“Women are underrepresented at both the national and local levels. While only a few of them are represented among the Cabinet of Ministers’ 21 members, there is not a single woman among the 40 district leaders or the president’s 7 regional plenipotentiary representatives. There are no women among the country’s 32 mayors of cities and towns”, – notes Jyldyz Abdyldaeva, a participant of the CABAR.asia School of Analytics, in an article for CABAR.asia.
Kyrgyzstan has made public commitments to promote gender equality at all levels, both under international and domestic law. Despite various initiatives and special legislative measures, women in the Kyrgyz Republic continue to face significant challenges in achieving political representation and leadership positions. This article explores the factors that undermine women’s political participation, despite the opportunities provided by quotas.
The Situation in the Kyrgyz Republic and the Role of Legislative Frameworks
In 2005, Kyrgyzstan was the only country in the world with zero women’s representation in its parliament, despite equal suffrage. Two years later, an electoral quota policy was adopted for the first time in party lists for parliamentary elections, which contributed to the increase in the number of women MPs. However, the situation at the local level exhibited a steady decline in the number of women deputies. Experts and civil society representatives predicted that if this trend continues, local councils will be without women by 2028.
In 2019, the government introduced a new law that mandated local councils to have a quota of at least 30 percent women and guaranteed that in case a woman deputy is appointed to another position or steps down, the next female deputy on the list would receive the mandate. While quotas are a significant improvement, much more must be done to ensure that women in Kyrgyzstan can participate fully in political processes.
The Kyrgyz Republic has ratified more than 50 international covenants, some of which are directly related to women’s rights and gender equality, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform for Action on Advancement of Women’s Rights.
The beginning of the women’s movement in the country can be traced back to 1995 when a group of Kyrgyz women attended the Beijing World Conference on Women for the first time and the various government programs in the later years. Following the country’s first national program “Ayalzat,” which was dedicated to improving women’s status in the country, the government also adopted two national strategies for achieving gender equality, from 2012-2020 and 2021- 2030.
Nonetheless, despite such a comprehensive legislative framework, ensuring that women are represented at various levels of society, that their legitimate interests are protected, and that their inherent human rights are realized, remain some of the country’s most pressing issues.
Particularly, the lack of commitment and political will on the part of the country to promote gender equality policies at all levels remains the most significant issue. It appears that a very robust and active civil society is the driving force behind advocating for and shaping improvements in legislation concerning women’s rights, domestic violence, and other issues, as well as better public policies related to gender equality. While international organizations, civil society, and gender experts make valuable contributions to the development of national strategies, national action plans, and gender policies, the government just adopts gender equality-related documents to appease the international community or to at least partially get recognition, without committing to their actual implementation.
Examining the Present State: Pertinence and Patterns Worldwide and in Kyrgyzstan
While representing half of the world’s population, women are underrepresented at all levels of decision-making globally, according to UN Women statistics. As of January 1, 2023, Data from 136 countries show that only 34 women serve as heads of state or government in 31 different countries. Only six countries have 50% or more women in single or lower houses of parliament, and only 23 have reached or exceeded 40%. Since 1995, when it was 11%, global female participation in parliament has only reached 26.5%. Data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union shows that well-designed quota policies have been crucial in increasing women’s political involvement, and currently, quota policies are in place in over 130 countries, with the number rising.
In the regional context, two out of the five Central Asian countries, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, each have a 30 percent gender quota for parliamentary elections. While the percentage of women in the parliament of the Uzbakistan has increased, the number of women in Kyrgyzstan’s Jogorku Kenesh is still below the quota. As of April 2021, approximately 32% of seats in the Oliy Majlis in Uzbekistan are held by women, compared to only 19 women (21.1%) serving in the Kyrgyz parliament. Luckily with the introduction of quotas to local level councils, this time Kyrgyzstan could increase the number of women from 11% to 38% accroding to CEC data.
However, the existing tendency indicates that it will take another 130 years to achieve gender equality in the highest positions of power and another 46 years to reach gender parity in parliaments globally.
In the country context, despite an increase in the overall percentage of women in 2021 in parliament (from 15,8% to 21.11%) and local councils (from 11% to 38%), both institutional and informal barriers to female leadership in Kyrgyzstan remain strong. Patriarchal values and traditional gender roles pervade many facets of contemporary Kyrgyzstani society, rendering women less capable than men in exercising authority and building experience in the public sphere. As of August 2022, only two women ministers serve among the Cabinet of Ministers’ 21 members. There are only 19 women MPs among 90 parliamentarians. Not a single woman is present among 40 hakims (district heads), or the President’s seven regional plenipotentiary representatives. On a policy level, only three out of 21 political parties standing in the 2021 elections mentioned gender-sensitive initiatives, with the rest being gender-blind pre-election party platforms. Only two political parties were led by women.
In Kyrgyzstan, strong female leaders and women-led civil society organizations have led to meaningful improvements, and let us list few of them. Among the main achievements in the recent years are the changes to the Kyrgyz Law on Domestic Violence and gender quotas in the electoral law. Women parliamentarians also played a crucial role in promoting and leading the final approval of legislation toughening the penalty for the widely practiced bride-kidnapping custom in 2013. The adoption of the domestic violence law in 2017 was pushed by women in decision-making processes, along with civil society, and also marked a significant step for the country, with specific provisions strengthening police and judicial response and improving protections for victims of domestic violence. Women’s representation in parliament has also resulted in the discussion of previously taboo topics such as harassment against women. In 2018, Elvira Syrabaldieva initiated a bill for legal regulations against sexual harassment and other forms of harassment in Kyrgyz society, which also worth to mention. Additionally, there are numerous other women-led initiatives that have been raised and effectively resolved by female leaders and officials on both the local and national levels. Thus, all of the preceding shed light on the positive effect and outcomes of having women’s voice and perspectives at various levels of society and branches of the state.
Gender Quotas: Obstacles or Advantages?
Following the passage of legislation requiring gender quotas, many international organizations, civil society organizations, and gender experts and activists initiated so-called ‘Leadership schools’ for female candidates and leaders. One of the primary goals of such schools was to increase awareness about quotas, what they entail as well as to prepare women to run for office. While there are many distinct quota types, these days most countries use the following three main categories: 1: Reserved seats (constitutional and/or legislative), 2: Legal candidate quotas (constitutional and/or legislative), and 3: Political party quotas (voluntary). The first quota system is mandated by national legislation and typically requires that women constitute a certain percentage of legislative candidates or fill a certain number of legislative seats. The next two quota types that apply to candidates generally establish a minimum for the proportion of women on the candidate lists, either as a result of a legal requirement (type 2) or a provision included in the party-specific statutes (type 3). In Kyrgyzstan, at least two of the aforementioned quota types are being applied, and women are already more numerous than ever among the council members of local governments.
However, women face several difficulties on their path to becoming political leaders. In Kyrgyzstan, data is available on the actual number of women occupying various political and administrative positions, but prior to the current OSCE Study, no specific focus was given to data on violence against women in politics (hereinafter VAWP). VAWP is prevalent, with “an extremely high prevalence of sexual harassment of female politicians, with 97% of all respondents reporting that they are aware of such cases, and in nearly a third of cases, women have directly experienced threats as a form of psychological violence”.
Moreover, despite making it to the position of deputy in local councils, women leaders still face significant challenges in effectively performing their public duties. Among the primary obstacles are the lack of ‘soft skills’ as community leaders (i.e., leadership, argumentation, and public speaking skills), as well as a deficiency in the theoretical knowledge of legislation and its implementation. Additionally, factors such as limited professional competence, lack of self-confidence, and restrictive social norms, particularly in rural areas, further impede their progress. As a result, local Kyrgyzstani women leaders struggle to fill gaps in their knowledge and leadership abilities, which hinders their ability to effectively and confidently serve their four-year terms.
All of the abovementioned problems indicate that while quotas contribute to increasing the representation of women in politics, more efforts might be necessary to achieve quality participation of women in decision-making processes and public life as well as the long-term sustainability of results.
Challenges to Women’s Political Advancement
Despite accomplishments, VAWP, as well as a lack of leadership skills and the “glass ceiling,” impede women’s paths to leadership positions or representation in politics. As previously stated, women are underrepresented at both the national and local levels. While only a few of them are represented among the Cabinet of Ministers’ 21 members, there is not a single woman among the 40 hakims (district leaders) or the President’s 7 regional Plenipotentiary Representatives. There are no women among the country’s 32 mayors of cities and towns. Despite the large number of women employed in local self-governments, only 22 of 452 municipalities in the country are led by women (heads of municipalities).
The aforementioned statistics only serve to highlight the face of Kyrgyz politics. While the active movement of women countrywide shows that women do not give up and are eager to take on active leadership roles and hold significant leadership positions, when they reach certain levels, the “glass ceiling” causes them to be held back. The current system of parliamentary elections in the country has led to a lack of representation for women in leadership roles. The law on the election of the president and deputies to the Jogorku Kenesh only requires a quota for party lists, but not for single-member district elections. This means that political parties may include women on their lists to comply with legal requirements but do not necessarily make an effort to ensure gender-sensitive pre-election initiatives or future work as legislators.
Additionally, there is no quota system in place for the appointment of women to governmental and municipal positions. The most obvious imbalance in the representation of women and men can be seen at the political position level, where the percentage of women was only 24.3%, whereas the percentage of women at the administrative position level was higher, at 39.9% as of January 1, 2021. Under the current strict requirements stated in the Law on Local State Administration and Local Self-Government Bodies for the potential candidates to run for the office, it is nearly impossible to ensure representation of women in leadership positions since the law deliberately “excludes” women from being mayors or the head of a municipality.
However, there is hope for the future. The National Strategy and Action Plan (NAP) for the Advancement of Gender Equality in the Country by 2030 includes a goal of promoting gender parity in decision-making and increasing women’s political participation. The 2022-2024 NAP includes measures to ensure gender parity in state administrative and municipal positions, with a goal of developing special measures, including quotas. These efforts could lead to a more equitable representation of women in leadership roles in the future.
Recommendations: Looking to 2025
To improve the situation for the upcoming elections in 2025, several measures should be taken to promote gender equality in political and administrative positions. Some of the recommendations are:
- Conduct a gender analysis of political state and municipal posts, and administrative state and municipal positions to identify areas where women are underrepresented and take measures to rectify the situation.
- Reconsider and/or eliminate the requirements for hiring women as heads of AOs and local state administration, which currently limit women’s eligibility for these positions.
- Establish a 30% female quota for the selection of leaders of local self-governments and leaders of local government administrations, and ensure that the quota is followed).
- Establish a personnel reserve in the state and municipal service in accordance with the principles of the state’s gender policy to provide opportunities for women to advance in their careers.
- Analyze the recent experience of women in the electoral process, both at the national and municipal levels, to identify the obstacles to their political participation and take steps to remove them.
- Assist women who have been elected to the parliament and local councils in developing their skills and demonstrating effective leadership in front of their constituents.
- Promote a more positive perception of women in politics through accessible and diverse social media.
- Determine the obstacles to women’s political participation by analyzing previous female participation in the national and local level election processes.
- Ensure that women are adequately prepared for the upcoming elections, which will take place in 2025, by providing them with training and resources to campaign effectively.
- Introduce national-level policy incentives for political parties to engage more women in the nomination and electoral process.
It is important to recognize that systemic, structural, and cultural norms can restrict women’s rights in decision-making processes. Therefore, it is crucial to address these issues to create a more gender-sensitive and inclusive political environment. By taking these steps, it is possible to ensure that women have equal opportunities to participate in politics and play a more significant role in decision-making processes.