Articles tagged with: Genderstan
Excerpt from a photograph by Flickr user jaxxon (CC-usage).
Here it is, the long awaited final chapter of CyberChaikhana. We may yet still decide to include a “capstone” semi-chapter, but at present we’re inclined to let the existing ten chapters, plus introduction, conclusion, and a final reflection and series of acknowledgements by Ben, stand for themselves.
So, what you’re about to read is the gender chapter. This was always a difficult chapter to write, for several reasons. To begin with, very early on we realized that it would end up not really about gender per se, but about women. Gender is, of course, something far larger than the traditional dimorphism between the sexes. We initially hoped to have the chapter embrace the full range of topics, from homosexuality to transexualism. However, this proved too vast for a single chapter to tackle.
Secondly, once we focused upon women, we were faced with a new problem: what could we say that hadn’t been said before? At first glance, the available material seemed to say nothing particularly unexpected, namely, that the gains made by Communism were now receding in many quarters under the assault of poverty and traditionalism. And you’ll notice that the first half of the chapter does indeed discuss this phenomenon, precisely because it is real.
However, that story was not only unoriginal, but insufficient for a full chapter, so closer examination was needed, and what was found was indeed something more interesting: that ultimately, beyond poverty and traditionalism, is a deeper, more profound, and more complex problem of power and privilege, symbolism, and political-social systems.
There are three key metaphorical figures in this chapter: Roza Otunbayeva and the Daughters Karimov. These women, in my opinion, manifest the contradictions, possibilities, and limits of women in contemporary Central Asia. Indeed, it is after Lola and Gulnara that the chapter is titled, “Daughters of Ambiguity” (also intended to capture the general sense of women everywhere as daughters). I wanted to show that a simple feministic criticism of the region will not work, and as you’ll see, the chapter quite purposefully ends on an absurdist note in the attempt to prove this point.
A final note before proceeding: along the way, I was able to at least find posts with allusions to the broader gender issues, including male identity, as well as other matrices with which gender issues overlap, for example, HIV/AIDS. Hence, although I consider this chapter to be flawed in several respects, I nevertheless consider it an important one, because it succeeds in highlighting a central theme that runs through the entire book: if you truly want to understand Central Asia today, you need to look beyond euphemisms like “post-Soviet” and the established narratives, and look at the way in which systems, history, and life interact. You need a microscope and a macroscope, and most of all, an open mind.
Would a Roza Otunbaeva be possible in Turkmenistan, and if so, would it really change anything? Image by neweurasia's Schwartz (CC-usage).
Editor’s note: Would a Roza Otunbaeva be possible in Turkmenistan, and if so, would it really change anything? neweurasia’s Annasoltan weighs the pros and cons in the third part of her ongoing series. “I wouldn’t be surprised if dreams of an Otunbaeva were exploited by a Niyazova,” she writes. “But on days when I’m feeling more optimistic, I believe that maybe a woman could bring something different.”
In my last post, I discussed the living and professional conditions of my countrywomen, which is pretty bad but has some potential precisely because of the areas to which we’ve been relegated. Now I want to directly address the question of whether a woman could ever become president of Turkmenistan, and if she did, would it really change anything?
Frankly, there isn’t much confidence in the current political system to expect that it would ever bring truly capable and popular leaders to the surface, either male or female. But besides that, most women who are actually in politics are virtually unknown and usually end up on the political stage by indirect means. Generally speaking, few to none of my countrywomen are politically educated, anyway. Most of all, the Soviet nomenclature system is gone, so that means no one would want to see “lightweight” women coming from nowhere into the boys’ club of politics.
Remember that a woman is supposed to be the epitome of “tranquility”. So, if she is tough, men will not see her as such, but as a cruel and mean person, and women will forsake her as too competitive. And the standard set for the presidency is all the more impossible for a woman, as there is an endless list of extraordinary skills and achievements she needs to accomplish, far above that of a man, even a demi-god like Niyazov. To attain to the Turkmen presidency, a women’s going to have to be a god, as much figuratively as literally!
But the real question isn’t if but so what? Turkmenistan’s no Kyrgyzstan, which has undergone two pro-democracy revolutions and in some respects seems to get more liberal in its ideals as the years go by, at least liberal enough to entrust a woman, Roza Otunbaeva, with the country’s most important job (although leave it to men to make such a mess of their country, especially in the Osh area, and then beg a woman to clean it up for them…)
Aksoltan Atayeva, Permanent Representative of Turkmenistan to the UN, with representatives of the UN. Photo from the UNDP.
Editor’s note: If you think the image of women in Turkmenistan is bad, the reality is little better. Still, Turkmen women have more indirect and social power than they think, argues neweurasia’s Annasoltan, in this second entry in a new ongoing post series. “I think women could still make a difference by occupying positions that are normally overlooked or undervalued by men. “
In my last post, I briefly explored images of women in Turkmenistan, going back all the way to pre-Islamic times. From Amazons to softies, my have we fallen far. It gets worse when we turn from image to reality, although it’s also not entirely hopeless.
Translation of publicist’s post (RUS)
The attitude towards women as mothers is an important measure of development in any modern society. The Save the Children organization has published the results of a study done on the status of women and children in 173 countries around the world. Kazakhstan ranked an unenviable 51st among all countries and 8th among “less developed countries.”
Ranking Our Neighbors
Researchers from Save the Children compiled a Mothers’ Index. In the process of working on it, they developed two other indices, the Women’s Index and the Children’s Index.
The countries where it’s best to be a mom are Read the full story »
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.
A blogger friend of mine asked me to write my opinion about a Woman President for our country. To tell you the truth, when it comes to the actual doing of politics, gender rarely matters, women can be as strong/harsh as men. But since we are a patriarchal Central Asian country, one’s gender may become an issue.
Do you know Michael Jackson’s song “Money”? It goes like: “Anything, anything…anything for money…” and that reminded me of our girls. In Turkmenistan, we have many of the most beautiful girls in Central Asia and even in the world I guess. They’re beautiful from outside and from inside. Though, I think by now, their inner beauty started turning into a fugly thing. And I mean real fugly. They started turning into some materialistic bitches and all they can think and talk about is MONEY. How much money does this guy have? What brand of a car he drives? How many gold jewelery that girl has? Every time I go back to TM, all I hear my cousins and friends talking are all about other people’s cars, houses, jewelery, jobs and blah blah blah… How did they turn themselves from such beautiful creatures, into such ugly things? I think that blaming our government is one way to go; but then, you cant really blame the government all the time, can you?
(I noticed the same materialistic behavior in Oriental girls too, like Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Korean. A friend of mine told me that, usually, people who come from poor countries are the most materialistic ones. So, does that mean that if you are from a rich country, you are not that materialistic? Well, I guess that would be a good explanation, but what can you say about Japanese and Korean? Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world and South Korea is doing much better than many other countries out there. Yet, even if they came from those rich countries, it doesn’t stop Japanese and Korean girls from being materialistic and milking their boyfriends for a new Gucci bag and Jimmy Choo shoes.)
So, how come did our Turkmen girls end up being so materialistic?
Translation of publicist’s post (RUS)
Women have always sought, and continue to seek, equality with men. This applies to the job market as well. Statistics show that there are very few professions without at least a minimal female presence, whereas there are certain professions where it is practically impossible to find men. Of course, Kazakh laws prevent women from working certain jobs involving heavy manual labor or personal risk.
A Bit of History
Only recently has female labor been treated with such care. It used to be that the fair sex was employed in any capacity, regardless of physical intensity. For example, in the 1930s, when the country was industrializing, women worked as cement mixers, masons, diggers, peat cutters, unskilled laborers and metalworkers.
In fact, according to the Soviet magazine “Rabotnitsa” Read the full story »
November 17th, 2013 – Live Press Conference from Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Lola Karimova addresses the Uzbek press
My fellow Uzbeks!
Allow me to introduce myself, your new president. I have the humble right to be Lola Islomovna Karimova-Tillyaeva. It is my solemn duty to welcome you to a new era for our glorious country, one in which we reach the goals set out by my dear father. Our country has always been the shining star of Central Asia, with the most promising history and greatest potential for success and human happiness. The sudden death of my father from high blood pressure allows us to reflect on his call, some five years ago, for more women in politics. Voila!
The great Russian empire of my youth is no more. During the years of oppression leading up to our inevitable and righteous moment of independence, my father struggled against the corrupt forces in Moscow. Following his heart and our own Uzbek traditions, with the help of glorious Allah, he was able to gain independence for our lands. I shall not squander what my father has worked so hard to give to me.
And I am certainly one of the most fortunate of successors. I have the honor to be both hand-picked by my father and unanimously supported in free elections across the country, where more than ninety-eight percent of our citizens expressed their willingness to follow me into our future. I have a freely elected parliament of able-bodied and intelligent law-makers and deal-brokers ready to protect our Constitution, our traditions, and our borders. I am also fortunate that those few misguided persons fooled into opposition to our future are all notorious drug addicts, whose habits will surely catch up with them sooner rather than later.
My biggest helper in our nation’s government will of course be my big sister, the Harvard Graduate, no matter what those enemies of truth at Wikipedia say about her PhD actually being domestically granted after returning to Tashkent in disgrace. To paraphrase our dearly departed friend and ally Medvedev, “I am the President, and she is the Prime Minister.”
We have already decided to fund the writing of 5000 additional articles for the website on our own .uz servers, in the glorious language of Amir Temur and Alisher Navoi, Uzbek. Make no mistake, fellow citizens of our glorious motherland, we are the presidents of Future Uzbekistan. With the help of our closest allies, South Korea and India, our place in the world economy is assured.
Allow me to address, in one breath, the assertions and accusations of our esteemed neighbor Otunbayeva. The Legitimacy of my presidency is the Legitimacy of the Will of the Uzbek Nation! Let Kyrgyzstan and our neighbors doubt that will at their own peril, for history, as always, is the best teacher. While others have fallen prey to the infectious aid packages of the West and the over-bearing alliances of the North, Uzbekistan remains, as ever, independent. And to those that question my fluency of our glorious mother tongue, those that would insult the blood of our ancestors, those that would question the sun’s right to cross the sky, I have only one thing to say.
Ты что, совсем что-ли? Я – президент!
Photograph of a Paris girl by Flickr user Julie70 (CC-usage).
Recently, I was asked by my colleague Chris about what the West (or the rest) can learn from Central Asian countries. I must admit I haven’t encountered many people from the West who have asked me such a question and I’m grateful for it. Usually the question is the other way around, getting lectured on what Central Asian societies can learn from the West.
What I’ve noticed about the West is that there’s an obsessive youth culture there. For example, I was in a Paris metro station a little while ago. Here are somethings I noticed:
- the elderly were pushed around and left behind, as if they were obstacles;
- an attractive thirty-something lady was the center of attention, while anyone above 50 were completely ignored, not even a second glance;
- the covers of women’s magazines were graced entirely by glorious twenty-somethings;
- and the contents of these magazines were obsessed with countering the effects of aging.
In my native Turkmenistan, as in other Central Asian states, the situation is more balanced. Older women appear on magazine covers, and it’s quite common for young men to stand up and offer them their seats on the metro. By the way, further southwest from here, in Middle Eastern countries, they’re also usually accompanied by a younger male relative, just to lend a helping hand. You can frequently see that over here, as well.
But this is actually bigger than gender; it’s really about age. Among my older Western male colleagues, I’ve noticed a kind of ennui, too. It’s as if life for them stopped at 35. Indeed, with all the technological improvements in cosmetology, I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point people start thinking life is over them at 25! (I suppose it’s no surprise that the Western media is already talking about a “quarter-life crisis“.) So, what’s going on?
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