Deteriorating situation for women in Central Asia
Working more and earning less, carrying the weight of the family on their shoulders and trapped in their role: The fate of women in Central Asia
04.02.2026
Article published on the azattyqasia.org website
The high level of education among women in Central Asia is not leading to economic independence or political influence. According to researchers, this is due to deep-rooted structural barriers, patriarchal attitudes and discriminatory practices.
In the latest World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index, four Central Asian countries (Turkmenistan is not included in the analysis) are near the bottom of the rankings. All of them, without exception, have lost ground over the past year. Kazakhstan has performed particularly badly, falling from 76th to 92nd place. Kyrgyzstan has dropped from 90th to 95th, Uzbekistan from 108th to 110th and Tajikistan from 112th to 129th out of a total of 148 countries.
Kazakhstan’s “failure” is mainly down to a marked deterioration in economic participation and education factors. In terms of political rights and opportunities, Kazakhstani women continue to lag far behind men. According to the Index’s compilers, the discrepancy between income and pay for jobs equivalent to those held by men has widened, while the number of women in ministerial positions has decreased.
Meanwhile, women continue to devote three times more time to housework than men. In real terms, this amounts to about four and a half hours per day, compared to one and a half for men.
According to the World Bank, if women in the region worked and earned the same as men, national income would increase by between 27% in Kazakhstan and 63% in Tajikistan. Eliminating the gender pay gap in Uzbekistan would lift 700,000 people out of poverty.
Economic participation has declined in Kyrgyzstan. Income gaps have widened and fewer women are occupying senior positions.
Unemployment among women is rising (4.42% in 2024, compared to 6.17% last year), while the rate for men, by contrast, has fallen by 0.1%. The number of women in the information technology sector has also declined, while the proportion of companies that have female CEOs has decreased significantly (from nearly 33% to 21.7%).
The economy was also the main reason for Uzbekistan’s fall in the Index ratings due to the widening gap in pay for equal work and overall income. Although the number of firms in which women have a controlling stake has increased, there has been a fall in the proportion of women in senior positions.
In Tajikistan, the country with the worst performance indicators in the region, all, apart from the political ones, have declined. There are fewer women working or looking for work in the country compared to 2024. Girls are less likely to be enrolled in primary schools than boys, with the gap widening from 1.64% to 8.05%. Furthermore, the gap in university admissions has also narrowed.
In all Central Asian countries, the biggest gender gap is in the political sphere, with far fewer women MPs and female ministers than men. The only country to meet the UN’s target of 30% of women in parliament is Uzbekistan (38% in their legislative chamber), although it is the worst for the number of women holding ministerial portfolios – only 4.76%. The best performing countries in this regard are Kazakhstan (14.49%) and Tajikistan (14.29%).
Experts note that while 55% of civil servants in Kazakhstan are women, only 39% hold senior managerial positions, and less that 10% are represented at high executive level.
These data are confirmed by other studies, which show that Central Asian women are mainly employed in low-paid sectors of the economy, are forced to combine work with raising children and running the household, as well as subject to employment discrimination, domestic violence and other examples of gender inequality.
“Women are expected to be at a lower level than men”
The decline in the Index ratings comes amid official declarations of commitment to gender equality. Countries in the region have ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), adopted national strategies and established expert agencies. Despite all this, the gap between good intentions and reality continues to grow.
According to Karlygash Kabatova, researcher and founder of the education project UyatEmes.kz, inequality exists at both the State and everyday levels.
“In order to explain gender inequality in Central Asia, I think we need to talk less about traditions and more of the region’s social culture where most people expect others to adhere to clearly defined gender roles, where violence against women is tolerated and justified, and where the unequal burden on women looking after the home, children and family is the norm. The general expectation is that women should be at a lower level than men, with men being the breadwinners and decision-makers”, said the researcher.
An example of this is the practice of giving girls’ names that reflect the wish for a son. Kazakhs have numerous girls’ names associated with expecting a boy. Thousands of women and girls in the country have names such as Ulzhan (“the soul of a boy”), Ulbolsyn (let it be a boy”), Ulmeken (“a boy’s home”), Ulkayda (“where the boy is”), and Bekertugan (“born in vain”).
Another is how daughters-in-law are perceived. On the Threads social network, hundreds of women share stories about daily life as a daughter-in-law (kelin) in a traditional Central Asian family, and on TikTok, a Kyrgyz woman writes a blog in which she talks about rising at 4am to get everything ready for the arrival of her mother-in-law’s guests. These women are often living in a humiliating and violent domestic environment.
“Daughters-in-law are stigmatised, unsupported and afraid to speak out. In traditional families, parents say: be patient, kazim (daughter/girl) otherwise you will bring uyat (shame, disgrace) if you return home. Believe me, we have much worse stories about daughters-in-law than this I’m afraid”, writes one social media user in response to a post asking how Uzbek kelins live.
It’s a similar picture in Tajikistan. According to a survey conducted by Oxfam, 97% of men and 72% of women in the country believe that women “should put up with violence” in order to keep the family together. The study stated that violence against women is mainly committed by husbands/partners, mothers-in-law and other relatives.
Karlybash Kabatova explained that Central Asian women have been experiencing gender discrimination since childhood which is why even educated women don’t earn as much as men and are less likely to hold high-level positions.
“Parents may not forbid girls from studying and pursuing a career, but they are still expected to do more in the home than boys, particularly in urban environments. This is the cumulative effect of seemingly insignificant daily decisions which have an impact on the lives of men and women”, said the researcher.
“No-one judges a boy if he plays football with his friends or goes to a computer club, but a girl will be punished if she hasn’t done her household chores. Of course, this is a generalisation as not all families are the same. The composition of the family and where they live in the country are important factors, as the strictness of gender roles varies: for example, between south and north Kazakhstan”, said Kabatova.
The researcher also said that due to the significant difference in the amount of time they spend on household chores, girls may not be able to pursue further education opportunities or realise their ambitions. After completing their schooling, including higher education, women face social pressure and are left with a choice: continue with their studies, get married, build a career or have a child.
Domestic violence and the view of the State
All Central Asian countries have adopted national strategies and legislation to ensure gender equality, but implementation has remained largely ineffective.
In their work on the strategies over the past two years, Central Asian countries (except Turkmenistan) have, to varying degrees, increased penalties for domestic violence, whose victims are mainly women.
Criminal prosecutions for domestic violence had been in place in Kazakhstan up until 2017 but these were then scrapped and replaced by a system of fines for assault. A legislative review was conducted in the aftermath of the high-profile murder of Saltanat Nukenova, the common-law wife of the former Economy Minister Kuandyk Bishimbayev. The young woman died from traumatic brain injuries in the VIP room of the Bishimbayev family restaurant. The crime shook the nation, with human rights activists claiming that abusers go unpunished while women suffer violence. The trial, which was broadcast on YouTube, was followed closely and not just in Kazakhstan, after which Bishimbayev was given a 24-year prison sentence.
Following Bishimbayev’s trial, the country adopted legislative changes criminalising domestic violence known as Saltanat’s Law. Critics say that although the law treats beatings as criminal offences, the punishment for these crimes remains minimal and is limited to 50 days administrative arrest.
In Tajikistan, there are plans to include a clause on domestic violence in the new criminal code, the draft of which has been under consideration since 2024. If adopted in its current form, systematic beatings of a family member that results in moderate harm to health will be punishable by hard labour, or a one-year prison sentence, or fines of $1,503.
Even with tougher penalties, experts say that laws are ineffective due to the deeply ingrained culture of tolerance and strong patriarchal traditions.
“It is too early to say whether the legislation is actually working. If people, including law enforcement officers, are convinced that women are to blame for assaults, beatings, rapes, kidnapping and stalking, then eyewitnesses to violence will continue to turn a blind eye and police officers will ignore women’s complaints and persuade them to withdraw their reports of assault”, said Kabatova.
When considering what needs to be done to achieve gender equality, Governments often mention quotas. These exist in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, although gender policy has been criticised in Uzbekistan. After discussing Uzbekistan’s 2030 strategy, Irina Matvienko, founder of the anti-violence NeMolchi.uz project, said that gender-sensitive indicators hadn’t been included, which means that women would “once again be excluded from reforms to the system”.
“The current draft of the strategy envisages an economy that doesn’t take account of daily life. It includes export and economic indicators but doesn’t address the issue of who looks after the children, or why women are not pursuing a science career. For the strategy to protect the interests of all the population, not just the male half, we need to stop burying gender inequality in a separate section or department for the sake of appearances. Each indicator must consider the interests of both halves of society and be gender-sensitive. Otherwise, we will all be back here again in five years’ time, wondering why reforms are stalling and why only half the country’s economic potential is being realised”, said Matvienko.
In Kazakhstan, the quota is mixed – women, young people and those with disabilities can be included in a single quota on a party’s pre-election list.
“Women make up half the population in almost every country. So it would be logical if half of the decision-makers representing the entire country were women too. The underrepresentation of women in power is one of the root causes of the epidemic of violence being perpetrated against women in Central Asia”, said Karlygash Kabatova.
