The development of women’s expert opinion in the countries of Central Asia was discussed by experts from the four countries of the region during an analytical discussion organized by CABAR.asia.
From Kazakhstan Dinara Yegheubaeva, a well-known journalist in Kazakhstan, who actively covered the January 2022 events. In January 2023, Dinara and her son came under severe pressure for their reporting from Ukraine. Together with her like-minded activists and journalists, who created the Altynshy kantar bloc, she participated in the elections to the parliament of Kazakhstan. Kyrgyzstan was represented by Chinara Esengul and Tatuuby Ergeshbaeva. Chinara Esengul leads the PeaceNexus Foundation of Central Asia, which works to develop initiatives to strengthen cooperation and peacebuilding in the region. Tattuuby Ergeshbaeva, director of the Tandem Community of Lawyers, an organization that develops an expert and analytical platform to uphold the rule of law in Kyrgyzstan. From Tajikistan, they were Hiromon Bakozoda, a journalist on the Tajik service of Radio Liberty (Ozodi), in Prague and Nisso Rasulova, a blogger, civic activist and gender expert who has been actively engaged in women and girls’ rights for eight years. From Uzbekistan, media expert Lola Islamova, editor-in-chief of the Anhor.uz news and analysis website, participated in the discussion.
During the discussion, the experts talked about how gender stereotypes about women affect the development of women’s expert opinion in their countries. They discussed the situation in the Central Asian countries and talked about why women do not want to speak out publicly and why, if they do speak out actively, they are subjected to pressure, bullying, trolling on social networks, and physical abuse.
Most of them believe that in authoritarian countries pressure is put on all critics and dissenters, regardless of gender, but pressure on women who are not afraid to speak out boldly and openly often takes the form of gender-related aggression.
Dinara Yegeubaeva said that in Kazakhstan the situation with freedom of speech is deteriorating. She noted that now the country is considering a bill on the media, initiated by the Ministry of Information and Social Development of Kazakhstan, which suggests increasing control over journalists and bloggers.
“In brief, they want to introduce, just full censorship. And this censorship will apply not only to journalists but also to bloggers,” she said.
Yegheubayeva spoke about how and by what methods Kazakh journalists have been pressured lately.
She herself faced harsh pressure for her critical articles and civil stance. In addition to investigating the suppression of the January 2022 protests in Kazakhstan, she also covers events in Ukraine, as well as almost every important political events, elections, etc.
“I’m not the only one, I’m just talking about myself as an example, but I have one of the strongest cases. Other journalists had their doors kicked in, also two cars burned, liver, kidneys, and some raw meat with pictures of her children. Another journalist, who was also kicked in the door, was sent a tombstone. Another newsroom had its windows broken. And that was a lot of times. The investigation is underway, the Interior Ministry is reporting, but so far there are no results apart from the perpetrators. We are under very strong pressure,” she said.
She herself began to feel the strong pressure in September, when she returned from Ukraine. First came the massive attacks of bots. Then, closer already to the presidential election, they taped up her car windshield wipers, taped up her doors and flattened the tire of her car. The police the very next day detained the perpetrator, an 18-year-old boy who had no idea who the client was. He received all the orders through the telegram channel and also received the money anonymously, Yegheubaeva said.
“I just want to emphasize that, in fact, the space of freedom that we have now, which may seem like a political reform, it all happens thanks to the courage of those journalists who are not afraid to raise sensitive issues. … And we’re trying to hold on to it now. But we’re paying for it. We pay with our health, our safety, our property,” she said.
Despite the fact that the Ministry of Internal Affairs reports that the investigation is underway, apart from the perpetrators, there are no more results. Yegheubaeva believes that the objective was precisely to intimidate journalists.
“Every time something happens to journalists here, it is clear that the threat is aimed not only at this journalist personally, but at the entire media community and civil society too,” she said.
She stressed that journalists in Kazakhstan have not faced this kind of pressure in a very long time, since the early 2000s, when the editorial board of the newspaper “Respublika” was subjected to the same pressure.
Chinara Esengul noted that despite the fact that Kyrgyzstan is still considered by some experts and analysts to be a non-authoritarian system, nevertheless, after the well-known October events in 2020 and the changes in the Constitution, many domestic experts admit that the country has returned to the club of Central Asian authoritarian regimes.
The Kyrgyz expert noted that where there is an authoritarian government, the pressure on alternative opinion, on critical journalists, civil activists, and on people who are not indifferent to the country’s future is increasing.
“Those who are now imprisoned on the Campirabad case, they are of a different nature, there are lawyers, there are people who have been in big politics, there are civil society activists among them. That is, this is a diverse category of people. So we cannot say that the pressure is only on journalists, this is quite a wide spectrum, in my opinion. Really very interesting question, why exactly women were so active, and it is in relation to them, despite some traditionalism of our society, that is, they are mothers, wives, but they were treated so harshly, “- she said.
Chinara Esengul said that the first “calls” that the system in Kyrgyzstan was changing were happening in 2020.
She noted a number of key problems in the development of expert opinion in Kyrgyzstan. The presence of “on-duty experts”, usually pro-government people who already know in advance what to say and speak with pleasure. And also the presence of experts who speak out on all issues, even if they are not experts on these issues.
In addition, the expert noted the decline in the general level of education of the population in the country, which leads to the fact that experts have to simplify their level.
She also said that she observes, in general, women in Kyrgyzstan historically have a higher level of principle, so they are not afraid to speak out, even though they are persecuted and pressured for doing so.
“We have, unfortunately, even [when] some women in parliament speak openly, and in this case it is depressing that the male part of the same parliament, they can directly stand up and go into demarche, showing how much they do not want to listen to what a woman MP openly wants to say. This was brazenly and blatantly going on after the October events. Overall, I want to say that the general level of education in the masses has fallen. The second thing is integrity. Because of the fact that the principled nature of politicians, who make decisions, has already been relegated to a very distant plane, because they are only interested in narrow interests and they have a very short political period. So no one wants to fight for the truth, for the truth, except women. And women by their nature, apparently, this is my explanation – the only thing, we think more strategically and understand that further will only get worse if this is not changed, “- she Chinara Esengul.
Tattuububu Ergeshbaeva also noted that now in Kyrgyzstan the space for citizen participation in the decision-making process is noticeably narrowed. Among other reasons, she attributes this to the reduction of the policy of multi-vector state in favor of the influence of the Russian Federation.
“I can answer that this very factor is related to the reduction of multi-vector policy of the Kyrgyz Republic in favor of the Russian Federation. It has to do with the fact that, first of all, it is a political field, and secondly, we ourselves do not have much military-defense, economic and social sovereignty,” she said.
Noting the importance of adhering to a policy of multi-vectorism, which is spelled out in the country’s development program until 2026, Ergeshbaeva stressed the need to give voice to citizens. However, even men in the country are now afraid to speak out about it.
“I want to point out to you, that on this direction and the need for multi-vectorism, except for women, our men are silent. In the country right now, the issue of multi-vectorism is being swept up only by the expert environment. Even politicians are afraid to touch it. I want to say openly, everyone, even the deputies, hope that the experts and civil activists will pull out this issue, and they will get involved and vote in parliament,” said Tatuubyu Ergeshbaeva.
Hiromon Bakozoda, a journalist with the Tajik service of Radio Liberty-Ozodi, also noted that in Tajikistan, too, freedom of speech is severely restricted, so it is becoming increasingly difficult to get comments not only from women, but also from those experts who have spoken boldly and openly on the country’s pressing problems.
“Even those experts whose names are known precisely because of their courage, openness, progressive opinions, they too are being clamped down and shut down somewhere. They have already started to openly tell the staff of Radio Ozodi about this. And this is very sad,” she said.
On the positive side, she noted that after the countries of the region gained independence, with the development of freedom of speech, everyone began to actively work with the topic of expert opinion and know that it is useful and necessary.
“I am pleased that thanks to the development of the non-governmental sector in Tajikistan and in other countries we have heard the names of women who have declared themselves as experts in gender law, jurisprudence, in the field of politics, on migration issues. This is very pleasant,” said Hiromon Bakozoda.
However, she recounted two cases in which progressive women who interviewed her and expressed their positions on certain issues related to gender equality were subjected to severe pressure on social media.
“These threats were even related to the fact that she didn’t look right, that she had a short haircut, that she should be killed. She was saying that openly. And we gave this interview, I mean, she hasn’t retracted her words, she will never retract them. Moreover, she will always promote the theme of women’s independence and supporting the role of women. […] And there are a lot of cases like that. I want to say that despite this, we must, as journalists in any case, all the time try to give a platform to our women, to those who have an opinion. We have to give a microphone to these women, we have to support them,” she said.
Another Tajik expert, Niso Rasulova, spoke about the pressure she faces for her position on gender equality and the development of feminism in her country.
“Actually, it’s hard to talk about everything in Tajikistan when you’re a woman. Just by definition, exactly. Already on some side you are perceived with such a note of condescension, let’s say. Because of the fact that women have “hormones”, because of the fact that women have shifting moods, “on certain days” she cannot be objective. Regarding my cases, yes, I have been threatened, I have been taken away, I have been written to and called, asked nicely, asked badly, to stop and stop talking about it. “You should not spoil a Tajik girl” and so on,” said Nisso Rasulova.
According to Nisso Rasulova, the situation in Tajikistan is changing now. Many schools and courses on gender development have appeared, there are courses on journalism, on how to interview people who have been subjected to violence. And even with the pressure that is put on women experts, especially in social networks, most of them continue to speak up and speak out.
In Uzbekistan, despite the fact that now intensively promotes gender equality, various commissions and organizations are created to support women, morally and financially, in general, the situation in relation to women is not different from neighboring countries, said Lola Islamova.
A big problem in the expert community and, in general, with female professionals is that the general level of education among women is very low, she believes. In addition, the local mentality and generally accepted values, when a woman is “only a housewife in the house, only gives birth, only in the kitchen” – this, of course, greatly hinders the development of the expert community.
Pseudo-religious, patriarchal views, as well as the fear of female experts expressing their opinions without the approval of their superiors and losing their jobs in state bodies, also hinder the development of a female expert opinion, she believes.
“Women, the female experts we have now – they’re very educated, they’re very brave. When I asked one man who was looking for a woman to work on a project what the requirements were, he said that ideally, it was a divorced woman with two children. Why? Because, she understands that she needs to develop, she needs to earn. And she’s motivated. But here are these traditional values, which overlap, they very much interfere with the development of a woman, “- said Lola Islamova.
Recommendations:
All female experts believe that the expert community should be supported. It is necessary to join forces and provide women with platforms to speak.
“It is necessary what we said. For example, our project “Do not be silent” in Uzbekistan… they take part in it now, and it is an ordinary project, it is a non-governmental organization, but this project made the government look at domestic violence with completely different eyes”, – said Lola Islamova.
“A woman who goes against the arbitrariness that occurs in relation to society and women, yes, probably, it is necessary to be divorced and, maybe, without children. One should be as free of pain points as possible. … You need to answer the question: to what limit are you ready to go?”, – said Dinara Yegheubaeva.
Chinara Esengul advises to be wise and patient.
“I, as an analyst, want to advise and suggest that you cannot go with a crowbar against such a system, which is called an authoritarian regime and traditional society. If you are not in time, then when society is not yet ready, and the regime is not yet ready to discuss it, then you have to go gradually, in small steps. … My main recommendation is that you have to tune in for the long game,” Chinara Esengul said.
Tattuububu Ergeshbaeva believes that both journalists and experts should be more objective and cover events without using subjective opinions, to show the advantages of all sides.
“… Today it is necessary to strengthen the expert center. Show alternative sources, too. It is important to consolidate women at all levels. I am very glad that such platforms are growing. I, for my part, am ready to get involved and I think that such platforms should be strengthened,” she said.
Hiromon Bakozoda believes women’s economic education should be supported.
“If a woman is economically independent, if she has access to personal funds, when she has the right to decide for herself, a lot can change. …
Support for women’s entrepreneurship, support for business women, this should be an integral part of the very topic of support for equality. That should be thought about in the echelons of power, because in this way, several problems for the state itself are also solved, “- she said.
Nisso Rasulzoda recommended, first of all, to adhere to the National Strategy adopted by the state.
As per her words: “Gender equality is one of them, and we, as parties to the convention, should adhere to these strategies. … I would very much like to see the women’s expert community develop. It’s very important that women support each other”.