WUNRN
Uzbekistan -
Female Dilemma: Political Career vs. Family Harmony
By Dilfuza
Kurolova, LLM in International Law from the Tashkent State University of
Law and a Master Student in Politics and Security Program at the OSCE Academy
in Bishkek – February 3, 2015
There is a
proverb that says that woman is a hearth of the house. It has been interpreted
as if a woman is the only person who can keep the house in order, taking care
of children and husband, and giving up her personal growth in order to keep the
harmony and wellbeing of the family. This social perception of gender roles and
the pattern of thinking is transmitted from generation to generation by women
themselves. This is due to social pressure and men’s misperceptions of women’s
roles, i.e. a man accepts a woman’s role only as a wife and a mother of his
children but not as an independent individual capable of contributing to the
household income. Women accept this perception as natural and choose not to
develop skills and build their careers. As a result, women’s success in career
and their recognition in politics have never been discussed in the public
realm. Whenever a woman in Uzbekistan wants to continue her career in politics,
her ambitions are suppressed by the traditional communities; as a result, there
are few empowered women in politics in the country. Following inquiry into
traditions, customs and perceptions of the Uzbek people aims to uncover the
real reasons behind the silencing of public discussions on women’s rights and
freedoms.
Political
Rights of Women in Uzbekistan
Nominally,
Uzbekistan has strong legislature providing order and security to its citizens.
Based on its official reports to the international organizations, Uzbekistan is
a country without violations on human security, with no political violence and
with strong criminal justice system within the state[i]. With regards to gender equality, the
Constitution of Uzbekistan stipulates equal rights of women and men as the
fundamental right of citizens.[ii] This nondiscrimination law guarantees
legal freedom to a woman to be involved in politics through active exercise of
her political rights to elect and to be elected as a member of Parliament or as
a President of Uzbekistan. However, real situation in Uzbekistan differs from
its written laws, which will be demonstrated on specific case studies
considered in this paper.
In preparation
for the coming parliamentary elections, in 2004, the Uzbek Parliament adopted
the amendment, which sets the obligatory gender quota of 30% for both chambers
of the Parliament. The change in the law contributed to an ample shift of
women`s participation in political life of Uzbekistan and their role in
policy-making process. After Parliamentary elections in 2010, the number of women
in Parliament significantly increased. Now, there are 33 female members of the
lower chamber out of 150 members and 15 female senators of the upper chamber
out of 100 senators.[iii] As a result, women comprised 22% of the
parliamentarians in the Parliament of Uzbekistan as of December 2014. While
31.8% of the total number of candidates at the parliament elections of 2014
were women, the required 30% female quota has not been reached.[iv] However, this amendment gave a
meaningful opportunity for women to have access to political decision-making
processes in Uzbekistan.
The increasing
number of female candidates at the parliamentary elections demonstrates that
the state adheres to its guarantees on political rights to its citizens despite
of their gender. Nevertheless, the number of women running for the Parliament
or the Presidency is still low because 31.8% of the candidates stands for
0.001%[v] of the total female population of
Uzbekistan. Therefore, the insignificant percentage of women in the Uzbek
Parliament and small number of female candidates illustrates that women’s
political participation in Uzbekistan is only nominal and does not empower
female population of the country.
Feminine
Customs and Traditions in Uzbekistan
Despite
increasing number of women in the Parliament and provision of the basic
political rights to women in Uzbekistan, these changes do not bring any meaningful
opportunity and fair conditions for women to build their political careers. As
in any traditional societies, the public opinion, upbringing and family play
significant role in keeping women away from their rights in Uzbekistan.
Every
discussion about women’s participation in politics or their empowerment ends
with an unbeatable argument brought by families that politics is a man’s job.
Public opinion and traditions are mostly being manipulated by a unique public
institution of Uzbekistan ‘Mahalla’, which is a “self-governing community in
every borough, town and village in Uzbekistan”.[vi] Mahalla is governed by a committee
which consists of elderly people residing in a particular territorial division
who know its inhabitants. Elders attempt to preserve family unity and build
friendly atmosphere among family members. However, these committees also
interfere into families` private life by promoting traditional values, where
the role of women begins and ends at home. Furthermore, it is paradoxical that
the society, especially males are being taught that a man belongs to outside
and a woman to home. Women are taught to abide by the rule that female members
of the family should stay at home and support their male counterparts. However,
this limitations do not apply on education because Uzbekistan guarantees free
secondary education which is also mandatory for every child.[vii] Parents let their daughters study at
secondary school because education is free and literacy is important for future
mothers. However, this small obligation of parents to educate their daughters
in secondary schools does not undermine patriarchic structure of Uzbek society
and continues to restrict women’s professional careers.
In this
framework, women themselves become primary promoters of such underestimation of
the women`s role in politics of Uzbekistan. Even if a woman wants to be
successful in politics and to use the opportunity given by the government,
under strong social pressure, she gives the priority to her family rather than
fully devoting herself to the responsibilities brought by the position in
political life of the state. It seems that there is a vicious cycle in the
Uzbek society that does not allow a woman to be politically active. Women
themselves reject this activity not because they do not know about such
opportunities, but because of the fear to be condemned by the family and the
society. The culture of shame and judging does not help emancipate women of
Uzbekistan. There are not many success stories when a woman achieved a high
position while having traditionally happy family. The most common story is that
a successful and powerful woman has a sad personal story behind.
Conclusion
There is no
hesitation that women have a special role in the society of Uzbekistan. A brief
analysis of the Uzbek legislation showed that government provides basic
constitutional rights, gives opportunity for political engagement of women into
decision-making process and guarantees gender equal freedoms. However, strong
traditional pressure and public opinion disables women from taking up political
positions and developing their public careers. Thus, enabling legislation in
Uzbekistan requires additional work on either changing the mindset of the
traditional society or providing special terms of participation for female
candidates. Since women are the first people in the Uzbek society who promote
family values, their involvement into professional lives requires justification
in front of men who are current heads of the households. Mutual understanding
that a man can contribute to a family`s wellbeing not only financially but also
psychologically will bring social changes, where a woman would like to run for
the Parliament or the Presidency without a fear to lose the family and be
condemned by public opinion.
[i] The World
Justice Project. 2014. The Rule of Law Index 2014: 22.
(accessed January 10, 2015) < http://worldjusticeproject.org/sites/default/files/files/wjp_rule_of_law_index_2014_report.pdf>.
[ii] Articles 18-20
of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan. (accessed January 10, 2015)
< https://www.uta.edu/cpsees/UZBEKCON.htm>.
[iii] 12uz
Information Portal. 2013. Po kolichestvu jenshin v
Parlamente Uzbekistan sredi stran SNG zanimayet chetvertoe mesto [Uzbekistan is
the 4th among CIS countries in the rank on the number of women in Parliament].
(accessed January 9, 2015) < http://www.12uz.com/news/show/official/15008/>.
[iv] Central
Election Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
(accessed December 10, 2015) < http://elections.uz/ru/events/archive_news/>.
[v] Gender
Statistics in Uzbekistan. (accessed January 27, 2015) <http://gender.stat.uz/index.php/osnovnye-pokazateli/demografiya/braki-i-razvody/134-chislennost-zhenshchin-i-muzhchin>
[vi] Diplomat. 2013. “Mahalla: an Uzbek Experience”. (accessed January 8, 2015) <
http://www.diplomatmagazine.com/issues/2013/september-october/778-mahalla-an-uzbek-experience.html>.
[vii] Article 41 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan. (accessed January 10, 2015) < https://www.uta.edu/cpsees/UZBEKCON.htm>.