Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Those bearing the brunt of this impoverishment are disproportionately women. Gender
inequality in Tajikistan becomes apparent when we consider the level of female poverty
attainment. Two-thirds of the population living below the poverty line are female-headed
households, which are at greater risk of becoming even poorer due women’s low
participation in the labour market and inadequate access to land and credit1. Women
comprise only 19% of the labour force, compared with almost 80% before independence,
and they are now six times less likely to be employed than men2. The vast majority of
female population work in lower-paid sectors (86%), such as agriculture (75%), public
health services and education3. Wages in these branches are approximately 4-7 times lower
than in other spheres where men dominate such as construction and communications 4.
Accordingly, the ratio of female to male income earned is 0.655. Moreover, although three-
fourths of the female workforce contributes to the agricultural sector, 93.2% of farms are
from the Soviet Union. In respect to this, I argue that although gender inequalities did exist
traditional, patriarchally-oriented culture and (b) the transition into the market economy -
Islamic attitudes and practices that were previously suppressed by the communist state. As
stated by Special Rapporteur on violence against women in Tajikistan Yakin Ertürk, “Upon
independence, as the country moved away from its Soviet past, hard-line patriarchal values,
These caricatures have aggravated women’s limited access to and mobility within
the spheres of education and employment, especially when situated in context of the
transition into the market economy which has (a) increased unemployment10 and (b)
eliminated employment safety nets previously provided by the communist state 12. The
with the loss of employment safety net has decreased their labour participation and
mobility. Women comprise only 19% of the labour force, compared with almost 80%
labour in which women are pushed into the lowest positions or worst-paid sectors14.
was previously provided for free by the state. Because education became an unaffordable
than males for educational investment16. The resulting educational inequality- 37% of girls
disproportionately less skilled and trained than men, thus reinforcing and worsening the
gender inequality in the labour economy, where women are already in the lowest positions
The combination of this new division of labour and women’s increased domestic
for previously excluded groups, like women, to participate in politics, the harsh material
effects of economic liberalisation has minimized the time and resources available to
This de-politicization of women for lack of time and resources is aggravated by the
mass (male) migration to neighbouring Russia, provoked by the harsh material effects of
economic liberalisation. 25% of households have family members regularly seeking jobs
patriarchal attitudes espousing the limited mobility of women. Men comprise the
overwhelming majority of the more than 800,000 (out of 7.3 million) Tajiki citizens who
that even when husbands are absent due to labour migration, control
relatives, rather than with the wife20. Thus, the mass migration for labour
migrant men has increased the domestic workload and need for independence of
hundreds of thousands of women left behind in a nation bereft of the institutions and
When we consider women’s lack of access to property, it becomes evident that the
societal attitudes required for this support are absent. Under the Land Code, women are
legally entitled to land on equal terms as men21. However, the normative, customary laws
derived from revived Islamic traditions have, in practise, translated into women being
inhibited from buying and managing land. As stated in report by the World Bank, “The
social acceptability of women owning land generally only holds for those who are divorced
or widowed23. Accordingly, a meagre 6.8 percent of farms are headed by women 24. In this
ownership.
These gender inequalities in education, the labour market, and ownership are
transition has increased the extent to which Tajikis subscribe to the subsistence lifestyle (in
which individuals devote most of their time and resources to ensuring the provision of
basic needs). The basic services of education and healthcare that were free in the Soviet era
were, in the new market-based economy, rendered commodities for which Tajikis would be
required to pay 25. Moreover, sovkhozes (state farms) were a primary source of employment
Shaina Agbayani Essay 1, Question 2 260355132
in the communist economy of the Soviet era26. Accordingly, the most significant job losses
Badakhshan region resulted from the collapse of the sovkhozes. By consequence, the
salaries while increasing the household expenditures required for basic services such as
Badakhshan, with the exception of four, said that in the new market-based economy,
household income and production were insufficient for meeting basic needs27, in
contradistinction to the Soviet era’s communist economy in which all the women claimed
that in their basic needs were always satisfied28 . Thus, the transition into a market-based
economy has increased the number of Tajikis adhering to a subsistence way of life.
subsistence ethic that myopically confines one’s scope of action to the realm of survival
first and foremost29. Since the transition into a market-based economy has increased the
extent to which Tajikis uphold the subsistence ethic, it has decreased the time and resources
available for women (and men) to evaluate the gender inequality being exacerbated by
revived patriarchal attitudes. Thus, the subsistence way of life popularized by the transition
Yet these considerations of gender inequality that may be indulgent abstraction for
the sixty-percent of Tajikis now living under the poverty line30 are vital to the nation as a
constitution provides for gender equality under the law32. But as Kyung Ae Park notes
when analyzing gender inequality in South Korea, when women are legally “given” - rather
Shaina Agbayani Essay 1, Question 2 260355132
having actively sought and fought for - gender equality, the lag, or mere absence, of
societal attitudes reflecting these abstract legal commitments depletes the latter’s pragmatic
value (134). Situated in the context of Tajikistan’s patriarchal renaissance, the nation’s
fragile. Therefore, Tajikistan must couple its legal commitment to gender equality with
both (a) an internal cultural revolution attainable through education and (b) the external
with one another, these interdependent components will facilitate development, which
Works Cited
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<http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/data_sheets/cty_ds_TJK.html>.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/4029794.pdf>.
Park, Kyung A. "Women and Development: The Case of South Korea." Comparative Politics 25.2
"Population Below the Poverty Line." CIA - Central Intelligence Agency. 2009. Web. 8 Nov. 2010.
<https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2046.html>
Saberi, By Roxana. "TAJIKISTAN: Gender Equality Clashes With Culture, Religion - IPS
Ipsnews.net." IPS Inter Press Service. 15 Nov. 2006. Web. 6 Nov. 2010.
<http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35483>.
Scott, James C. The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia. New
Somach, Susan. Agency for International Development. Gender Assessment USAID / Central Asian
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Violence Is Not Just a Family Affair: Women Face Abuse in Tajikistan. Publication. Amnesty
Women_Face_Abuse_in_Tajikistan_2009_eng.pdf>.