Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T07:12:35.109Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Women in Kyrgyzstan—Electorally Marginalized but Legislatively Influential: A Theory of Transactional Activism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 May 2021

Michele E. Commercio Open the ORCID record for Michele E. Commercio [Opens in a new window]
Michele E. Commercio*
Affiliation:
University of Vermont
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

How can we understand the signing of legislation targeting violence against women in postcommunist countries where women are electorally marginalized? Although women are underrepresented in Kyrgyzstan, the country's parliament has passed bride theft and domestic violence legislation. This article proposes a theory of transactional activism: in postcommunist countries where women are electorally marginalized, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) can instigate legislative change if the state satisfies three necessary conditions permitting lateral links between NGOs working on behalf of women and vertical links between these nonstate actors and critical actors in parliament. The state must (1) establish a regulatory framework for NGO activity permitting the articulation and representation of women's interests; (2) demonstrate a rhetorical commitment to improving women's lives; and (3) facilitate the election to parliament of critical actors sympathetic to women's interests. In other words, women's substantive representation can occur without strong descriptive representation in the formal legislative arena if the state satisfies these conditions.

Keywords

Central AsiaKyrgyzstancivil societytransactional activismbride theftdomestic violencegender quotawomen and politics
Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , September 2022 , pp. 605 - 639
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Women, Gender, and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abdukhamimov, V. A., et al. 2014. Krazha nevest i mnogozhenstvo: sotsial'nye, pravovye i kriminologicheskie aspekty preduprezhdeniia [Bride theft and polygyny: Social, legal, and criminal aspects of prevention]. Bishkek: Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University. http://lib.krsu.edu.kg/uploads/files/public/5836.pdf (accessed October 6, 2020).Google Scholar
Abduvaitova, Aidana. 2017. “Aktivisty prosiat prezidenta podpisat’ zakon o zashchite ot semeinogo nasiliia” [Activists ask the president to sign a law on protection from family violence]. Vechernii Bishkek, April 18. http://www.vb.kg/358426 (accessed October 6, 2020).Google Scholar
Akylbekova, Aigerim. 2018. “V Bishkeke devushku pokhiteli dlia vstupleniia v brak i iznasilovali” [They kidnapped and raped a girl in Bishkek for marriage]. Radio Azattyk, June 14. https://rus.azattyk.org/a/kyrgyzstan-bishkek-kidnapping/29290660.html.Google Scholar
Anderson, John. 2000. “Creating a Framework for Civil Society in Kyrgyzstan.” Europe-Asia Studies 52 (1): 77–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beyer, Judith, and Kojoekova, Aijarkyn. 2019. “Women of Protest, Men of Applause: Political Activism, Gender and Tradition in Kyrgyzstan.” Central Asian Survey 38 (3): 329–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bingham, Natasha. 2016. “Fighting for Our Cause: The Impact of Women's NGOs on Gender Policy Adoption in Four Former Soviet Republics.” Politics & Policy 44 (2): 294–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borbieva, Noor O'Neill. 2012. “Empowering Muslim Women: Independent Religious Fellowships in the Kyrgyz Republic.” Slavic Review 71 (2): 288–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buxton, Charles. 2009. “NGO Networks in Central Asia and Global Civil Society: Potentials and Limitations.” Central Asian Survey 28 (1): 43–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Childress, Saltanat. 2018. “‘Plates and Dishes Smash; Married Couples Clash’: Cultural and Social Barriers to Help-Seeking among Women Domestic Violence Survivors in Kyrgyzstan.” Violence Against Women 24 (7): 775–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Childress, Saltanat, Gioia, Deborah, and Campbell, Jacquelyn C.. 2018. “Women's Strategies for Coping with the Impacts of Domestic Violence in Kyrgyzstan: A Grounded Theory Study.” Social Work in Health Care 57 (3): 164–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Childress, Saltanat, and Hanusa, Darald. 2018. “‘All the System Is Simply a Soap Bubble’: Legal Help-Seeing for Domestic Violence among Women in Kyrgyzstan.” Journal of Family Violence 33: 147–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Childs, Sarah, and Krook, Mona Lena. 2006. “Should Feminists Give Up on Critical Mass? A Contingent Yes.” Politics & Gender 2 (4): 523–30.Google Scholar
Clayton, Amanda. 2015. “Women's Political Engagement under Quota-Mandated Female Representation: Evidence From a Randomized Policy Experiment.” Comparative Political Studies 48 (3): 333–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, Terry, and Gallai, Sandor. 2014. “Civil Society and Policy Actors in Post-communist Hungary: Linkages and Contexts.” Perspectives on European Politics and Society 15 (1): 51–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, Terry, Ilonszki, Gabriella, and Vass, Laszlo. 2007. “State and Organized Interests in Post-Communist Hungarian Politics.” Perspectives on European Politics and Society 8 (2): 211–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahlerup, Drude. 1988. “From a Small to a Large Minority: Women in Scandinavian Politics.” Scandinavian Political Studies 11 (4): 275–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahlerup, Drude. 2006. “The Story of the Theory of Critical Mass.” Politics & Gender 2 (4): 511–22.Google Scholar
Dzhabrailova, Kamilla. 2016. “V Kyrgyzstane provodiat 16 dnei protiv nasiliia nad zhenshchinami” [In Kyrgyzstan, they are spending 16 days against violence against women]. Vechernii Bishkek, November 25. http://www.vb.kg/351020 (accessed October 6, 2020).Google Scholar
Dzhemasheva, Aida. 2014. “Eksperty razrabotali zakon ob okhrane i zashchite ot semeinogo nasiliia” [Experts have developed a law on protection from domestic violence]. Vechernii Bishkek, November 3. http://www.vb.kg/292167 (accessed October 6, 2020).Google Scholar
Engvall, Johan. 2014. “Why Are Public Offices Sold in Kyrgyzstan?” Post-Soviet Affairs 30 (1): 67–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erkebaeva, Aidai. 2018. “Miting protiv pokhishcheniiia devushek sobral ne bol'she 250 chelovek (muzhchin na nem pochti ne bylo). Kak eto bylo” [A meeting against bride theft gathered no more than 250 people (there were almost no men there)]. Kloop, June 9. https://kloop.kg/blog/2018/06/09/miting-protiv-pohishheniya-devushek-sobral-ne-bolshe-250-chelovek-muzhchin-na-nyom-pochti-ne-bylo-kak-eto-bylo/ (accessed October 6, 2020).Google Scholar
Evstratov, Anton. 2013. “Bolee poloviny zhenshchin Kirgizii podvergaiutsia nasiliiu” [More than half of Kyrgyzstan's women are subject to violence]. News-Asia, January 16. http://www.news-asia.ru/view/4133 (accessed October 6, 2020).Google Scholar
Fink-Hafner, Danica. 1997. “Interest Organizations in the Policy-Making Process.” In Making a New Nation: The Formation of Slovenia, eds. Fink-Hafner, Danica and Robbins, John R.. Aldershot: Dartmouth, 114–34.Google Scholar
Freizer, Sabine. 2005. “Neo-liberal and Communal Civil Society in Tajikistan: Merging or Dividing in the Post War Period?” Central Asian Survey 24 (3): 225–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbert, Leah. 2016. “Crowding Out Civil Society: State Management of Social Organisations in Putin's Russia.” Europe-Asia Studies 68 (9): 1553–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, Andrew T. 2002. “Comparative Development of Post-communist Civil Societies.” Europe-Asia Studies 54 (3): 455–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grimes, Marcia. 2013. “The Contingencies of Societal Accountability: Examining the Link Between Civil Society and Good Government.” Studies in Comparative International Development 48: 380–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Handrahan, Lori. 2004. “Hunting for Women: Bride-Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 6 (2): 207–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoare, Joanna Pares. 2016. “Doing Gender Activism in a Donor-Organized Framework: Constraints and Opportunities in Kyrgyzstan.” Nationalities Papers 44 (2): 281–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ibraeva, Gulnara, Moldosheva, Anara, and Niyazova, Anara. 2012. Kyrgyz Country Case Study. Washington, DC: World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9151 (accessed October 16, 2020).Google Scholar
Johnson, Janet Elise. 2014. “Pussy Riot as a Feminist Project: Russia's Gendered Informal Politics.” Nationalities Papers 42 (4): 583–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Janet Elise. 2016. “Fast-Tracked or Boxed In? Informal Politics, Gender, and Women's Representation in Putin's Russia.” Perspectives on Politics 14 (3): 643–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Janet Elise, and Saarinen, Aino. 2011. “Assessing Civil Society in Putin's Russia: The Plight of Women's Crisis Centers.” Communist and Post-Communist Studies 44 (1): 41–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Janet Elise, and Saarinen, Aino. 2013. “Twenty-First-Century Feminisms under Repression: Gender Regime Change and the Crisis Center Movement in Russia.” Signs 38 (3): 543–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaparova, M. S. 2017. “Rol’ i mesto zhenskikh nepravitel'stvennykh organizatsii v sotsial'no-ekonomicheskoi i obshchestvennoi zhizni Kyrgyzskoi Respubliki” [Role and place of women's nongovernmental organizations in the social, economic, and public life of the Kyrgyz Republic]. In Evraziiskoe prostranstvo: dobrososedstvo i strategicheskoe partnerstvo [Eurasian space: A neighborly and strategic partnership]. Ekaterinburg, Russia: Izdatel'stvo Ural'skogo Gosudarstvennogo Eknomicheskogo Universiteta, 261–65.Google Scholar
Karimova, Gul'chekhra. 2012. “Munara Beknazarova: Ala kachuu pust’ stanet legendoi” [Munara Beknazarova: Let ala kachuu become legendary]. Vechernii Bishkek, August 9. http://www.vb.kg/175190 (accessed October 6, 2020).Google Scholar
Kazybekov, El'dos. 2012. “Uzhestochenie nakazaniia za krazhu nevesty okonchatel'no odobreno parlamentom” [A toughened penalty for bride theft is definitively approved by parliament]. Kloop, December 20. https://kloop.kg/blog/2012/12/20/uzhestochenie-nakazaniya-za-krazhu-nevesty-okonchatel-no-odobreno-parlamentom/ (accessed October 6, 2020).Google Scholar
Kim, Elena, Myrzabekova, Asel, Molchanova, Elena, and Yarova, Olha. 2018. “Making the ‘Empowered Woman’: Exploring Contradictions in Gender and Development Programming in Kyrgyzstan.” Central Asian Survey 37 (2): 228–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirmse, Stefan B. 2010. “In the Marketplace for Styles and Identities: Globalization and Youth Culture in Southern Kyrgyzstan,” Central Asian Survey 29 (4): 389–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kleinbach, Russ, and Salimjanova, Lily. 2007. “Kyz ala kachuu and adat: Non-consensual Bride Kidnapping and Tradition in Kyrgyzstan.” Central Asian Survey 26 (2): 217–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kozhomkulov, Kemelbek. 2016. “Sotsial'noe izhdivenchestvo—perezhitok sovetskogo stroia” [Social dependency—A vestige of the Soviet system]. Slova Kyrgyzstana, January 13. http://slovo.kg/?p=52620.01.1 (accessed October 6, 2020).Google Scholar
Lapidus, Gail Warshofsky. 1975. “Political Mobilization, Participation, and Leadership: Women in Soviet Politics.” Comparative Politics 8 (1): 90–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Natal'ia. 2017. “‘Ty dolzhna byt’ terpelivoi.’ Tri istorii o nasilii v Kyrgyzstane” [“You must be tolerant.” Three histories of violence in Kyrgyzstan]. Vechernii Bishkek, September 30. http://www.tvb.kg/366568 (accessed October 6, 2020).Google Scholar
Malikova, Bermet. 2016. “Po tsentru Bishkeka proshel Marsh v zashchitu prav znenshchin” [A march for women's rights proceeded through the center of Bishkek]. Vechernii Bishkek, March 7. http://www.vb.kg/335786 (accessed October 6, 2020).Google Scholar
Masalieva, Zhazgul.’ 2018. “Ala kachuu. Chto delat’ devyshke, esli ee ukrali?” [Ala kachuu. What does a girl do if they steal her?]. 24.kg, July 15. https://24.kg/obschestvo/90607_ala_kachuu_chto_delat_devushke_esli_eeukrali_/ (accessed October 6, 2020).Google Scholar
Mikhailov, Grigorii. 2012. “Kirgizskie plennitsy” [Kyrgyz captives]. Nezavisimaia Gazeta, July 3. http://www.ng.ru/cis/2012-07-13/1_kirgizia.html (accessed October 6, 2020).Google Scholar
Moldalieva, Aliia. 2014. “Pechal'nye tsifry” [Sad numbers]. Slovo Kyrgyzstana, June 4. http://slovo.kg/?p=35569.Google Scholar
Montgomery, Kathleen A. 2003. “Introduction.” In Women's Access to Political Power in Post-Communist Europe, eds. Matland, Richard E. and Montgomery, Kathleen A.. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1–18.Google Scholar
Myrzabekova, Altynai. 2013. “Kyrgyzskii politik dobivaetsia priniatiia zakona protiv krazhi nevest” [Kyrgyz politician seeks adoption of a law against bride theft]. InoZpress, February 15. http://www.inozpress.kg/news/view/id/38765 (accessed October 6, 2020).Google Scholar
Nantes, Yvonne Corcoran. 2005. Lost Voices: Central Asian Women Confronting Transition. London: Zed Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nazarova, Sakhira. 2017. “V Kyrgyzstane dostup k pravosudiiu dlia zhertv gendernogo nasiliia ostaetsia ser'eznoi problemoi” [In Kyrgyzstan, access to justice remains a serious problem for victims of gender violence]. Tsentr politico-pravovykh issledovanii, October 23. https://center.kg/article/83 (accessed October 6, 2020).Google Scholar
Open Line. 2010. Otchet po rezul'tatam izycheniia problemy krazha nevest v Kyrgyzstane [Report on results of research regarding problems of bride theft in Kyrgyzstan]. Bishkek, Open Line.Google Scholar
Osmongazieva, Tolgonai. 2012. “V parlamente chitaiut pis'mo ukradennoi devushki” [In Parliament, they are reading a letter from a stolen girl]. Vechernii Bishkek, October 18. https://www.vb.kg/203232 (accessed October 6, 2020).Google Scholar
Osmonova, D. A. 2018. “Gendernye otnosheniia i gendernaya politika v Kyrgyzsskoi Respublike” [Gender relations and gender policies in the Kyrgyz Republic]. Mezhdunarodnyi Zhurnal prikadnykh i fundamental'nykh issledovanii 12 (2): 335–39.Google Scholar
Paasiaro, Maija. 2009. “Home-Grown Strategies for Greater Agency: Reassessing the Outcome of Civil Society Strengthening in Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan.” Central Asian Survey 28 (1): 59–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paxton, Pamela, and Hughes, Melanie M.. 2014. Women, Politics, and Power: A Global Perspective. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petric, Boris-Mathieu. 2005. “Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan or the Birth of a Globalized Protectorate.” Central Asian Survey 24 (3): 329–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petrova, Tsveta, and Tarrow, Sidney. 2007. “Transactional and Participatory Activism in the Emerging European Polity.” Comparative Political Studies 40 (1): 74–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, Graeme B. 2009. “Managing Society: Protest, Civil Society, and Regime in Putin's Russia.” Slavic Review 68 (3): 528–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sadyrbek, Mahabat, 2015. “‘There Is No State in This Country!’ Legal and Social Treatment of Marital Rape in Kyrgyzstan.” In Gender in Modern Central Asia, ed. Kruessmann, Thomas. Zurich: LIT, 105–24.Google Scholar
Satybaldieva, Elmira. 2018. “A Mob for Hire? Unpacking Older Women's Political Activism in Kyrgyzstan.” Central Asian Survey 37 (2): 247–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sawer, Marian. 2012. “What Makes the Substantive Representation of Women Possible in a Westminster Parliament? The Story of RU486 in Australia.” International Political Science Review 33 (3): 320–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schatz, Edward, ed. 2009. Political Ethnography: What Immersion Contributes to the Study of Power. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simpson, Meghan. 2006. “Local Strategies in Globalizing Gender Politics: Women's Organizing in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 26 (1): 9–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soltoeva, Aizhan. 2012. “Epokha politicheskoi aktivnosti zhenshchin v Kyrgyzstane” [The era of political activism of women in Kyrgyzstan]. Vremia Vostoka, January 8. http://easttime.ru/analytics/kyrgyzstan/epokha-politicheskoi-aktivnosti-zhenshchin-v-kyrgyzstane (accessed October 6, 2020).Google Scholar
Spector, Regine A. 2017. Order at the Bazaar: Power and Trade in Central Asia. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, Charles. 1995. Philosophical Arguments. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Toktonazarova, Nurzhan. 2017. “Seksizm v Kyrgyzskom obshchestve” [Sexism in Kyrgyz society]. January 26. https://rus.azattyk.org/a/28260281.html (accessed October 16, 2020).Google Scholar
Wängnerud, Lena. 2009. “Women in Parliaments: Descriptive and Substantive Representation.” Annual Review of Political Science 12: 51–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weldon, S. Laurel. 2002. “Beyond Bodies: Institutional Sources of Representation for Women in Democratic Policymaking.” Journal of Politics 64 (4): 1153–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Werner, Cynthia. 2009. “Bride Abduction in Post-Soviet Central Asia: Marking a Shift towards Patriarchy through Local Discourses of Shame and Tradition.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 15: 314–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ziegler, Charles E. 2016. “Great Power, Civil Society, and Authoritarian Diffusion in Central Asia.” Central Asian Survey 35 (4): 549–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar