The Turkmen legendary hero Gorogly, but with no women to be seen. Image from the Ruhnama website.

Editor’s note: From rampaging warriors to doting wives, Turkmen society’s image of women has changed over the centuries — much to the chagrin of neweurasia’s Annasoltan. “[Our] people’s idealized woman went from being an Amazon to a softie,” she writes, in this first post of a new on-going series about the status of women in Turkmen society.

My neweurasia colleague Humane has written about whether Turkmenistan could ever have a woman president, and Timur has written one from the perspective of Uzbekistan. Here are my two manat. Let’s start with the image of women in Turkmenistan.

In pre-Islamic times, when the Turkic peoples of Central Asia were nomads, the female characters that appeared in epic stories were actually very masculine-like figures, riding on horseback, hunting animals, wrestling, fighting with swords, and defending their territory against the enemies.

Later, when the Turkic peoples settled into sedentary life, social roles changed a lot, transforming female characters into something more domestic. For example, in the epic story Görogly, a male heroic legend in the oral traditions of the Turkic peoples — a sort of Eastern “Robin Hood” in which the hero defends his clan or tribe against threats from outside — the female figure Gülendam is praised for her hospitality and household work, for the care for her family, and exemplary behavior.

In other words, the Turkic people’s idealized woman went from being an Amazon to a softie. Fortunately, that changed somewhat under the Soviets, when women began to work outside the home and it became more common for women to attain higher education and to work. A few female ministers emerged, too. But overall, their place in Soviet mythology and propaganda didn’t change very much. And it got worse after the Soviet Union collapsed.

Today, the official Turkmen propaganda stresses the traditional role of the woman as a homemaker and mother. The catch-word is “tranquility” — the less active, the better. Other catch-words include “charming”, “caring”, “respectful”, “soft”, and “breakable”, yes “breakable”, as if they’re pieces of glass.

Interestingly, a “First Lady” culture has never developed here as it’s done in other countries, particularly the United States. This only reinforces the message that women need to stay out of the way. Not only that, but it means there isn’t a good living role model for Turkmen girls. Well, unless of course you count Niyazov’s mother, who died in a devastating earthquake in Ashgabat in 1948 when he was a child and whom he later elevated to the status of demi-goddess.

This doesn’t mean the image promulgated by our government is always consistent. For example, in Niyazov’s Ruhnama — which, remember, is supposed to be our new Qur’an – you find this passage:

Pay attention to the jewelery worn by Türkmen girls; the gupba-tuvulga, çekelik-bukav protects the neck from attacks with swords, the gül-aka protects the chest. The bracelet covers the wrist, and various pieces attached on the front and back of dresses prevent injuries from arrows and spears. If the Türkmen girl wears all her jewelery, she becomes like a warrior shielded by her jewelery. Calculations tell us that a woman should be carrying a total of 36 kilograms of silver and gold if she wears all her jewelery. The Türkmen praises the woman highly.

That sounds a bit more like the tough woman of pre-Islamic lore than of the secluded neo-Gülendam otherwise promoted in propaganda.

And then there was Niyazov himself.  Oddly, he used to pose for photographs wearing elaborate diamond rings. He also used to dye his hair, changing it from white to blond, then reddish blond, and finally dark brown, in order to make himself look younger. These actions were so completely alien to Turkmen culture and traditions — almost a sin for Turkmen men! — that the great Turkmenbashy was often nicknamed “Turkmenbajy” — “Turkmen-sister”!

So, that’s my brief treatment of images. In my next post, I’ll explore what it would actually take for a woman to become president of Turkmenistan — and whether that would actually be a good thing for my nation. But I’m also hoping to use this new blog series to explore the whole gamut of issues about women in Turkmenistan, so stick around!