Barriers for Women’s Empowerment in Central Asia: Behind-the-Scene Role of Women in Transmitting Patriarchy: Narratives from Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

A key factor serving as barrier for women’s empowerment in postcommunist Central Asia is the patriarchal structure of society and its negative impact on the empowerment of women and girls. Less attention, however, has been paid to how such patriarchal norms and values are being preserved and transmitted from one generation to the next, and to who plays the main role in this process. By taking the case study of the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan, this Thesis is based on the research results of the United Nations-funded Gender in Society Perceptions Study (GSPS) and UN Women’s Research on Marriage and Career Choices of Youth (RCY). It focuses on examining the role of women in cultural and socioeconomic contexts, their perception of gender role, and how these lead to socially accepted inequality and discrimination against young women and girls. Particular attention is paid to the counterintuitive main finding of this study, namely that it is primarily the women, and not the men, who keep alive, abide by and moreover transmit existing patriarchal norms and values to the next generation. The Thesis employed content analysis of the collected data to dissect certain cultural and family values, which together with associated socioeconomic outcomes, form the most critical barriers to the empowerment of young women in Kyrgyzstan today.