case Study of Tajik Women. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 3(2), 1-3. Sahadeo, J. and Russell, Z.(Eds.) 2007 Everyday Life in Central Asia: Past and Present. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University. Read More