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Savia Khasanova. Photo: CABAR.asia

 

On March 30, IWPR Central Asia held an online discussion on the topic “Women’s Activism in Central Asian Countries: the Fight for Women’s Rights Is Relevant Again”.

 

The activists of the women’s movement for equal rights from four Central Asian countries participated in the online discussion. They discussed issues of gender equality and violation of women’s rights in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

 

The moderator of the discussion was Lola Olimova, IWPR Program Coordinator. She noted that regrettably, the situation with the violation of women’s rights is worsening in Central Asian countries. After 30 years of independence of the countries in the region, the women have to defend their rights again. Gender inequality is revealed in many areas, in particular, women, despite state programs, laws and populist statements by the authorities, find it difficult to overcome the barriers to advance the careers in politics, governance, distribution of economic benefits, etc.  

 

Women in Central Asia have to fight for their social and political rights, while facing strong opposition from men insisting that women should follow the conservative traditions of their ancestors.

 

A Kyrgyz performer, known for her songs in defense of women’s rights and against violence, Zere Asylbek, set the tone for the conversation. She spoke standing in front of a court building in Bishkek, where there was a hearing of the case of a woman raped by bailiffs. Zere said that she came there to support the victim of violence, who seeks justice for 8 years already.

 

The activist spoke about the aggravating situation of women in her country.

 

“The cases of bride kidnapping still exist. In addition, during the pandemic, the number of complaints from women about domestic violence increased by 40%. It is scary to think about where it all is going, because the unstable political situation is most disadvantageous for women. This makes me think about what will happen next,” Zere Asylbek said.

 

She recalled the protest on March 8, 2019, when women in Bishkek went out to state their position against the violence. The government did not protect the women’s march then. According to Zere, the authorities pretended that they had nothing to do with it, hired some people who attacked the women, while the police detained not the attackers, but the women participating in the peaceful demonstration.

 

“The state not only knows about the problems women encounter, but it also ignores these problems. It seems that the state does not want to solve these problems, and suppresses the activists who are struggling with it. The situation of women in corrupt countries is aggravating,” Zere said.

 

Nevertheless, young girls and women in Kyrgyzstan do not give up and continue to fight for equal rights. The march on March 8 this year became symbolic and showed that the feminist movement in the country became stronger.

 

In conclusion, Zere introduced the participants of the online discussion to young girls who came to one of the district courts in Bishkek with posters to support a woman fighting for her rights.

 

We should add that a DoS attack was launched against the online discussion. At the beginning, during the speeches of activists from Kyrgyzstan, the opponents of women’s equality were able to interfere with the speeches for a short time, posting obscene comments and pictures, thereby discrediting the event. The organisers quickly regained control by blocking some of the participants with unidentified nicknames. The discussion went on without interruptions.

 

The next speaker was Savia Khasanova, a researcher and data journalist from Kyrgyzstan. Savia manages several analytical platforms: Central Asian Analytical Network, UZAnalytics, and regularly publishes her materials on the online media Kloop.kg. She actively works on research on femicide, gender-based violence and women’s economic empowerment.

 

Her presentation was titled “Fight for Women’s Rights in Kyrgyzstan: an Agenda Against Stereotypes, Discrimination and Violence”. She said the topic was inspired by the protest marches that took place in 2019 and 2021.

 

According to Savia Khasanova, largely, the discrimination and violence against women arise from the stereotypes existing in society.

 

“Most of the comments about women’s activism in the Kyrgyz segment of social media say, “What are you thinking of? Who is stopping you?” On paper, everything is fine in the Kyrgyz Republic. Women’s rights are enshrined in various laws, the National plan for achieving gender equality, etc. However, when it comes to opportunities, in fact, everything is not so perfect,” she said.

 

In her presentation, the researcher showed the deterioration in the situation of women in Kyrgyzstan over the past twenty years. One of the most important indicators is the participation of women in economic life of the country. The comparative analysis conducted by her shows that the employment gap between men and women over 15 years old is growing.

 

In 2002, every second woman between 20 and 29 years old worked, but by 2019, this figure dropped to 37%. In political representation, 30% gender quotas for women adopted in 2011 have never been implemented. The representation of women in Parliament has not exceeded 17% over the past five years.

 

The number of officially registered cases of domestic violence in Kyrgyzstan is growing. In 2019, 8,159 cases of domestic violence were registered, 95% of the victims were women. At the same time, the numbers do not reflect the real picture, according to Khasanova.

 

She presented data on the Gender Inequality Index, annually provided by UNDP. It shows that among the CIS countries, Kyrgyzstan has made the least progress. This indicator reflects the complex situation in the country with the women’s status.

 

Both activists of the gender equality movement from Kyrgyzstan noted that the change of power in their country does not encourage optimism and, possibly, it will add new challenges to their struggle.

 

“Just yesterday, President Japarov signed a decree on the creation of a group for preparation of a concept of spiritual and moral development. We do not understand what criteria will be included in this spiritual and moral development. What will be promoted under this concept? In general, how will this affect the women’s role in our country? I urge everyone to follow this situation. In case of something inappropriate, we should ring the alarm,” Savia Khasanova said in conclusion.

 

Zulaykho Usmonova, PhD, leading researcher at the Institute of Philosophy, Political Science and Law of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan, women’s rights activist and researcher, spoke about the situation with the women’s status in Tajikistan.

 

Women’s rights movement in Tajikistan is not as developed as in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Zulaykho Usmonova told the discussion participants about the first attempt to get together and celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8 last year. Then, a small group of women, about 50 people, decided to gather in one of the cafes in Dushanbe, and faced incredible opposition from the state security officers.

 

According to Usmonova, this meeting was decided to be held in another cafe, but it never took place, because its organiser Nisso Rasulova was asked to immediately stop the meeting due to the danger of coronavirus spread, although at that time, the authorities officially denied the presence of this virus in Tajikistan.

 

Later, many women reported that they were summoned for questioning by the State Committee for National Security. This was the only attempt to control the feminist movement in Tajikistan. After that, women in Tajikistan no longer gathered. Meanwhile, the situation of women in this country is also rapidly aggravating.

 

“The main obstacles to gender equality in Tajikistan and in other countries, in my opinion, are phenomena that can be called superstructural, considering the Marxist theory of base and superstructure – the phenomena that are related to spiritual, not material life. The prevalence and persistence of stereotypes, which, unfortunately, rapidly appeared in our countries after the Soviet Union collapse. First, they relate to the role and position of women. These stereotypes in Tajikistan acquire new contexts and become a real disaster and threat to the development of gender equality,” Usmonova said.

 

Unfortunately, despite the fact that the state adopts fair laws, strategies and programs, despite the commitment of the country’s government to international norms and documents on gender equality, the women in the country are not allowed access to the power. This happens for various reasons, but, first, because there are quite few educated women who can professionally engage in politics, economics, and banking. This results from the fact that girls are forbidden to continue their education after the marriage. This negatively affects the role of women, therefore, there are several times fewer candidates and doctors of science among women than among men, as Zulaykho Usmonova emphasized.

 

The feminists from Kazakhstan, human rights activists and co-founders of the Feminist Initiative “Feminita” Zhanar Sekerbaeva and Gulzada Serzhan spoke about their fight for equal rights. Their presentation was titled “Why Is Feminism Equal to LGBT in Kazakhstan?”

 

Zhanar Sekerbaeva said that their initiative is unregistered, since “the patriarchy resists them with all its power”. She said that together with Gulzada, she has been monitoring, researching and advocating for vulnerable women since 2014.

 

“Our mission clearly defines the groups of women whose advocacy and monitoring we conduct. These are lesbian, bisexual, queer and trans women. The sex workers are also registered there, and this definition very often embarrasses officials. They are constantly trying in to say that this group of people is very terrible,” said Zhanar Sekerbaeva.

 

She noted that, despite the repeated criticism of identity politics, they equate feminism and LGBT, which is often used against them. Zhanar spoke about the preparation and realisation of the feminist march in 2021 initiated by their group, and about the excitement in society about it.

 

“It becomes unclear to everyone how feminism and the women’s movement are suddenly connected with LGBT people? No one thinks that these are, mostly, the women. Even when we try to explain that they are women too and they have the same problems, just their sexual identity is a little different, very few people understand us,” she said.

 

“The protest on March 8 in Kazakhstan has become historic. For the first time, about 1000 people came to such a march. Even the opposition and those who oppose the transfer of land to China were unable to gather so many people. However, the lesbians, female sex workers, women living with HIV organised such a peaceful march with so many people. It was the safest and largest feminist march,” Zhanar Sekerbaeva highlighted.

 

She urged women to stand up for their rights and not be afraid of stereotypes.

 

Gulzada Serzhan spoke about her feelings about this march and an invitation to a TV talk show after it. The devaluation of their activities and accusations of ties with the authorities [the Almaty Akimat issued permission to hold this march, and “Feminita” initiative is accused of using the pro-government connections] could not destroy their positive attitude in the fight for their rights. On the contrary, all these accusations and the quoting out of context led to an increase in the number of views of their websites and social media pages.

 

“According to our laws, it is prohibited to gather more than a thousand people for the peaceful protests. However, those who are afraid of us claimed there were three thousand people. We wonder what would happen if next year, every woman brings two friends with her? What should we do then?” said Gulzada Serzhan.

 

Irina Matvienko, journalist and women’s rights activist, founder of the “Ne Molchi” [“Do not be silent” – Tr.] Movement in Uzbekistan, informed the discussion participants about the situation in her country. Her presentation was titled “Uzbekistan: The Illusion of Equality”.

 

The Article 18 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan guarantees equal rights and freedoms, regardless of gender, race, nationality, language, religion, and so on, but in fact, all this is an illusion, Matvienko said and presented statistics.

 

The women make up only 2.9% of the government of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and 12.8% – of the judicial system. In 2019, the women made up 26.6% among the managers at the level of heads of departments in ministries, 11.1% – among the heads of enterprises, and only one fifth – among the heads of households. The women make up less than a quarter of the adult population who own land.

 

The wage gap between men and women is 36.2%, but if we consider the unpaid domestic work, then women are occupied with such work much more. Higher education enrolment is also much lower among women.

 

The Uzbek expert cited the scary headlines from the Uzbek media, which indicate a growth of femicide in the country.

 

“The women are beaten, are killed. The women throw themselves under the train with their children, because her husband blames her for not giving birth to a boy. They are beaten because they were late at work and did not have time to cook dinner. The women are raped. This is scary,” said Irina.

 

The activists in Uzbekistan are fighting for their rights, she said. Last year, a flash mob “Fight against stereotypes” was launched in Tashkent, where the girls participated with posters and slogans “Kelinka [daughter-in-law – Tr.] is not a servant”, “My body, my choice”, “A woman is not an incubator”, etc.

 

The activists of the “Ne Molchi” movement prepared a petition for women’s rights protection, but the commission under the Oliy Majlis, consisting of eight men, rejected this petition, stating that the rights of women in Uzbekistan are already protected.

 

In the conclusion, Irina Matvienko showed a movie “Hear Me Out, Too” by Mukhlisa Azizova, an Uzbek director. The movie demonstrates the vulnerable position of girls and women from the countries of the region.

 

URL:

https://cabar.asia/en/the-fight-for-equal-rights-for-women-is-growing-in-central-asia