Female surname first appeared on the list of candidates during the first ‘post-Nazarbayev’ presidential election of 2019. Daniya Yespayeva was the first in the history of sovereign Kazakhstan to run for the key executive post in the country. Does it mean that the second president of Kazakhstan, Tokayev, has changed the gender-based vector in the domestic policy?
No one would probably link the appearance of a particular candidate on the list to the work of the current president in more democratic countries. But in Kazakhstan, where the power of the head of state is strong enough and he determines the political agenda, few doubt that the list of presidential candidates is agreed ‘at the highest level’. Therefore, CABAR.asia wonders if Yespayeva’s presence on the 2019 list of candidates, and of two more female candidates (Saltanat Tursynbekova, Karakat Abden) on the 2022 list of presidential candidates show the ‘pro-feminist’ policy of Tokayev. Is he different in this regard from his predecessor – Nursultan Nazarbayev?
Significant women
In the government (major executive body dependent on the president) of Kazakhstan, the proportion of female ministers varied within 10-12 per cent in 2000 to 2022. Representation of women in the cabinet of ministers did not differ much between two presidents: in the period of Nazarbayev, from 2000 to 2019, there were 12.3 per cent of female ministers from the total number of ministers, in the period of Tokayev, from 2019 to 2023, there were even less women, 10.9 per cent.
If we look at the number of akim of regions (heads of critically important administrative-territorial divisions in unitary Kazakhstan), Tokayev has ‘won’ here. In 2020, he appointed the first woman in the history of sovereign Kazakhstan, Gulshara Abdykalikova, as akim of Kyzylorda region.
In the end of 2022, Tokayev made another first-ever appointment: Elvira Azimova became the head of the Constitutional Court (the successor structure of the Constitutional Council) according to the president’s decree.
However, Nazarbayev appointed the above-mentioned Gulshara Abdykalikova as state secretary (2014-2019). She was the first woman in this position. Natalia Godunova became the first woman to chair the Accounts Committee in 2018, at the suggestion of Nazarbayev. It should be mentioned that she still holds this significant office.
Dariga Nazarbayeva, the eldest daughter of Nazarbayev, was the first female speaker of the Senate (Upper Chamber of Parliament). She received this status on March 20, 2019, the next day after her father resigned from presidency, and Tokayev became the acting head of state.
As the Speaker of Senate is the first to take office of the president in case of the incumbent president’s resignation or death, many people believed that Dariga Nazarbayeva would lead Kazakhstan after the ‘transit president’ Tokayev. Moreover, Dariga was the only daughter of ex-president who showed political ambitions. For example, she established her own party ‘Asar’ in 2003. Nazarbayev himself did not exclude that a woman could lead the country.
However, no ‘feminist breakthrough’ happened: in May 2020, Tokayev terminated the powers of deputy Dariga Nazarbayeva and she automatically lost her office of the speaker of Senate, and then she disappeared from the political scene of Kazakhstan. However, it was not related to gender, it was just an evidence of the Nazarbayevs’ losing their influence in the country.
Another society
The staff policy of presidents is affected by some factors, said Sabina Sadieva, expert in public policy. First, leadership styles – Nazarbayev and Tokayev have different styles.
“Nazarbayev is charismatic, while Tokayev is legist. So, Tokayev relies on the system, i.e. whom he appoints, what principles he uses when appointing,” said Sadieva.
She reminded about another key factor: the changed Kazakhstan society.
“The periods of coming to power of Nazarbayev and Tokayev were absolutely different, and the society was also different. When Nazarbayev was younger and more straightforward, he was not much biased against women,” the expert said. “But is our society prepared to promote women to such offices? It’s a big question.”
Gulmira Ileuova, president of the Centre for Social and Political Studies ‘Strategy’, agrees that during Nazarbayev’s ruling the society was not prepared to active participation of women in politics. Moreover, some regions, where traditional views prevail, still have a negative attitude towards women’s roles as managers. She mentioned Gulshara Abdykalikova. She was negatively taken as akim of Kyzylorda region, whose residents have traditional views on gender roles.
Moreover, Sabina Sadieva feels confident that there was no real female presidential candidate in Kazakhstan.
“I don’t think Daniya Yespayeva was a real candidate. I don’t think that Karakat Abden (during the election campaign, Abden said that a tax on marriage with foreigners must be imposed on Kazakh women – Editor’s note) can be really taken seriously,” Sadieva said.
The expert does not believe that the candidacy of Saltanat Tursynbekova can be a serious bid for presidential office.
“A short answer to the question of why there were no female candidates in the time of Nazarbayev and why they appeared in the time of Tokayev is that we did not have even male candidates, not to speak of female candidates (during all presidential elections, political analysts specified the fake status of other candidates, who played into the hands of candidate Nazarbayev by their comic or passive behaviour – Editor’s note). We will see a real female candidate in the next round of elections, when there will be no Tokayev,” Sadieva said.
What a specialist!
Another factor affecting the presence or absence of women in high executive offices is the quality of the staff.
“We need to understand that Nazarbayev had quite different staff situation when he formed the civil service. And during the presidency of Tokayev the situation changed. Many female chiefs, leaders have been raised in our civil service,” Sadieva said.
One more point is the number of staff. According to Sadieva, the presidency of Tokayev came in the period of political transition and he started to change many things, including staff.
“We can be guided by Tokayev’s speech, when he said that he had a short reserve bench. It means that he does not have much of a choice and if there’s any female candidate, he’d rather appoint her,” the expert said.
To have more women participating in management, there should be more quotas on distribution of deputy mandates in the lower chamber of parliament.
“Assignment of quotas is a very strong instrument to promote women. This is a positive discrimination,” Sadieva said. However, according to the expert, this quota was not accomplished. Thus, the 30 per cent quota includes not only women, but also young people and persons with disabilities. In other words, if 30 per cent quota is not filled with women, the rest is taken from other categories of citizens.The rule on 30 per cent of women to be present in the board of directors of state-owned companies was a significant moment.
“When companies need to fill the 30 per cent, they start looking for women, promote them and raise them. It has a good impact on the career track. So, we can say that this process is on (the growing number of women in management – Editor’s note), and it is obviously dynamic,” Sadieva said.
According to her, if Kazakhstan wants to be a developed country, it has to have women in management.
“It’s an exaggeration, but this is how it works,” Sabina Sadieva said.
Main photo: akorda.kz