In Almaty, Kazakhstan, stands this monument dedicated to two heroines of the Soviet Union, Aliya Moldagulova and Manchouk Mametova. These two female fighters distinguished themselves through their courage and marksmanship during the Second World War. Manchouk Mametova was killed by German forces on 15 October 1943 at the Battle of Nevel. Aliya Moldagulova, for her part, was killed in January 1944 whilst her brigade was attempting to ambush German troops. This memorial was unveiled on 25 October 1997. Depicted in military uniform by the team of sculptors, the two heroines are marching in step.

Credits : Ana Muñoz

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Four women from the ‘Muras’ craft association in Kyzyl Suu, Jeti Oguz district, Kyrgyzstan: the photograph captures the meticulousness and feminine crafts(wo)manship of shyrdak, a Kyrgyz textile craft. Shyrdak refers to fabrics with patterns created by cutting and sewing felted wool sheets. After felting the wool, the craftswoman must cut out the patterns and then sew them together with great detail. Highly insulating, shyrdak was originally used to insulate yurts from the harsh winters. Today, it remains a colourful cultural heritage, inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2012.

Credits : Pierre-Armand Dussex (Switzerland)

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A recent change in the law allows women to drive buses and heavy vehicles in Uzbekistan. This is a significant step forward for Uzbekistan’s transportation industry, a demonstration of active dedication to promote gender equality and diversity in the industry.

Nargiz Gadayeva and Saodat Shermatova showed interest in becoming the country’s first female bus drivers – and, according to the Tashkent transport company, these women have been granted official permission to drive large-capacity buses and electric vehicles.

Saodat Shermatova

On February 28, Saodat Shermatova, a 49-year-old woman from Samarkand and a mother of two, took the bus driver’s seat for the first time in her life. She has been interested in transportation industry since her teenage years, although she studied law to follow her father’s footsteps. 

“There were no women drivers in our family, so I had to be the first,” says Saodat. In 2005, she obtained a category D driving license, which allows her to drive a bus with more than 8 passengers. Saodat’s husband was “worried about safety issues” when she decided to apply for the position – but still decided to support his wife in her endeavors to make it easier for her to complete a mandatory one-month training program for female drivers.

Nargiz Gadayeva

Nargiz Gadayeva, a 57-year-old woman from Qarshi, joined the training program right after Saodat. She started driving when she was twenty and has been working as a driving instructor for ten years. Her colleagues encouraged her to become one of the first female bus drivers in Uzbekistan. 

“When I told my family members about it, they thought I was kidding”, says Nargiz. “Only after my first working day did they start worrying more about me.”

Initially, she was interested in working in tourism, but after the changes in the law, she became determined to pursue a career in bus driving. 

“I want to be an example for other women in Uzbekistan. Women are capable of many things as long as we work hard and have perseverance,” says Nargiz.

In the history of Uzbekistan, there have been numerous examples of women-pioneers who decided to pursue spheres formerly dominated by men. One of the prominent examples is Bashorat Mirboboyeva, the first woman to start operating a locomotive. Together with the other 26 women, she applied to the railway courses that were organized by the Tashkent official railway institution and later worked delivering supplies to the frontline. After World War II, she switched to a diesel engine and became the first woman in the USSR to enter this field. 

Another example is Tursunoi Akhunova, the first female driver of a cotton harvester. She was also the brigade foreman at the collective farm. With her commitment, productivity increased greatly over the years, which also brought her two Hero of Socialist Labour titles – the highest degree of distinction in the Soviet Union for exceptional achievements in industry and culture. 

On the way to gender equality

Azizakhon Khodjayeva is responsible for the gender equality project in the Transportation Authority. She believes that the law made Uzbekistan one step closer to eliminating gender-based stereotypes. The two women are working full-time, driving for eight hours every day, and it is planned to hire another fifteen female drivers next year. 

Before the law was changed, many Uzbek women left the country to work as drivers in Russia, which also meant having a reasonable salary. Legal restrictions did not allow women to drive buses, which is why they had to leave their families home and go abroad in search for opportunities. 

Read more on Novastan: Uzbekistan: when women demand to have a voice

According to the World Bank’s 2022 Women, Business, and the Law research, Uzbekistan scored 70.6 out of 100, with 100 representing equal legal status for men and women in the labour market. Among other Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan scored 69.4, while Tajikistan got 78.8.

This score can partially be attributed to the Soviet Union legacy – in Uzbekistan, as well as in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, there is a list of professions that are banned for women. This list has been created in 1978 in the USSR and included 431 professions; some of them migrated to the laws and labour codes of the independent republics after the Soviet Union collapsed. In Uzbekistan, this list consisted of 44 professions that were deemed harmful or dangerous for women, such as mining or metallurgy. In 2019, the list was terminated by the presidential decree, although the professions are still listed in the labour code.

Darika Bolot and Shakhzoda Mirakova for Novastan

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The post Hitting the road: the first female bus drivers in Uzbekistan appeared first on Novastan English.

Urban spaces in Bishkek, including pedestrian areas and public transportation, remain uncomfortable for citizens, especially women, leaving them feeling vulnerable and insecure due to a lack of facilities, poor pedestrian infrastructure, and inadequate pathways. Urmat Karybaev, the head of the State Administration for Architecture and Urban Planning of Bishkek, announced the plan to build a cable car in the city. But this measure alone will not solve everything.

Officials have been promising to build a subway for many years – with no result

Despite the government’s attempts to bring more buses to the city, public transportation is struggling to handle the demand. City activists in the urban initiative Peshkom raise awareness about the pedestrian environment saying that during peak hours, when most people need to commute, the situation becomes even more challenging, with transportation services becoming completely overwhelmed. However, in one of the interviews for the local news outlet KaktusMedia, the deputy mayor of Bishkek Jyrgalbek Shamyraliev said that the construction of the subway is a very expensive and complex construction. The municipality has rejected the idea of building the subway in the city. Instead, they are considering transportation that will run on a cable road.

During the first Eurasian Symposium on Architecture, Urban Planning, and Design, ESAUD-2023 Urmat Karybaev, the head of the State Administration for Architecture and Urban Planning of Bishkek announced that they are planning to build a cable car network. Karybyev noted that the construction of a cable road is several times cheaper than the building of motorways or railways; it occupies a minimum of land areas; it does not require the construction of the associated infrastructure, and, in addition, it is an environmentally friendly and reliable mode of transport. Social media, however, took the words of Karybaev not seriously and reacted with jokes and memes.

Pedestrian areas in Bishkek

An urban expert in the urban initiative Peshkom, Anna Schumbria believes that Bishkek public spaces are primarily designed with the assumption that men will be the primary beneficiaries. This leaves women feeling vulnerable and insecure due to differences in how they perceive and experience urban spaces compared to men.

Women in Bishkek face various challenges in public spaces, including poor lighting and a lack of convenient public toilets. These obstacles limit women’s freedom of movement, particularly given the prevalence of dark streets in the city. Public toilets are designed with an equal number of cabins for men and women, despite the fact that women have different needs related to menstruation and pregnancy. This leads to longer queues for women’s toilets, and it is especially difficult for women who are usually responsible for children and have nowhere to leave them while using the facilities. These problems were raised during the “Tender City” by young activists during the urban conference in Bishkek.

“There’s a big problem with women’s toilets. For example, when they are designed into buildings, they have the same number of cabins for men and women. Although women have menstrual periods, they become pregnant and need more time to go to the toilet. But it is still not taken into account directly. Most of the time, the responsibility for the children lies with the woman. And when a woman with a baby comes to the toilet, she has nowhere to leave the baby.” – said an activist from Peshkom organization at the “Tender City” conference in October 2022.

Mothers also face uncomfortable situations while taking their babies for a walk due to a lack of facilities, poor pedestrian infrastructure, and inadequate pathways. ”It is extremely uncomfortable to use the city because you have to take a stroller by yourself all the time. The stroller is about 4 kg, and the baby is about 12 kg. Also, when you go underground, you have to carry all the stuff because the stairs are very straight and it is very dangerous since you can just fall with your baby and all the other stuff.” – shared one of the women in a survey.

Public transportation in Bishkek

Cholpon Turdalieva, a gender expert and professor at the American University of Central Asia shared her research experience in Bishkek transport mobility: “I think here the concept of safety in public spaces in Bishkek is also correlated with the social, educational, and family status of women… [I]f I conclude, it’s more dangerous than safe, but it also depends on these patterns as social status, educational background, and professional background.”

According to Turdalieva, in Bishkek, “marshrutkas” (minibuses) and buses frequently lack proper equipment, such as ramps or lifts, that would allow women with strollers to board with ease. This also presents an issue for other groups of people, such as people with disabilities. During rush hours the situation becomes even more challenging, with transportation services becoming completely overwhelmed. This creates an environment where passengers, especially young women, are at risk of being subjected to harassment and unwanted touching. These experiences are incredibly traumatic and have lasting effects on the mental health and well-being of the victims.

According to Anara, a 22 years old college student, (name was changed to keep respondent’s anonymity – edit.) she faces harassment in marshrutka on a daily basis. “We have a really bad transport system, especially marshrutkas. And especially in those marshrutkas, there is a lot of harassment and even violence against women. It happens all the time. We cannot do anything about it because they are almost always full and there is not enough space to stand far from each other, so that’s why men make excuses, saying that it is a tight place and I didn’t intend to touch you.”

Another respondent, a school teacher, shared her thoughts saying, “I think this is also related to upbringing, where girls are told not to draw attention to themselves, not to dress provocatively, not to provoke. Instead of saying that there should be no harassment from men’s side and no victim-blaming. I don’t know about now, but this idea was cultivated earlier in our minds that girls should dress in a way that doesn’t attract men’s attention.”

Cable car: the solution?

So can cable car solve the massive problem with the current transportation system in Bishkek? According to Urmat Karybaev, the head of the State Administration for Architecture and Urban Planning of Bishkek, cable cars are being called tourist transport, but in many cities they are already used for regular public transportation. One cable car can replace 2,000 cars and 100 buses to carry 3,000-4,000 passengers. However, the population remains sceptical: for many years, officials have been promising to act – first with the idea to build a subway, then – a monorail. These promises traditionally remain in words, and one of the main problems is still the deplorable situation on the roads of Bishkek.

The post Insecurity, Harrassment, and Lack of Inclusion: Young Women’s Experiences with Safety in Bishkek public spaces appeared first on Novastan English.

On 8 March, hundreds of protesters walked the 5km length of Shevchenko Street, a major street in Almaty, Kazahstan’s largest city, and the police looked on. This celebration of International Women’s Day is a first in Kazakhstan but the reaction from members of the ruling party Nur Otan shows change is slow coming.

International Women’s Day in Kazakhstan traditionally involves men bringing home fresh flower bouquets and presents to celebrate their loved ones. However, in 2021 the day marked a first: for the first time in the modern history of the country, the local government in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, authorised a march organised by several feminist collectives.

On 8 March, hundreds of women walked the 5km along Shevchenko Street, one of the main streets in the city centre. Activists of all ages and genders carried banners emblazoned with slogans such as “Stop domestic violence” and “Women want to be safe”, Radio Freedom Europe / Radio Liberty reported. The crowd demanded equality and respect for women and LGBTQ+ people, the criminalisation of domestic violence and measures to make wages equal.

In response, on 31 March, Bekbolat Tleuhan, a deputy of the Majilis (Parliament), has asked the government to consider the march and the demands of the protestors as “an attack on spiritual values,” the Almaty-based outlet Vlast reports. In a parliamentary request addressed to Deputy Prime Minister Eraly Toǵjanov, he questioned the legality of the march and proposed a bill to ban same-sex marriage. 

A peaceful march

The first picket took place at Gandhi Park, in the city centre, with over 500 people turning up. As it was occurring amidst the pandemic, every participant wore a mask. The march ended around 5km away, by the Academy of Sciences, where organisers and participants spoke to an orderly crowd from a safe distance, respecting social distancing.

The speakers included the activist Irina Pukhnatova, popularly known as Arina Osinovskaya, who in 2020 was arrested on International Women’s Day alongside another feminist campaigner, Fariza Ospan, for “petty hooliganism”. She told the crowd: “We want this to be a historic day in Kazakhstan, the first of many more marches on this day of struggle…that was our promise during the march last year, we delivered this year, and we hope to keep the promise in the future.”

Read more: Uzbekistan: when women demand to have a voice

The feminist collectives involved in organising the day included KazFem, Feminita, FemAgora, FemSreda and SVET. The police was present but did not intervene and no participants were detained or arrested, Human Rights Watch’s Vika Kim writes.

Since former president Nursultan Nazarbaev stepped down in 2019, smaller protests, such as the anti-government protests that year, have encountered police aggression and mass arrests. One possibility is that the police had to be on their best behaviour due to recent international backlash against the Kazakh government for severe charges against multiple human rights activists and NGOs.

Why is this unprecedented?

This is the first time a feminist march of this size has been authorised to take place in modern Kazakhstan. Last year, around 200 activists gathered but the rally was unauthorised. In 2017, only around two dozen activists marched.

One of the orchestrating feminist groups of this year’s march, FemAgora, set up a festival in 2018 to raise awareness for gender and LGBTQ+ equality which celebrated its third anniversary in 2021. Every year, women in Kazakhstan feel increasingly encouraged and empowered to march for their rights and demand equality. Aery Asiyeva, a member of KazFem, deemed the rally to be a success: “We worked for months to organise the biggest feminist march in Kazakhstan’s history. We were pushed back by nationalists and right-wing traditional groups, but the support we received from donations and volunteers was our strength.”

Women still struggle for equality

Domestic violence and sexual abuse are still widespread across the country, with 17% of women between the ages of 18 and 75 suffering physical or sexual abuse from a partner, and 21% experiencing psychological abuse, according to a 2018 study.

The public foundation Don’t Be Quiet (NeMolchiKZ) says that every day an average of eight women and two children are raped in Kazakhstan. 400 women are killed in Kazakhstan every year in domestic violence.

There remains in Kazakhstan a tradition of oppression through cultural stigma and the pressure to conform to social norms often leaves victims scared or embarrassed to seek justice. The Kazakh word “uyat” (ұят) translates to ‘shame’ in English but is often used to refer to the guilt imposed over women that justifies their oppression. Women are often blamed for their abuse, for example for ‘leading on’ their abusers. Thus, many cases of violence often go unreported, so the figures shown are probably lower than in reality.

Read more: The Wife: the short film highlighting domestic violence in Kazakhstan

Women are not being adequately protected by the law and do not have access to justice. In July 2017, the sanction against physical violence on women was changed from being a criminal offence to just an administrative offence.

In January of this year, President Qassym-Jomart Toqaev signed a law punishing violence against family members with a written warning, despite stating in his first address to the nation that Kazakhstan “urgently needs to tighten the penalties for sexual violence… and domestic violence against women.”

According to Human Rights Watch, Kazakh authorities and police often encourage women to drop complaints and reconcile with their abusers and withhold information such as the right to seek shelter and protection orders. This means that men are not receiving education to improve their behaviour or being held accountable which only perpetuates the cycle of violence.

Increased representation

The theme for International Women’s Day 2021 created by the United Nations Development Programme was “Women in Leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world”, to highlight the efforts by women and girls to shape a more equal future whilst recovering from the pandemic. Kazakhstan was celebrated for having increased female representation in company management with participation from the state, and for introducing gender and youth quotas for the list of candidates to the Majilis and Maslihats (municipal assemblies).

The country has also been credited with taking a proactive role in the Generation Equality Forum where it plans to take part in two action coalitions on gender-based violence and economic justice and rights, according to the UN’s joint statement published on 6 March.

Lily Shanagher
Novastan.org

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In Kyrgyzstan, thousands of young girls and women are abducted every year for forced marriage. Although the practice was outlawed in 2013, bride kidnapping persists, with devastating consequences for society. The tragic case of Aizada Kanatbekova, who was found strangled after her abduction, has led to widespread anger and calls for the resignation of police leaders.

Another victim of the tradition of bride kidnapping was Aizada Kanatbekova, a 27-year-old young woman found strangled on 7 April 2021. She was abducted early on 5 April in the Kyrgyz capital while on her way to work. Three men forced her into a car and drove her away in an unknown direction. This fact was registered in the Unified Register of Crimes and Misdemeanors under Article 175 of the Criminal Code (“Kidnapping of a person for the purpose of marriage”).

Her relatives wrote a statement to the police, asking them to speed up the search for the girl. But the police, who had the video data on their hands, with the license plates of the cars, did not take any accelerated measures. Two days later, a woman and a man were found dead inside a car in a field near Bishkek.

A local shepherd reported that this car was seen on 5 and 6 April, but did not pay attention, thinking that the car was stuck in the mud. It’s only when he approached the car on 7 April that he saw the corpses of a woman and a man inside and reported it to the police, the Kyrgyz media Kaktus reports.

According to the preliminary version of the investigation, the man strangled the girl during the conflict, and then committed suicide.

Calls for resignations of heads of law enforcement

The news that the kidnapped Aizada Kanatbekova was found murdered did not leave anyone indifferent. Social media was flooded with posts. Many of them note that the heads of law enforcement agencies – the Minister of Internal Affairs Ulan Niyazbekov and the head of the Bishkek Police Department Bakyt Matmusayev – should bear partial responsibility for this case.

Users emphasise that the girl and the kidnapper were found only after two days, already dead. At the same time, the thief’s car was found by a shepherd, and not by law enforcement agencies.

“The interior minister, the Bishkek Police Department and the Department of Internal Affairs of the Chui region should resign! The video was posted! The license plates were there. It was possible to find the criminal in 2 days!!! I believe that the investigative team should be severely punished for negligence!,” user Meerim wrote.

In a video posted on Twitter, a group of young activists also demanded the resignation of a number of officials. “We demand the resignation of the head of the Bishkek Police, the head of the Criminal Police Service of Bishkek, the head of the Criminal Police Service, of the DEPUTY MINISTER for Operational Work!!!,” the caption reads.

The police claim that the search for Aizada Kanatbekova did not stop for a minute and that all possible addresses of people connected to the suspects, were checked, Kaktus reports.

On her Facebook page, Meerim Osmonalieva, the director of the Oasis Kyrgyzstan foundation, which supports vulnerable and marginalised group, called for technological measures to keep women safe: “We could come up with a mobile application so that law enforcement agencies respond quickly to an SOS signal,” she wrote. “Once again, I am sure that our mobile application “Child Protection”, with an SOS signal, should be adapted for women as well! For now it works in the city of Tokmok, but it is necessary for the whole country. This is our security. “

Others, such as the activist Dinara Oshurahunova, pointed at the tradition of bride kidnapping: “All those who consider Ala Kachuu to be the norm and tradition of the Kyrgyz people should be included in the list of shame and brought to justice as instigators and accomplices. This should be enshrined in law,” she wrote on Facebook.

Not the first case

This is not the first case of murder of a woman abducted for marriage.

In 2018, a 30-year-old man and his friends ambushed 19-year-old Burulai Turdalieva and kidnapped her. The girl’s parents appealed to the police, the kidnappers were detained and taken to the police department. The alleged kidnapper and Turdalieva were left alone together. The man then stabbed Turdalieva right in the police station.

The court sentenced the alleged abductor to 20 years in a high-security penal colony with confiscation of property. The leadership of the department where Turdalieva was killed was also dismissed. Relatives of the deceased believe that the police are to blame for her death.

Ala-Kachuu in Kyrgyzstan

Every fifth family in Kyrgyzstan is the result of Ala-Kachuu, or bride kidnapping. To take a stolen girl back from the groom’s house is considered a disgrace, so many parents leave their daughters with men unknown to them.

Bride kidnapping is criminal offense in the country. In recent years, according to human rights activists, appeals to the police have become more frequent. Previously, such crimes were rarely reported.

The violation of the rights of women and girls takes place in all Central Asian countries; women are not considered equal members of society and in many cases cannot make their own decisions. Despite the fact that Kyrgyzstan has ratified the United Nations’ Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Beijing Declaration, women continue to be discriminated against in both the public and private spheres. Often, girls are persuaded to marry someone they do not know, and, in some cases, abducted and subsequently forced to marry their captors.

Read more: Uzbekistan: when women demand to have a voice

Despite legislation and tougher penalties, in 2013-2018 the internal affairs bodies registered 895 reports and statements regarding bride kidnapping. Of these, 727 (or 81.2%) did not result in criminal proceedings. In 18.7% of cases, criminal proceedings were initiated.

In 2019, the law on abdication was slightly changed: abducting a minor is punishable by up to ten years in prison, and by up to seven if the woman is over 18.

Civil activists in Bishkek have called a rally near the Ministry of Internal Affairs on 8 April in response to Aizada Kanatbekova’s death.

Aigerim Turgunbaeva

The post Kyrgyzstan: murder of a young woman sparks public anger appeared first on Novastan English.

ANALYSIS. Last spring, a violent crime against a young woman in Uzbekistan moved the general public. It was followed by a unique feminist protest on social media. For the Uzbek blogger Nadira Khalikova, this incident is representative of the type of views that perpetuate the oppression of women in Uzbekistan.

This article was originally published on Novastan’s German website on 15 September 2020. Please note it contains descriptions of physical and verbal violence against women.

When a woman learned to read, the woman question arose in the world
(Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach)

A 17-year-old woman and her friend are walking their dog in the park in Farg’ona (Fergana), western Uzbekistan. The young woman is wearing shorts and a top. She is approached by a man in the park, who whistles at her. After the young woman ignores him, he insults her, saying: “All Russian women are sluts.” She does not react and keeps on walking with her friend. An hour later the man returns with 30-40 other men. He talks to her again and she tells him to leave. The young man, a 21-year-old named Nodir K, pulls her by the hair and beats her.

The woman, Evelina, is taken to the hospital that same day, 31 May 2020: her jaw is broken in two places, and for two weeks she can only eat through a feeding tube. The incident was reported by local media such as the online publication Podrobno.uz. A criminal case for assault and battery was only opened arond two weeks later, on 16 June.

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However, after a couple of days, Evelina and Nodir came to an agreement and the case was dropped. The young man publicly apologised and covered all treatment costs. “I hope that there will be no more mentions online ofthe incident. It is unpleasant both for me and her,” Nodir declared, as reported by the Russian media Fergana News.

Nodir’s statement, in particular, triggered public reaction and resulted in what is believed to be one of the largest feminist protests in Uzbekistan in recent years. The hashtag #yamyevelina (#ямыэвелина, “I am / we are Evelina” in Russian) was used on social media in solidarity with Evelina. With this hashtag, many women told their own experiences of violence through pictures, illustrations and videos. #jamyewelina seemed to be the Uzbek #metoo.

As a result, on 6 July, a “flashmob” against sexism and discrimination against women took place online. Cardboard signs read: “Russian woman does not mean slut”, or “Kelin (daughter-in-law) does not mean slave”, “Whoever hits goes to jail”, “My body, my business”. These slogans echo well-established expressions that promote the oppression of women. Such phrases are common: for example, “he beats you up, so he loves you” or “the kelin has to do all the household chores alone”.

While the subject has been highly discussed online, the authorities remained silent. Especially two institutions: the Gender Commission (which should not tolerate such treatment of women in society) and the recently founded ministry for supporting mahalla and family.

A typical case

Nodir’s actions, however, require specific analysis. To put it simply, the following happened: a man tried to hit on a woman who, in his opinion, was dressed “indecently”. She does not react and he brutally assaults her. They find an agreement, resulting in him not being convicted.

There are many hypotheses as to why Evelina agreed to drop charges. One can in this case spot patterns that reveal a lot about the role of women in Uzbek society and the nature of relations between men and women: blaming the victim, the Uzbek concept of ma’naviyat as a means of social oppression and, lastly, the idea that women have to accept their lot regardless of the difficulties they are facing.

Victim blaming is in Uzbekistan, as in many other countries, a widespread phenomenon: women are considered “sama vinovata”, that is, “they have only themselves to blame” when assaults occur if they have not “behaved with dignity”. They are held responsible if something happens to them, especially a woman who is not “decently dressed”. This is considered a sort of invitation to harassment. “If women don’t want us, men, to approach them and hit on them, then they have to dress decently. If I see a woman dressed in short clothes or showing a lot of skin, I assume she wants a man to approach her. I would never hit on a decently dressed woman,” said Anwar (his name has been changed), an engineer from Bukhara, for example. Such behaviour is further justified and explained by ma’naviyat.

Ma’naviyat is a very important word in modern Uzbekistan, meaning virtuous, orderly, perfect. One has to be worthy to achieve ma’naviyat. Ma’naviyat is taught in multiple ways, from primary school to university. The concept sometimes includes a certain idea of what a “decent” woman should be like. According to this ideal, for example, she does not wear jeans, she wears “reasonable” make-up, she is very well-behaved and sweet. She does not contradict anyone. She does everything that first her parents and later her husband tell her to do. And of course she has never been in a relationship and is still a virgin when she marries. She does that at the age of 22 at the latest and gives birth to two-three children, whom she raises as “worthy”, or ma’naviyat, people. She can cook and bake well and will thus make her husband, his family and her children happy and honour them.

Media criticism of the feminist protest

At the end of August, during the programme Munosabat (a word meaning opinion, relationship to a subject), the state TV channel O’zbekiston addressed the #jamyevelina movement. The participants of the programme strongly criticised the 6 July flashmob. Jamila Shermuhamedova, a former staff member of the Committee for Women’s Rights, was particularly critical: “Yes we passed a law on gender equality … But the law does not say: ‘I will do what I want, I will walk around naked, I will not marry, I will not give birth, I am not a servant’ … you have to bow to national values because there are laws and a constitution.”

Thus, national television shows pure propaganda that minimises any attempts by women to demand their rights. The flashmob also received abusive comments on social media, especially from men. For example, the football commentator and journalist Bobur Fozilxon wrote on his Facebook page: “Why are you paying much attention to the few f****-up tampons walking around with cardboard signs? Just ignore them.”

As can be seen, women who stand up for gender equality are stigmatised as “sluts”. Society only celebrates one type of woman: a woman who does not disagree. A woman who conforms to the “ma’naviyat”. A woman who, despite all obstacles (especially if she is already married), endures in silence and teaches her daughters to do the same. In Uzbekistan, women have elevated forbearance to a particular philosophy. It is ultimately one of the few ways to survive as a woman.

It is questionable whether Evelina’s case and the #jamyevelina flash mob will change anything in the short term. But they are among the first, conscious and “loud” actions led by Uzbek women to demand their rights and to fight for free speech. The events have made the idea of a strong and independent woman trendy, especially among younger people. It is starting to be cool to have a voice as a woman and to fight for that voice. That is how the question of women’s rights has come to Uzbekistan.

There are strong women in Uzbekistan. They could contribute more to building the future of the country if traditions, ma’naviyat, gender inequality and, ultimately, their whole upbringing did not limit them to daily household chores, in-laws and husbands.

Nadira Khalikova

Translated from German by Manon Montant

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The post Uzbekistan: when women demand to have a voice appeared first on Novastan English.

Directed by Kana Beisekeyev and produced by Kairat Nurmugambetov in association with Qazaq TV, the short documentary The Wife is a powerful and harrowing account of four women’s experience of domestic abuse.

Zhena, or The Wife, is a 2021 documentary which focuses on domestic abuse in Kazakhstan. This issue is not often discussed or acknowledged in Kazakhstani society, and it speaks to the wider social problems in the country, and the region as a whole. The narrative in The Wife highlights the psychological and systemic reasons for ongoing violence in the home, and what can be done to remedy this problem. 

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The short film is freely available on YouTube with English subtitles. Novastan spoke to director Kana Beisekeyev about what he wanted to achieve with the film and what the reaction has been. His answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Novastan: What made you want to approach the subject of domestic violence in Kazakhstan now?

Kana Beisekeyev: In the last year, a lot of newspapers have started discussing domestic abuse so I was interested in making a project about this subject. When you think about domestic abuse, you imagine a really harsh, extreme story, but this is the reality of what is happening in Kazakhstan. I don’t think there’s been a documentary made like this before in our country. It was actually last spring, when my crew and I decided to make this film but then lockdown delayed it. Afterwards, we heard that cases [of domestic violence] increased during lockdown, when people were closed in at home. And we knew we had to talk about this difficult subject now.

I thought about how I could tell people my age, the younger generation, about this topic. Honestly, it was so painful to make because I was so far from this subject with my own upbringing. I had never really heard about this before, I have an older sister and I was a bit surprised when I heard stories of how, within our culture, it’s very difficult to be a woman. But if men talk about this issue with their girlfriends, they begin to hear many stories of abuse. There’s abuse in the home, even from brothers and other relatives, abuse in the street, abuse at work. Things from the outside may seem okay, but they really are not. 

Your documentary touches a lot on how gender roles are very rigid in Kazakhstan. There is this culture of blame around women, that they are at fault for minor things such as when their child gets in trouble or the dinner is burnt, and then it escalates. Where does this come from?

The gender issues come from our culture and idea of family. It is seen a more of a privilege to have a boy than to have a girl. This is true not only in Kazakhstan but in most Central Asian cultures, even in the Caucasus and Russia. Most of the countries around here have this social issue around boys. There’s not a good gender balance, parents are probably going to be happier with a son. It sounds like a joke, but the joke is that it’s really true. 

It’s coming from all directions actually. From novels, from movies. Even women in our culture often believe having a son is better for them. These are widespread opinions, we have a really huge gap between girls and boys. In our society, women have to show their balls to succeed. So you’re not just a woman, you have all these extra responsibilities and expectations. It is not fair game between men and women.

So you mean, women have to prove themselves more because they start life with a disadvantage?

This pressure starts all the way from school actually. Boys can start school without good grades and make up for it later, but girls are expected to have ‘A’ marks only. Even if a woman graduates school to prove herself, her older parents will ask: “why do you need this diploma? You should be getting married instead.” Girls have to be learn to be a “good woman” and a good professional. A lot of families act like this, especially in the smaller villages. I’m not talking about all of the people, but this opinion exists in our society and leads to larger problems.

The film touches on alcohol as a trigger for domestic violence. Is alcoholism considered a big problem in Kazakhstan?

Yeah, especially outside of the big cities. In small towns, if you go to the local store, you’re probably gonna see a lot of alcoholic products. Mainly vodka. It feels like the 90s, like the USSR or Russia. People here don’t know how to drink without going crazy but now they can drink like crazy. Alcoholism is mainly happening with men.

This comes back to money: a lot of men don’t have a job. Without earning, it is very hard to survive and that means a lot of men become depressed. This depression leads to drinking vodka with similar people, the same friends who can’t find a job. It’s the same problem, over and over. They will talk about their hard lives, about their problems with women. The wife, looking after the children at home, will ask her husband: “Why are you doing this? We don’t have money for alcohol, we need you to get a job to support us.” The husband will argue back: “I’m the man of the house. Don’t talk to me like this.” And it can escalate badly after that. 

One of the biggest problems in Kazakhstan, around the subject of domestic violence, is that a lot of parents don’t teach their kids how to be a good husband or wife when they’re older, how to be a good carer. We have a big knowledge gap around this. Family is not a toy, a lot of people are not ready for it. Women start getting married early, even like 18 or 19 years of age in small towns. If you are older than 25, you are seen as too old to marry, even in cities. As a society, we seem to be making such early commitments. Two people at this age don’t know how to be proper adults, they’ve only just stopped being kids. Our issues come from this cultural and educational gap, and leads to dangerous situations.

One of the quotes that stood out in the film was “the system allows this to happen”, meaning that domestic violence has been enabled by the police and lawmakers not taking the issue seriously. This is compounded by the ease in which bribery and corruption takes place, as another quote illustrates: “you can buy anything here”. 

With this film, were you hoping to open the conversation to discussing other, related issues in Kazakhstani society such as corruption and power systems?

It is more about reaching ordinary people, getting them to wonder why abuse is not talked about or discussed more openly. I made this movie for the people, they just have to know what is happening in our country. They need to understand what needs to be done and what to do if the same situation happens to them. This might mean changing our laws to save people’s lives. It is a struggle because we have cultural issues which reach higher than law.

When women go to the police after violence occurs, they often meet men who know their husband or do not take it seriously. The police treat the case as a small family dispute, telling the women to go home and try again. They will give reassurances, telling the victims that it’s going to be okay. They may write a report about the husband, but if you try to access the report again two days later, it might just not exist anymore. This is what many are up against.

What was the effect of having a comedian comment and make jokes about the situation on an empty stage? What were you trying to achieve with this?

He is a real comedian who wrote his own jokes for this. I had heard his jokes about domestic violence before and asked him why he was making humour out of these situations. He answered that it was because of his own family experiences. This actually inspired us to make the documentary from a comedian’s point of view, which is where we started from. At least in comedy, he’s talking about the problem, even though he’s making jokes, it’s bringing the conversation to life a bit. 

What was the reaction in Kazakhstan to this documentary? Has it been met with any resistance? 

It has been really interesting. Some reaction has been good, but not all. Some people have blamed us because they think we are extreme to bring this subject up and we support changing the existing laws about domestic abuse. Even some voices in the feminist community did not like the documentary because they asked why it is mainly men talking about this abuse.

You know, it’s really hard, the subject has not been easy to talk about. I just wanted to make something that is going against the abuse. I just wanted to talk to a few people about it. But, in the film, there are some conversations between men and some have asked, why not include women having this same talk? There has also been some backlash from smaller communities like family groups. It was surprising. But we do talk to women. I mean, the film is about men and women. It’s about this culture where boys and girls are taught from a young age to think differently, and how this affects us when we’re older.

At the end, the documentary states that a new law on combating domestic violence will come into force in the spring of 2021. How do you anticipate this changing things?

I hope this will change things, making it a bit harder to get away with domestic violence. Right now the process is very slow if you are even fined for domestic abuse. So I think the new law has to protect women much more. We also have to work with the husband on this, where possible. I’m not a lawyer so I’m not sure how it will work specifically but I think it is a step in the right direction.

What projects are you working on next?

I’ve been working on a documentary which talks about the Uyghur camps in Xinjiang, which has included Kazakhs too. I have found some people who have been in these camps, who now live in Washington, DC. Right now I’m editing, so hopefully in the next month or two it will be uploaded to YouTube. 

The Wife is available to watch on YouTube.

Tommy Hodgson

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The post The Wife: the short film highlighting domestic violence in Kazakhstan appeared first on Novastan English.