The Role of Women in Intergenerational Transmission of Patriarchy: Case Study from Talas Province, Kyrgyzstan.

Abstract

Promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment is one of the key challenges for contemporary strategies and development practice in Kyrgyzstan. The key factor serving as a barrier for women’s empowerment is the well-entrenched patriarchal structure of the society and its negative impact on the empowerment of women and girls. Less attention has been paid to how such patriarchal norms and values are preserved and transmitted from one generation to the next, what is the rationale behind this transmission and who plays the main role in this process. This Thesis is based on analysis of a primary data (N=21) conducted within the seven households comprising three women generations living in one household in Talas province, in the northern part of Kyrgyzstan. The sample population was chosen within three women generations among different age categories of 16-25, 30-45 and 50-85-year-olds. The focus was on examining the role of women in cultural and socioeconomic contexts, their perception of gender roles, and how these lead to socially accepted inequality and discrimination against women and girls in Kyrgyzstan. The Thesis employed discourse analysis method to dissect certain cultural and family values in the society and for what reasons, the transmission of patriarchal values and norms occurred through generations. Particular attention was paid to the finding of this study that incentives of women for maintaining, transmitting and moreover filling in the patriarchal norms were in order to fit in the existing social structure of Kyrgyzstani society.