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Year: 2017

Displays of Patriarchy and Female Vigour. (Report prepared for the project ‘Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan)

Schröder, Philipp

Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-149788 Published Research Report Published Version

Originally published at: Schröder, Philipp (2017). Displays of Patriarchy and Female Vigour. (Report prepared for the project ‘Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan). s.n.: UN Women Country Office in the Kyrgyz Republic. Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan

Conducted by the UN Women Country Office in the Kyrgyz Republic Funded by the UN Peacebuilding Support Office and UN Women 2017

United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office

1

Number of interviews conductedNumber of and used forthestudy interviews Research Design,Capacitation,Supervision: Quality ControlSupervision: Aiperi Ismailova Meerim Azimjanova Dildora Khamidova T Research Coordination: Maral Dzheenbekova he Zarina Urmanbetova Aida Tynychbekova Madina Kasymova Reina Artur kуzу Anara Bocholoeva Interviews andTranscriptions: Elina Schroeder Final Report: Analysis andReportWriting: Aichurek Kurmanbekova Bakytbek Tokuubek uulu R Mavlonbek Mamatkulov (Ethnic Kurds,Turks andMixedEthnicities) Munira Nooruzbaeva Saltanat Baitokova Zarina Urmanbetova Maral Dzheenbekova Aichurek Kurmanbekova Jazira Karganbekova Zarena Syrgakkyzy Bakytbek Tokuubek uulu Bakytbek Tokuubek uulu Medina Magabekova Nazgul Osmonalieva Aida Tynychbekova Dinara Dekhanova Madina Mirzalieva Toigonbai Bakirov Coding/Memo-Writing: Nilufar Ismanova Maral Dzheenbekova Munira Nooruzbaeva Nazgul Osmonalieva Zarina Urmanbetova Zarina Urmanbetova Aiperi Ismailova Begayim Maksutova Zarena Syrgakkyzy Sarvar Salimov Meerim Azimjanova Aida Tynychbekova Aida Tynychbekova Dildora Khamidova Dildora Khamidova Erlan Orsekov Saltanat Baitokova Dinara Dekhanova Madina Kasymova Madina Kasymova Anara Bocholoeva Madina Mirzalieva Aziza Satridtinova Toigonbai Bakirov esearch Nilufar Ismanova Reina Artur kyzу Elina Schroeder Aiperi Ismailova Aiperi Ismailova Transcribers: (15 interviews/15transcriptions) (Ethnic UzbeksandUighurs)

Reina Artur kуzу, Toigonbai Bakirov Schroeder Philipp (Ethnic Russians) (Ethnic Kyrgyz) Maral Dzheenbekova (Ethnic Uzbeks) (Ethnic Kyrgyz) (Ethnic Dungans) (Ethnic Tadjiks) (Ethnic Kyrgyz) (18) (30) (28) (18) (26) (10/5) (20) (18) (26) (20) (40) (11) (7) (1) (1) (7) T (15) (14) (3)

Aikokul Maksutova eam 1 3 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 4 Conceptual Framework: Opportunity Structures...... 19 Opportunity Conceptual Framework: OUTCOMES...... 19RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY...... 17RESEARCH SUMMARY...... 13EXECUTIVE REPORTRESEARCH ONDISPLAYS OFPATRIARCHY ANDFEMALEVIGOUR/ LIST OFABBREVIATIONS ANDACRONYMS...... 12 WASHOW THERESEARCH CONDUCTED...... 8 FOREWORD...... 5 TABLE OFCONTENTS ANNEX 1: REFERENCES...... 60 ANNEX RECOMMENDATIONS...... 56 and‘BeingYoung’...... 47Language, Location,Violence,Information Cross-cutting Perspectives: Turks, inKyrgyzstan...... 41 DungansandUighurs onKyrgyz, RussianandotherYouthObservations Uzbek, inKyrgyzstan...... 21 Displays of Patriarchy andFemaleVigour: Being Young...... 54 Flow of information...... 52 Violence...... 49 Location...... 48 Language (andEthnicisation)...... 48 Gender Perceptions withinSmallerEthnicMinorityGroups: Young Tajiks, Kurds, Russian Youth anda(Soviet-inspired) Modern SocietyinCentralAsia...... 35 TheRelevanceSabr: of EnduranceamongUzbekYouth...... 29 Turmush: HowYoung Kyrgyz Negotiate Life...... 21 O territory’s historical andtolerance, diversity and richness of itspeople,strayingawayfrom the trading routes. Misinterpretation of thecultural thatisby-passed bytoday’scountry global so essentialfor aland-locked andmountainous the potential forhumandevelopment whichis and outdated education system significantly limits young people face many challenges. An inefficient and investment intoday’s young generation.Yet all itscitizens,ispredicated onengagementwith and prosperous Kyrgyzstan, providing justicefor Foreword on sustainable development willremain elusive. the empowerment of women and girls,progress decision-making positions. Withoutemphasison will bein their 30s and40s entering key elsewhere by2030, when today’s young generation agenda isunlikely to bemetinKyrgyzstan and women’s empowerment, theglobal development towards gender equality, through the tool of on manydevelopment issues.Withoutprogress towards more effect genderequalityhasacatalytic backwards? UNWomen believes thatmoving and take it the upperhand,dividecountry gain vacuum spiritual a and difficulties economic human rightsandfreedom, orwillthoseexploiting to amodern, multi-ethnicsocietythatcherishes crossroads. independencethe Kyrgyzafter Republic isata economy.knowledge global the Twenty-five years grow to deploy their comparative advantages in and stableKyrgyzstan where menandwomen can atbuildinganadvancedruns counter to efforts the rightsof adolescentgirlsandyoung women, thatincludessystemicover others violationof veering towards anarrative of control of some Will thosecomingof agenowbecommitted 28 years. Theemergence28 years. of apeaceful agedbetweenis ayoung 14and person ne in three residents of the Kyrgyz Republic also berequired. local assembliesandthenationalparliament may measures suchasgenderandyouth quotasin to women to develop skillsandtalents.Temporary and give everyone real opportunity finances serve responsive budgeting to ensure that the country’s to protect girlsagainstviolence,aswell asgender- Tools that can help include strict law enforcement standards, acomprehensive inductionand phases of theresearch metthehighestacademic from Kyrgyzstan. In order to ensure thatall ethnic team of young, mainlyfemale,researchers subsequent promotion andreplication. and positive examplesof girlempowerment for practices best highlighted and identified also that The intent wasto buildamulti-faceted picture various smallerethnicgroups were interviewed. Kyrgyzstan. Respondents from thethree largest and was conducted inallnineadministrative regions of Combined qualitative andquantitative research of respondents were female,and30%male. girls andyoung women aged14-28.Some70% marriage choices”, withafocusonadolescent “adolescents’/sexual andreproductive healthand investigation, namely“professional choices”and empowerment. of an environment that would actively enable their aged 14to 28inKyrgyzstan, andinto thecreation affecting the empowerment of young women educational andeconomicfactors negatively conducted research onkey cultural,social, by theUNPeacebuilding Fund,UNWomen economic empowerment of youth and funded Peace project, whichisfocusedonthesocialand Under itsBuildingaConstituencyfor The research was carriedoutbyamulti- Two research areas were prioritisedfor 5 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 6 young women inthisagerange.Ourresearch was contributing to the disempowerment of girls and dataonfactors of comprehensive, countrywide and young women aged14-28.There wasalack and sociallyaccepted discriminationagainstgirls knowledge andpracticesleadingto structural data to theprevailing understand attitudes, comprehensive andactionablenationallevel publication describesthisprocess inmore detail. topical research experienceinthecountry. This by an international academic with extensive and thedatacollected bythem,wasthenwritten preparedcomponent reports Office. bytheresearch team various the on Country based was which report, final The Republic Kyrgyzstan Women committed researchers contracted bytheUN out bythisgroup of highlymotivated anddeeply codingandanalysiswere thuscarried interviews, and research transcribing tools, interviewing, the research, including preparing methodology completing her PhD in Germany. All phases of researcher, anative of herself Kyrgyzstan currently prior to eachphaseof theproject bytheprincipal training programme wasdesignedanddelivered pressure to marry byopting forlabourmigration. pressure to marry families back home.Girlsmayalsoescapefamily by thosesentinto migrationabroad to support from urban areas whohave marketable skills,and is, however, beingchallengedby young women of householddutiesand children. Thisnotion male asbreadwinner and thefemaletakingcare youth, thesociallyaccepted modelof lifeisof the hallmark of apatriarchal society. AmongKyrgyz predominantly organised bysexandage,a gender role perceptions inKyrgyzstan are still potential andbecomeinformed decision-makers. whose aim is to help young women attain their for bothpolicy-makers anddevelopment planners enabled their success.Thisishighlyvaluable information that conditions specific the with along constraints. In fact, many such cases were identified, women whohave successfullyovercome systemic examples of empowerment of girls and young was keen anddocumentpositive to identify and patterns of genderinequality. Theresearch team tendencies group-specific age and specific region- toidentify and gap, this fill to designed Our objective was to establish s u suy eut hv confirmed, have results study our As herself -whoputshersonuptoherself kidnappinga law -inalllikelihood havingoncebeenkidnapped kidnapping it is often the prospective mother-in- receiving endof violence,intheevent of bride- cost forsociety. constitute bothapsychological andaneconomic Impunity andpatchy lawenforcement insuchcases girls andwomen thatstillprevail inKyrgyzstan. formsmarriage areof pervasive violenceagainst Domestic violence, bride-kidnapping and early age of amongmen. against24.5years 20.6years progress. a positive contributionto societyandto economic which to deploytheirnewskillsinorder to make environmentfreedom. in Theylackasupportive girls, whohave beenexposedto ‘too much’ empowered, althoughoften stereotyped as‘easy’ migration, upontheirreturn theyare markedly While theymaybeexposedto violenceduring life. women’s contributions in all spheres of public progressive societythatcherishesandpromotes rather thanactors andchangeagentsforamore mean thatmanyyoung women become victims, for educationalandprofessional self-realisation factors whencombinedwithlimited opportunities childbearing, sexualcoercion andviolence.These infections, unintended pregnancies, adolescent women vulnerableto sexually transmitted leaves young health educationandservices for adolescentsto sexual andreproductive under theConstitutionandCriminalCode. outitsduties impetus to thejusticesector to carry practices andbeliefs,thatthisinturn willgive strategies inorder to counter suchharmful will helpinform behaviourchangecommunication violation of herrights.Itishopedthatourresearch bring uponthem.Thisisperhapsthegreatest cannot return to herparents fortheshameitmay for just one night the girl, now deemed ‘impure’, case of herrunningaway. beingdetained Butafter for difficult her to secure bothherandchildren’s rightsin it makes registration civil Avoiding will probably involve onlyareligious ceremony. to theabductingfamily.servitude Hermarriage the girlinto submissionandsheoften endsupin girl. Femalerelatives of thegroom willthenforce While manyyoung women are onthe Women earlier, tend to marry atanaverage The generallypoorandrestricted access empowerment. Anyfaultswiththeresearch, of for more gender equality and growing female in civilsociety, allof whomare strivingwithus Labour andSocialDevelopment, anditspartners of of especially the Ministry its state partners, Women appreciates thecontinuoussupport Committee anditsSecretariat inKyrgyzstan. UN Nations Peacebuilding Fund,andtheJointSteering Thanks goto theprincipal donor, theUnited hard work andtheconvincingresearch produced. AikokulMaksutova, fortheir strong commitment, research team, of undertheinspiringleadership Ms. the foremost and first thank like to would I Office, establishing afamily. equality thatwillbeastablebasis formarriageand ofyoung women, and commit to a partnership appreciate self-respect andasenseof purposein to involve young meninthiswork sothattheycan before settlingonmarriage.Itisequallynecessary and build a sense of self-worthopportunities women sothattheycanexplore theirprofessional human rightsontheother. constitutional guarantees of gender equality and towards genderequalityontheonehand,and socially constructed attitudesandpublicpractices which willbridgetheprevailing gapbetween how to designpolicyandpracticalinterventions withreliable intelligencedevelopment on partners and policy-makers provide study our of findings their lives becomes the norm. To this end, the and freedom to make informed choicesabout women andmencommandtheknowledge behaviour changeinsocietysothathavingyoung On behalf of the UN Women Country to give confidence to young It isnecessary UN Women is dedicated to facilitating building analytical skills.Thedevelopmentbuilding analytical of researchers forconductingsuchresearch and will alsocontinueto focusonpreparing young the knowledgegainedfrom thisresearch. We and initsprogrammes andprojects, willapply and welcomes discussionanduseof it. is interested inwidedisseminationof thisresearch Office Country Women UN The action. follow-up recommendations to for explorereport further the of readers invite We researchers. bona-fide to groups andthesource datacollected are available perceptions and practices across different ethnic number of ongender componentreports and wascarriedoutobjectively. ensuringthatitmetethicalrequirements work, Office, which coordinated this and closely supported Country Women UN the with lie course, and peace. people inpubliclife,andultimately to prosperity lives which will lead to more of participation young position to make informed choicesabouttheir and meninKyrgyzstan sothattheymaybeina of young women enhancing theopportunities inspire readers to committo andwork towards turn willleadto astrong andstablenation. to self-realisation andthushappiness,whichin prepare young women andmenfortheirjourney life andlivelihoods skillsinorder to adequately has shown,needsto develop more of afocuson current educationsystem which,asourresearch thinkingcapacityanalytical isnotapriorityof the UN Women in its policy advisory function, UN Women initspolicyadvisory a report, analytical final this Besides I hopethatreviewing ourresearch will UN Women Kyrgyz Republic Office Country Gerald Gunther Representative January 2017 January 7 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 8 T was conducted was How the research first, gender-specific, personal, and culturally personal, gender-specific, first, design, theresearchers cameto thedecisionthat, While discussingtheapplicabilityof theproposed oftheir understanding selected research items. incorporated open-ended questions to deepen selected a standardized questionnaire that of qualitative methods.Theteam of researchers as quantitative research, withintegrated elements review. Inthebeginning,studywasdesigned deducedfromthe thematicpillars theliterature adhering to theoriginalresearch questionsand td udret eea modifications several throughout theresearch cycle, whilestill underwent study The methodological design of the present primary data collection, which comprised individual primary Thus aqualitative research methodwasadopted for qualitative studywithasubstantive samplesize. the team decided to switch its design to a two-stage compromise between research depthandcoverage, would meet their research needs. To find an adequate andqualitative researcha quantitative that survey both conduct to resources time sufficient have not via aquantitative method,and,second,theydid sensitive questionscouldnotbeexplored in-depth below andillustrated inthefollowingflowchart: along seven consecutive steps, addressed indetail discussions (FGD).Theresearch thusproceeded (PCI)andfocusgroupproblem-centred interviews through alltherelevant research steps andgain collection andprocessing -butshouldalsogo in selected research tasks- for example, data young researchers notonlyshouldbeinvolved was determined It from thebeginning thattheassembledteam of stay. field the for required accurately planning the time that would be was essentialforseveral reasons, including and pre-tested. Pre-testing theresearch tools in Kyrgyz, Russian, and Uzbek were developed forPCI guides interview version, approved final had reviewed theresearch design.Basedonthe researchers and key UNWomen staffmembers training throughout theresearch process. researchers neededsystematic andsequential research. Therefore, theassembledteam of with onlylimited experiencewithqualitative but fields relevant other or sciences social the in and recruit young professionals withbackgrounds researchers for standards qualification the lower available stock of young researchers, we hadto country. This means that for us to work with the in thedomesticlabourmarket, orleave the other professions dueto limited jobopportunities graduates of theseprograms eithermove into sociology oranthropology degrees. Mostof the two or three inKyrgyzstan universities thatoffer parallel research projects. Second,there are only were either already fully employed or involved in scholars qualified several First, reasons. several The humanresource poolwasquite limited, for the research, from data collection to analysis. out carry to qualifications minimal the met who was theavailability of researchers inKyrgyzstan instruments for data processing and analysis selection of appropriate datacollectiontools and the influenced that factors major the research needs and project resources. One of researchers andthenadjustmentsbased on was the product of intensive discussionsamong As elaborated above, theresearch design Before field research began, external began, research field Before Field research of stage1 research design Development of the qualitative dataacross ethniclines,thematicpillars, with aviewto organizing andsystematizing the and transcribed, the next step was data processing, meetings. cutting issueswere elaborated in generalteam were discussedwithinthegroups, and cross- all thedeductive andinductive codesprocessed intensive in-group exchange. Thismeant that the correspondingly allocated datastock in an four component groups and code andcategorize we decidedto splittheteam of researchers into little research background. To minimizetherisk, was to beprocessed byyoung researchers with increased inourcasebythefactthatdata degree, biased.Theriskofcertain datalosswas of data reduction isalwayssubjective and,to a datacouldbeavoided, sincethe process certain insightswhilesegregating that losingimportant raw datathrough line-by-linecodingto ensure corresponding capacitation. involvementwere and invited forfurther researchers field eight result, a As research. field during the assessed byqualitycontrol supervisors to theiroutputquality, whichwascontinuously reasons; were theothers evaluated according no longerstayontheproject for various private could researchers field the of Some processing. in data involved were researchers field selected are provided intheproject documentation. Only justifications, their and analysis, and processing categories, andcodes.Decisionsrelated to data milestones aspossible. let theresearchers experienceasmanyresearch as isusuallydoneinlarge studies,we preferred to been commissionedto atranscriptioncompany, was tedious andtime-consumingcouldhave Althoughtranscription transcribing interviews. and protocols, interview notes, field processing documentation, research, and initial data processing. The latter included field conducting of methodology, datacollectiontools, andessentials design, research on course training five-day a in of young researchers initiallyassembledenrolled team the Thus, experience. research full-fledged Data processing of stage1 We decided to process the entire body of As soon as primary field data was collected 9 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 10 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan during research stage1. analyzed, according to themethodologyapplied and processed then was data FGD The field. the group discussionsand were thendispatched to offered ad-hoctrainingonhow to conduct focus researchers. As a result, several researchers were were developed and reviewed within the team of contextually adapted focusgroup discussions for guidelines 1, stage research of findings initial for research stage 2.Basedonpurely inductive contexts viathefocusgroup discussionsplanned socio-cultural more deeplyandcarefully incertain a codes, cases)thatwould needto beexamined identified also number of salientfeatures of thedata(codes,sub- but issues, process-related or team meetingswhere theynotonlydiscussed above, theresearchers metregularly incomponent visual tools andvariables. codings; working withdifferent tables;andusing memostoanalytical codes,documents,and codes, andsub-codes;codingtechniques; writing code tree; organizing thecodetree into categories, of documents;developing a projects; exporting Training addressed thefollowingissues:creation qualitative dataanalysissoftware, MAXQDA. on howto process datausingacomputerized selected researchers were correspondingly trained newly introduced aspectsof theresearch. The to anequaldegree byallcomponents,inlinewith sub-questions underscrutiny, would beaddressed including foci, research defined initially the that step ensureto necessary a was This specifications. revised, expanded, and adapted to component guidelines,whichwasthen from interview groups received a similar tree of codes deducted highlightingisthatallcomponent processing worth Another important aspectof data Another important During thedatacoding,asdiscussed processing of stage2 Field research anddata writing workshop foranalystswasorganised sothat intercomponent exchange and communication, a within separate componentgroups andto foster by theseniorresearch advisor. more advancedit was skills, conducted analytical this task requires higher research qualifications and the credibility and validity of theoverall results. As research subjectsunder scrutiny andto increase the researchers abetter of understanding the against and correlated with each other to give 1 and 2 were reviewed as a set, and compared and lessonslearned. designed and implemented, focusing onstrengths their individual outputs and how the research was tosession theinvolved analysts,evaluating both the senior analyst providedthe report, a feedback findings to arrive at conceptual ideas. After finishing synthesizing cross-component researchreport, Minorities), the senior analyst wrote a final academic (Kyrgyz,reports and Other Uzbek, Russian, andforming ideasandconcepts. report, quantitative data and integrating them into the ofabstraction level ahigher and synthesizingtheminto anarrative, reading into findings the during feedback meetingsincludedclustering reviews and editing. Common problems discussed ongoing through reports draft finalize could they Data triangulation To systematize the report-writing process stages of findings initial the step, this In Based on the final drafts of component drafts final the on Based writing Component report writing Final academicreport 4. 3. 2. 1. No Variables: documentandcodevariables,export/importofcreating paragraphs, formulationofideas,citationprinciples,formattingandwording. Visual tools:MaxMaps,DocumentPortrait, Code-Matrix.Browser, Codeline Methodology: generalmethodologicalapproaches,datacollectiontools, Project management:creating,deleting,merging,exporting,teamwork; Memo-writing: datareductionandinitialanalysis,categorization, Field research:gainingfieldaccess,recordingdata,interviewing Analysis: summaries,cross-tables,typologytables,segmentmatrix; Design: developmentofresearchquestion(s),pillars,(in) Academic writingtechniques:organizingareportinchaptersand Identifying thematicpatterns,interrelationshipsamong and managingvariables,quantificationofqualitativedata; quantitative project outputsinrelation to researchers’ capacities: Coding: simplecoding,In-Vivo, colour, emoticodes; dependent variables,integrateddeductivecodes; Research designandresearchfieldpreparation: Management ofgroupdynamics,guidingskills; synthesizing themontoaconceptuallevel; Field access,logisticsandresearchethics sampling strategy, pretestinginstruments; Qualitative dataprocessingonMAXQDA: Transcription: techniques,rules,practice; Instruments: context-boundFGDguides; Triangulation: source,methodanddata; The following table summarizes thequalitativeThe followingtablesummarizes and techniques, qualitycontrol,logistics; Qualitative: trainingsessions Focus groupdiscussions: Qualitative dataanalysis: Research ethics regrouping; Prepared byPrepared Aikokul Maksutova 2 quality-controlsupervisors Quantitative: numberof 12 fieldresearchers trained segments 1 researchadvisor 1 researchadvisor 1 researchadvisor 1 researchadvisor 4 fieldresearchers 9 analysts 8 analysts 11 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 12 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan and Acronyms Abbreviations of List UN Women UNFPA STD PCI PBSO ORT IOM GSPS FGD A/SRH United NationsEntityforGenderEqualityandtheEmpowerment of Women United NationsPopulation Fund Sexually transmitted diseases Problem-centred interview United NationsPeacebuilding Office Support Obshcherespublikanskoye testirovanie AdmissionsTest -NationalUniversity International Organization forMigration Gender inSocietyPerceptions Study Focus group discussion Adolescents SexualandReproductive Health I frameworks workable, gender-sensitive legal acts and policy asafoundationto introduce and serve and young women in community level processes andempowermentequal participation of girls andstrategies for opportunities shall identify Kyrgyzstan. outputs,thestudy Asitsprimary young women, aged14-28,incontemporary accepted discriminationagainstgirlsand and practicesleadingto structural andsocially theprevailingunderstand knowledge,attitudes and marriagechoicesof youth inKyrgyzstan to conduct research specificallyonprofessional At thesametimeUNWomen decided to also Summary Executive Research prepared Report byDr. PhilippSchröder AND FEMALEVIGOUR DISPLAYS OFPATRIARCHY Gender inSocietyPerception Study (GSPS). UN andGovernment entitiesconducted the n 2015 UN Women with other in partnership . and sexuallytransmitted diseases(STD). and ontheirlevels of knowledgeaboutHIV/AIDS to thetwo thematic researchpertaining pillars, aspects demographic situation,onparticular questionnaire ontheirgeneralsocio- fill inashort respondentsfemales. Furthermore, were asked to were recorded withyoung Kyrgyzstani malesand ‘problem-centred (PCIs)that qualitative interviews’ datawascollected via phase,primary In thefirst not explicitlyscrutinisegenderdistortions. topics have either remained unaddressed or did In previous studiesonyouth inKyrgyzstan, these Sexual andReproductive Health(A/SRH)Choices’. Young Women’ and(2)‘Marriage andAdolescents’ concerned (1)‘Professional Choicesof Girlsand Data gatheringoccurred intwo phases. ofThe two major thematicpillars thisstudy Methodology andConcept 13 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 14 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan and negotiate potential life-chancesinlightof dynamics of howyoung Kyrgyzstanis assess,relate data.Thisallowsforanalysisof the the primary 1995)inorder to(Merton better graspandpresent from an approach called ‘opportunity structures’ professional and development of to accessinter-generational viewpointsonthe Kyrgyzstanion contemporary youth, aswell as up to capture theoldergeneration’s perspective school teachers, Islamic clerics). The FGDs were set considered ‘relevant’ foryouth (e.g.parents, (FGD) were organise phase of datagathering,focusgroup discussions and otherethnicbelonging.Duringthesecond males andfemalesof Kyrgyz, Russian Uzbek, In total, 350PCIswere conducted amongyoung summarised asa‘pragmaticpatriarchy’. modus operandi for theKyrgyz group couldbe from ‘traditional’role perceptions. Therefore, the toprinciple bepersuaded distancethemselves initiative who can in and by male counterparts predetermined, butsubject to changebypersonal in education,employment andmarriageisnot often meantthatawoman’s future positioning challengesandsetbacksof that opportunities, term ‘turmush’ (life)isusedto capture thisblend to continuallynegotiate theirlifetrajectories. The perceived intheircommunitieswasthat they have consequence of howgenderrelations are illustrates that,foryoung women, themain Uighurs). minority groups (Tajiks, Turks and Kurds, Dungans, respondents: Kyrgyz, Russianandsmaller Uzbek, distinct ethnicgroups of young maleandfemale Youth Research are discussedwithregard first to peer groups. neighbourhood communities,ethnicandother belonging to collectives of (extended) familyunits, as they are informed by young respondents’ structures, of shaping andshifting opportunity emerges of anin-depthunderstanding thecomplex historical embedding.From this contemporary socio-cultural, economic, local and their particular Conceptually, takes this report inspiration The sectiononyoung ethnicKyrgyz The mainresearch outcomes of the Research Outcomes and Cross-Cutting Perspectives A/SRH choices. gender relations inregards to d withpeoplewhocanbe social settingscompared to thoseof theirethnic that their coming of in quite age occurs different of waitingforincremental changeto happen. andnon-confrontational stance a ratherobservant qualification for their role model, which also defines (‘sabirli’) approach to lifeasthepre-eminent noted patient amother’s women furthermore group insouthern Kyrgyzstan. Manyyoung Uzbek majorethnic disadvantaged statusas‘theother’ ethnic belonging,butalsobecauseof their inspiration from of Islamthantheirpeers different because young Uzbeks may be drawing more notonly isimportant and ‘perseverance’. ‘Sabr’ of ‘endurance’,depicts Islamicvirtues ‘patience’ be captured withtheArabicterm ‘sabr’, which in-laws orwithintheKyrgyz state. Thiscould employment vis-á-vistheirparents, husbands, foreducationand negotiating theiropportunities to enjoy less leverage when it came to observed Uzbek men, andespeciallywomen, could be participate incollective decision-making ontheir groups, illustrated severe limitations for females to in comparison to thosegainedfrom otherethnic ofmembers theTurkish andKurdish communities, The insightsprovidedtheir Uzbek peers. by group revealed mostsimilaritieswiththoseof and othertopics, theresponses from the Tajik to perceptions of family, education,employment youth’s socialandculturalbackgrounds related Kyrgyzstan.in contemporary Inregards to how relations, and on the distribution of opportunities, groups widenedthespectrum of possiblegender language skills. social networks andtheirgenerallackof Kyrgyz feature aspectsof nepotism,dueto their‘weaker’ Kyrgyzstan that respondents often believed to being disadvantaged withinalabourmarket in Beyond that, Russian youth voiced their sense of astheinspirationaltemplate. in CentralAsiaserved for whichtheSovietera’s Socialist‘achievements’ a ‘modern society’(sovremennoye obshchestvo), asbeinginsyncwith female societalparticipation lifestyleofframed apersonal equal freedoms and shared responsibility. Young Russianrespondents and decision-making was considered an equally young Russianfamiliesbothspousesworked of parents andafewsiblings.Inthecaseof most afocusonthecore-familyrather reported unit habitation withinextended familygroups, but and femalesdidnotmentionpatterns of co- Kyrgyz Young orUzbekpeers. Russianmales The responses of Russianyouth revealed In comparison to theirKyrgyz young peers, The examinationof smallerminority geographic scales couldbeidentified asplaying where theyenjoy a strong presence. Different domain), even inthecountry’s southern areas functionality (intheeducational andprofessional also pointed to theirnative tongue’s decreasing but and femalesagreed withthatobservation, privileged theirKyrgyz Young peers. Uzbekmales an ethnicisedandnepotisticlabourmarket that educationalaspirations,butpointed to tertiary or that theyare limited intheirsecondary violence, theflowof information and‘beingyoung’. themes of language(andethnicisation), location, patience (sabr). andperseverance ofconcealed behindgendered performances vigour isstillpresent anddefinitive, butmaybe of familiesandfemalebiographies.Then butstrictlystructuringthetrajectoriesdiscourse, might equallybeforceful, i.e.notonlyamatter of force Yet of opportunities. adisplayof patriarchy while in fact female vigour is the actual shaping a displayof patriarchy mayberatherrhetorical, on otherparameters suchasplaceof residence, poles. Dependingonethnicbelonging,butalso and are beingnegotiated in-between thesetwo men andwomen inKyrgyzstan tend to oscillate interactions many betweenaspects of the everyday isintended to express that and FemaleVigour’ ‘Displaysofchosen forthepresent report: Patriarchy observed. degrees to whichthiscouldbe assess thevarying from across-cutting thataimsto perspective belonging, research outcomes are alsopresented ethnic beyond theirparticular and opportunities and femalesinKyrgyzstan share views,constraints studies. university parents to work alongside their school or even they wereDungan peers, often prohibited by their was alsoreflected inthefactthat,unlike their life,which withintheireveryday highly important presentedUighurs educational achievements as Finally,opportunities. young maleandfemale matters or accessing education andemployment for influencingfamily to their opportunities Kyrgyzstanin northern -wasnotableinregards a ‘liberal’or‘traditional’semi-urban environment of detailedlocation-i.e.inhabiting importance mobility. Among Dungan women, again,the education, marriage,employmentandphysical Russian respondents did not indicate The cross-cutting takes perspective up the iscapturedSuch aperspective inthetitle To accountforthefactthatyoung males stereotypes andspeculation,suchasamale opposite gender could be identified as furthering females. The lack of first-hand experiences of the families aswell asbetween young malesand communication were to reported existwithin especially sexuality, barriers forcross-gender that isculturallylegitimisedbydifferent audiences. ofacts can be seen as a performance masculinity about violence largely remains a taboo, and violent financial abuse or neglect. At the same time, talking physical andemotionalviolenceto verbal and to violenceandabuseof from different sorts, ethnic groups exposure demonstrated apervasive female socialandmobilities. stronger displaysof patriarchy thatconstrained Kyrgyzstan couldbeidentifiedasreflecting patterns, theethnicgroups inhabitingsouthern between urban andruralareas. Examiningthese from inter- to intra-regional differences andthose ranging a role inshapingyouth opportunities, domestic work, child-rearing oremployment. domestic work, regardless of whethertheserelated to education, unequal valuation of their respective contributions, butalsothe responsibilities andopportunities, the unequaldistributionof maleandfemale Finally, displays of patriarchy concerned not only as a period of easy descent into delinquency. to develop a responsible personality, but primarily forsomeone adolescence notasanopportunity generation’s generalscepticismthatperceived their family home. Related to this was the older ofequal pursuit extracurricularactivitiesoutside different ethnicgroups thatconstrainedthemfrom gendered upbringingamongyoung women of terms forthesupplyof future wives, enforcing a the demand for future husbands dictated the functioning of thelocal‘marriagemarket’, where study programmes). demands andinstead suggesting‘prestigious’ professions (disregarding actuallabourmarket to advisethemonadequate choicesfor future teachers whoproved unmotivated orill-informed respondents were alsocriticalof parents and from gender relations, young male and female distrust towards the ‘female Aside character’. On awiderangeof ‘delicate topics’, The responses of young Kyrgyzstanis of all A patriarchal logicaswell informed the 15 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 16 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan recommendations are made: Based ontheseresearch findings,thefollowing Recommendations    

generation. experiences withtheyounger, unmarried as apeer-group resource forsharing couples whoshouldbemobilisedto serve distinctive needsof recently marriedyoung programmes thattake into accountthe have accessto these. thatyoungensure ruralwomen inparticular set of ‘trustandresponsibility’; andalsoto horizontal relations andadvance amind- of ‘youth spaces’, whichare characterised by demands. based on actual labour marketopportunities and distribution,regarding educational improvement of information quality institutions of vocational training. potentials to promote theseasalternative andidentify future incomeopportunities, practicalskill-setsandthus to gainimportant werewhich young women inparticular said curriculum of so-called ‘short-courses’, in It isrecommended to evaluate the It isrecommended to promote youth the creationIt isrecommended to support the It isrecommended to support    

structures inaculturallysensitive way. women andimprove theiropportunity denounce forms of discriminationagainst awareness asanalternative moralsource to religious positions,whichreflect gender- and socialupbringing. active involvement of in childrearing fathers of ‘fatherhood’inorder to ensure amore structures. a positive utilisationof similaropportunity communities andwhosesuccessisbased on models, who originate from the same local of ‘young asalternative achievers’ role and condemnactsof violentabuse. the readiness withincommunitiesto report resilience to prevent these,andto enhance collective responsibility andindividual patriarchal abuse, to strengthen both and socialrepercussionsof allforms of debates aboutthephysical,psychological It is recommended to promote public It isrecommended to promote those It isrecommended to promote theinstitution the promotionIt is recommended to support T Methodology and Design Research the Youth Research isto establishcomprehensive their empowerment?’ Theoverall objective of environment would beconducive to enabling women (aged14to 28)inKyrgyzstan? What negatively affecttheempowerment of young social, educationalandeconomicfactors the central research question ‘What key cultural, Kyrgyzstani’s lives andgenderrelations. approach thathasbeenfollowed to accessyoung underlying questionsanddiscussesthequalitative of interest related to marriagestrategies and mobility. In regard to A/SRHchoices,topics women, andpatterns of maleand femalesocial these, theissueof economic independencefor and thewaysinwhich they imaginedachieving concerned their future occupational aspirations choices, thequestionsposedto Kyrgyzstani youth Inregardgender distortions. to professional entirely unaddressed ordidnotexplicitlyscrutinise in Kyrgyzstan, thesetopics have either remained (A/SRH) Choices’. Inprevious studiesonyouth Adolescents’ SexualandReproductive Health Girls andYoung Women’ and(2)‘Marriage and interest concerned (1)‘Professional Choicesof policy frameworks. introducing workable, gender-sensitive legaland study thusaimto provide asolidfoundationfor young women andmen.Theinsightsfrom this that shapethemutualrelatedness of Kyrgyzstani socio-cultural andpolitico-economicdynamics method allowsforin-depthinsightsinto local young women inKyrgyzstan. AKAP-based survey socially accepted discriminationof girlsand actual Practicesthatleadto suchstructuraland existing Knowledge,prevailing Attitudes and national level datainorder to the understand and methodology. It introduces key Youth Research’s mainresearch design his sectionof presents the thereport The Youth Research is organised around The two major thematic pillars ofThe two major thematic pillars research different fo levels of knowledgeaboutA/SRHitself, andabout structures of genderin-/equality, aswell asto of guides with a broad the PCI were set interview and females.Theinstrumentsemployed aspart that were recorded withyoung Kyrgyzstani males ‘problem-centred (PCIs) qualitative interviews’ datawere collected via phase,primary In thefirst 96 were young 119 males. Asregards age-cohorts, these respondents, 254were young females and according to purposeful randomsampling.Of were conducted and respondents were identified the Youth Research’s objective. Intotal, 350PCIs informal ‘gatekeepers’ whowere willingto support government units, but was also facilitated by for example fromwith official local self- support, analysis. of various research findingsthrough further research sample,andsofacilitated acomparison allowed connectionsto begenerated withinthe mixed-methods approach, suchquantifiabledata ofsexually transmitted diseases(STD). As part a their levels of knowledgeaboutHIV/AIDSand the two thematic research as well pillars, as on to aspectspertaining situation andonparticular of questions on their general socio-demographic questionnaire with a standardisedfill in a short set regard to genderrelations. Kyrgyzstanis’ knowledge, attitudes and practices in but whichprovide in-depthillustrationsof young qualitative datathatdidnotaimatrepresentativity, ThePCIsgenerated interviews. during andafter journal’, reflecting theirapproach andexperiences of notes aspart a‘field and theinterviewer’s of questionsinorder to induceaconversation, Data gatheringoccurred intwo phases. Access to communities was achieved Furthermore, respondentsFurthermore, were asked to rms of violence(domesticandother). 17 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 18 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan Additional follow-uptrainingandworkshops for skillsof researchersinterviewing were enhanced. validity, thesamplingstrategy wasverified, andthe and questionnaires were tested foradequacyand of eachsub-chapter inPart 4. these ethnicgroups isindicated atthebeginning (8). Turks andKurds (16),Dungans(11)andUighurs ethnic minoritygroups inKyrgyzstan: Tajiks (29), PCIs were also conducted with youth of smaller Finally,and 34young Russians were interviewed. country’s two largest minorities,67young Uzbeks 159 in total, were ethnic Kyrgyz. To represent the 24-28. In regard to ethnicity, most respondents, b respondents were b impressions. provided reflective notes ontheirexperiencesand questionnaire, andmoderators to fillinashort were theFGDsparticipants the PCIs,after asked for 60-90minutes. Similarly to theprocedure for set of approximately ten questionsandlasted and Turks orKurds. EachFGDevolved around a Uzbeks andRussians,oneamongethnicTajiks three amongethnicKyrgyz, two eachamongethnic authorities. In total, nine FGDswere conducted, youth workers, Islamicclericsorheadsof thelocal and females,suchasparents, schoolteachers, could beconsidered ‘relevant’ foryoung males discussions (FGD)thatassembledpeoplewho of data gathering. This occurred in focus group significant response patterns. facilitated analysis and identification of the first a computer software package (MaxQDA), which PCIs was processed and coded with the help of capacity building.Thedatafrom the(transcribed) before allmajorresearch steps, inorder to ensure local researchers andanalystswere conducted 2

26 additional respondents indicated belongingto otherdifferent minority groups thatwillnot be discussedinthis report. etween ages18-23,and113were between ages 2 The exact distribution of respondents within During a piloting phase, interview guides During apilotingphase,interview These insightsinitiated thesecondphase etween ages14-17,118were had beentrainedbeforehand to posequestions only uponconsentof one parent, and interviewers wereany specificquestion.Minors interviewed toand were refuse to given theopportunity answer informed about the aims and objectives of research werefollowing ethicalstandards: Interviewees software-based qualitative dataanalysis. The FGDswere alsotranscribedanddatausedfor the context of responses from alarger audience. locations, couldthenbecriticallyelaborated within females of different ethnicgroups, orindifferent from theindividualresponses of young malesand In thatway, trends thatwere particular identified the insightsof phaseof thefirst datagathering. discussion inthefocusgroups were based on A/SRH choices.Theexactquestionsraisedfor gender relations inregard to professional and generational viewpointsonthedevelopment of Kyrgyzstani youth, aswell asto accessinter- older generation’s oncontemporary perspective males of eachethnicgroup. in genderperceptions amongyoung femalesand comprehensively outlinedanddiscussedtrends local analystscompiled‘component that reports’ data software andquestionnaire data.Furthermore, FGDs, codestructures recorded inthequalitative transcriptsof PCIsand interview mentioned sofar: other. draws on all data sources This final report emerged thatcouldbetriangulated againsteach separate but interlinked sets of qualitative data cases. characteristics), rather than details of individual (that were based on similar situations andother names, andbypublishingonlycomposite cases a system of usedin place identification numbers, wasprotectedConfidentiality of interviewees by during (Kyrgyz,conversation Russian, Uzbek). choose orswitch to theirpreferred language in anage-appropriate manner. could Interviewees The Youth Research adhered to the The FGDswere setupto capture the Eventually, from thePCIsandFGDs two T shaped by: inasocietytends to besignificantly opportunities that thedistributionof, andtheaccessto, various understood as local values ornorms. This is to say within asocialstructure andthedomainof ‘culture’, positioning ofbetween theparticular anindividual suitable fortheanalysisof thepresent topic. assembles various elementsof thoughtthatare of deviance,thisapproach of(1995) aspart atheory Originally introduced bysociologistRobert Merton from theapproach of ‘opportunity structures’. relations inKyrgyzstan, takes thisreport inspiration that hasbeen gathered ontheperceptions of gender debates. is ahighlywelcome contributionto on-goingscientific ofempirical datacollected aspart theYouth Research is stillscarce, especiallyonyouth inruralareas, the Kyrgyzstan. Asscientificknowledgeonthesetopics to recent academicliterature onyouth andgenderin The footnotes of thissectionwillalsoprovide links information, regardless of their ethnicbelonging. youth, suchaslanguage,violenceortheflowof that identifiesthemesof significanceforKyrgyzstani Finally, across-cutting willbedeveloped perspective groups (Tajiks, Turks and Kurds, Dungans, Uighurs). ethnic Kyrgyz, Russianandsmallerminority Uzbek, gender perceptions andrelations foreachof the of theresearch data,thenextsectionswill discuss thedescriptionandanalysis that isusedto support As theseconfigurations are commonly subject Research Outcomes Research (b) whatmayberegarded asaculturally (a) socialcategorisations such asage,gender, brief introduction of the conceptual framework outcomes of the Youth Research. Following a of presentshis part themain thereport legitimate goal forsomeone to pursue. class orethnicbelonging; and First, the approachFirst, aims to investigate the link In order to better graspandpresent thedata Opportunity Structures Opportunity Conceptual Framework: communities of different orders (family, kinship, embeddingin for insightsonhowtheirparticular young Kyrgyzstanis today, andtheirresponses allow considered agoodhusband?’ marriage?’,an Uzbekwifework after or‘Whocan be such as:‘ShouldaKyrgyz girlattend university?’, ‘Can Kyrgyzstancontemporary revolve around questions to thetopic of someof thisreport, thedebates in and expressions of individual agency. In relation apparent between various collective conventions to (societal)negotiation,tensions mightbecome especially to Russia,forsecuringalternative incomes nationalism); and the relevance of labour migration, country’s ‘titularnation’(asopposed to acivic-based of members ethnic nationalismthat favours the (as compared to the Soviet era); an emergence of Islam inboththepublic sphere andprivate lives gender relations include: agrowing significanceof which young citizensof Kyrgyzstan perceive of Russia’s currently stagnanteconomy. country’s or the regional southern part, repercussions the SovietUnion,2010interethnic clashesinthe in theKyrgyzstani context mightbethedemiseof to events of different kindsandmagnitude,which allows forchangesinsocietyto betracked inrelation moments intime(Schröder 2010).Generally, this actors at variousdifferent life-chances for certain one canexaminetheexpansion orcontractionof incorporates anotionof process, whichmeansthat and mothers’. not needto attend schoolas theywillbehousewives where herparents are of theopinionthat‘girls do affordable school located closeto agirl’s home, but rational. Anexamplewould betheexistence of an isconsidered appropriatesuch anopportunity or andtheperception ofopportunity whetherseizing might exist between the objective availability of an complied withorquestioned,thisreveals thatagap example, whether preconceived gender roles are future of theirlife-trajectories. Whileexamining,for peer groups, neighbourhood)affectthepresent and These topics are of crucialrelevance for Recent trends thatinform thewaysin Second, the‘opportunity structures’ approach 19 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 20 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan that foryoung Kyrgyzstani the women inparticular the responses illustrate documented inthisreport (better educationand/orincome).On the other hand, mightleadto socialmobility or to anothercountry) mobility (from avillageto acitywithinKyrgyzstan related to re-localisations, meaningthatgeographic structures are oftenthat changesinopportunity communicate intheKyrgyz language?’ of young Russiansaffected iftheyare unableto are too slim?’; ‘How are theworkplace relations the country’s securityforces, legislative orexecutive) because hischancesof findingan‘official job’(within ‘Is itlogicalnotto sendanUzbekboyto university, worked inRussiastillbeagoodmarriagepartner?’; are, forexample:‘Can aKyrgyz girlwhohaslived and Pressing questionsarisingfrom thesedevelopments (in lightof Kyrgyzstan’s troubled nationaleconomy). university studies inRussianorderuniversity to prepare might conducthis while another young person skills inorder to becomea labourmigrantinRussia, rural householdutilisesher orhisRussianlanguage futures, such as when the member of a less affluent might bepreparation forquite differently shaped seizingoneandthesame opportunity Furthermore, or onthelocationwhere theyhave grown up. educational andoccupational statusof theirparents ‘pre-structured’, depending,forexample,onthe that young people’s are partially opportunities byactors. and converted the cultural and the symbolic, can be accumulated capital’, rangingfrom theeconomicto thesocial,to Bourdieu’s (1986)classicideathatdifferent ‘forms of multi-dimensional is perspective inspired by Pierre being embedded in various social networks. This in prestige orfulfillingcollective expectations,and as acquiringeducationorprofessional skills,gaining domainstoincome, there consider, are further such of generating next to theeconomicopportunities be essentialfortheir(future) lives. Thismeansthat thatKyrgyzstaniopportunities youth consider to patriarchal order of decision-making. likely to motivate herto challengetheestablished the economicindependenceof aworking woman is In suchamale-dominated zero-sum-perception, perceived asadefinite lossforthemalemember(s). forafemalememberis setting theopportunity from that even the understanding within a family the followingpages, suchsituationstend to emerge such asa‘happyfamilylife’. Aswillbediscussedin education, mightjeopardise attaininganotherone, oneopportunity,and thatpursuing suchas isnotstraightforward, structuration of opportunities On theonehand,thesequestionsshow From thisangle,it becomes apparent of willexamineallsorts Third, thisreport investigate differences withintheethnicgroups that from willbeableto oneanglethepresent report variations indegree instead of inkind.Accordingly, is aprobabilistic oneandthusallowsexplorationof outside theirownhome. have been housewives, instead of a career pursuing pronounced amongthoseyouths whosemothers pose athreat to familialstabilityismore strongly the convictionthataworking woman might on theirownfirst-hand experiences.Inconsequence, or as a threat to an established order, crucially depend conceive of newdevelopments aseitherempowering, reveals thattherespondents’ positionsonwhetherto practices ‘tooregard, early’?Inthis also thereport actually ‘seduce’ young peopleto engageinsexual the free flowof information onreproductive health unequivocally desirablestate, ordoes,forexample, differ significantly. Istheaccessto knowledgean ornotmight what infactconstitutes anopportunity indicate that perceptionsassembled inthisreport of another Kyrgyz city. At thesametime,viewpoints for a white-collar professional career in Bishkek or communities, ethnicandotherpeergroups. collectives of (extended) familyunits,neighbourhood they are informed by the respondents’ belonging to structures of as shaping andshifting opportunity this shouldemerge of an understanding thecomplex historical embedding.From local andcontemporary in lightof socio-cultural,economic, theirparticular assess, relate and negotiate potential life-chances analyse thedynamicsof howyoung Kyrgyzstanis structuresthe conceptof inorder to opportunity marriage thatisopposedbytheparents. (an ‘instrumentalised tradition’) to enforce a love- marriage foryoung women, orbeawelcome means (ala kachuu)mighteitherleadto involuntary poles, where thephenomenonof bride-kidnapping again, there are cases in-between these extreme (3)amongtheethnicKyrgyzyoung woman herself; choice of istaken afuture partner individually bythe Russian respondents, bycontrast,itseemsthatthe to impact onthisdecision-makingislow;(2)forthe arranged byparents, andtheabilityof future brides that: (1) within the Uzbek ethnic group marriages are matrimony, forexample,there are noticeabletrends forms of violence.Whenconsideringpathways into choices are shaped by patriarchal practices and various ways inwhichyoung females’biographiesandlife- examine variations across ethnicgroups, suchasthe an urban setting. From will another angle, the report region of thecountry, orinavillage asopposedto Kyrgyz malesandfemaleswhoreside inacertain are represented here, forexamplebetween those Fourth, the concept of opportunity structures the conceptof opportunity Fourth, In summary, this report intendsIn summary, to this report utilise eventually it remains contingent and thus subject may befullof challengesandsetbacks, butthat illustrate key aspectsof the perception thatlife (life) features intheheadline,becauseithelpsto of thecountry’s population). ethnic Kyrgyz group (whocurrently represent 73% among young femaleandmalerespondents of the structures and perception of gender relations Turmush: 3 (Jalalabad). Participants inthese discussionswere village (Batken oblast) andthecityof Jalalabad in At-Bashy oblast),Uchkorgon village(Naryn no answer.) and ninewere divorced. (One respondent provided respondents, 104were unmarried,45were married 119 young femalesand40young males.Ofthe were conducted. Among the respondents were andthree focusgroup discussions 159 interviews Intotal,plus themajorcitiesof OshandBishkek. administrative regions (oblasts) of Kyrgyzstan, ‘Marriage andA/SRHHealthChoices’. ‘Family Backgrounds’, ‘Professional Choices’and that willbeexplored amongyoung Kyrgyz are source forthissectionof thethemes thereport, patriarchy’. forging whatcouldbecalleda‘pragmatic to initiative andnegotiation, changebypersonal Russian and other Youth in Kyrgyzstan on Kyrgyz,Observations Uzbek, Vigour: Female Patriarchy of and Displays See National StatisticalCommittee oftheKyrgyz Republic(2016a). This section investigates the opportunity This section investigates the opportunity The focusgroup discussions took place Data forthissectionwere gathered inall Following abriefaccountof thedata How Young Kyrgyz Negotiate Life Data Source 3 Theterm ‘turmush’ law-enforcement officials ordoctors. as teachers, socialworkers, localgovernment and people’s socialupbringinganddevelopment, such whoplayarolelocal communitymembers inyoung that theymay gooutto discosorprivate parties. clubs,andalso enrolment, musicschoolsorsports families to foruniversity attend courses preparatory arethat incitiesbothgenders encouragedbytheir reputation. Respondents accordingly remarked equally subordinate femalemobilityto afamily’s and where there islesssocialcontrol thatwould are offered, where family budgets are bigger, where more attractive extracurricularopportunities be markedly different foryouth inurban settings, adequate husband. to Thissituationwasreported market later on,andthustheabilityto secure an reduce theirdaughter’s ‘value’ inthemarriage that suchanegative reputation later on could girls’. Amongparents there isawidespread anxiety social stigmatizationof beingconsidered ‘street time outsidetheirfamilyhomesoto avoid the stated to to spend have onlylimited opportunities the ruralandsouthern regions of thecountry, who unmarried Kyrgyzparticular young women from ‘Unlike mostof itwasin theirmalecounterparts, extracurricular development or leisure activities. opposed to thegirls’aspirationsto engagein should primarilyfulfilhouseholdchores are usually this, theparents’ expectationsthattheirdaughters means to bea ‘good While defining daughter’. the needto negotiate withtheirparents whatit means thatalready from anearlyagetheyfeel strongly gendered. For most young women this Family Backgrounds Social upbringingamongtheKyrgyz is 21 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 22 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan council. Thisinformal institutionoften includes bediscussedinafamily significance would first many also remarked that matters of particular final decisionwould rest withtheeldestmale, most Kyrgyz youth didnot questionthatthe of decisi respondents reflected ontheactualprocesses hierarchies becamemore complexoncethe ‘family leadership’. traits, suchas‘assertiveness’, ‘dominance’ or by contrast,revered for ‘masculine’ theirfathers or ‘hardworking’ were. their mothers Young men, admired how‘patient andenduring’(sabyrduu) relations. Young women, forexample,stated to gendered perception of familyandcommunal commonly identifiedalsofollowapredominantly as preparing daily meals or caring for children. to betakingover more householdchores, such commercial agriculture, were fathers reported intheindustrial sec opportunities this remote area. Withshrinkingemployment largely to the structural economic decline in which hasbeenarecent development, owing presented ratherfavourable viewson‘housemen’, oblastof Naryn discussion inthenorthern breadwinner. males asboththeheadof thefamily andthemain butnotnecessarilyof‘honour’, fact,to nominate earnings. Rather, itwasregarded asamatter of inferiority of ‘grace andbliss’bestowed onfemale contributions to theirownfinancial tended to undervalue country pattern, even working wives from thesouthof the actual incomestatus.Inlinewiththisregional the family’s mainbreadw brothers as fathers, orothermalefamilymembers of Batken, OshandJalalabad tended to name women. to thefamilybudgetdueto their statusasworking large financialcontributions their proportionally main familydecision-makers, thiswasrelated to few caseswhere were mothers identifiedasthe a washingmachine,were attributed to men. Inthe larger investments, suchasacar, or anapartment matters, whereas decisionsabout small everyday of healthcare, children’s educationandother women were saidto more often decideindomains basis. family expenses, Whenitcameto particular who would share theiropinionsonanequal both parents andotherolderfamilymembers The picture of unequivocally gendered The role modelsthatKyrgyz respondents In marked contrast to this, a focus group Respondents from thesouthern oblasts on-making intheirfamilies.Although the familybudget,referring to the inner, regardless of their tor and specialist knowledgeandthatthe‘psychological However, itwasremarked thatthere wasalackof satisfaction with theeducationthey had received. musical instruments.Generally, studentsexpressed hallto the schoolfacilities,rangingfrom thesports directors, teachers andclassmates andoften also appreciated was the school ‘community’ of they describedasth positive attitudetowards theirschool,which hospitals orthelocalself-government bodies. dominated placesof employmentsuchasschools, canusuallybefoundinfemale- there are inNaryn because whatscarce employmentopportunities their husbands andin-lawsto generate income, Wives, ontheotherhand,are encouragedby legitimacy of tuition fees in light of the fact that fact, quite alot of Kyrgyz youth questionedthe facilities andequipment atloc corruption, lowquality of teaching, andpoor system, whichwere causedprimarilybypervasive frustrations withthepost-secondary education bazaar-sellers. sector as waiters, in car washes or as the service male respondents alsofoundemploymentin orreceptionists.waiters, dishwashers Urban whereas theirurban mostly worked peers as assisted withtheirfamily’s businessorfarm, Female respondents from ruralareas commonly in the agricultural sector or on construction sites. groups andsoughtemployment asday-labourers thattheyorganisedreported themselves into to gainwork experience.Ruralmalerespondents needsand earn extramoneyfortheirpersonal expresseduniforms orsupplies.Others awishto their family’s budget,forexampleto buy school necessity to earn moneyinorder to supplement during weekends orvacations. Someindicated the grade onwards, of i.e.11-12years age,mostly Somebeganworkingtheir schoolyears. from 5th declared thattheyhadbeenemployed during fromboth genders, bothruralandurban areas, choice abouttheirfuture professions. order for them to be able to make an informed preparation’ of young peoplewasinsufficientin Most Kyrgyz respondents reflected a Student respondents revealed serious Education andOccupation Professional Choices: A majorityof Kyrgyz respondents of eir ‘second home’. Especially al universities. In al universities. mainly dueto thefactthattheydoleast to interfere professions are thusregarded as‘proper forgirls’, in regard to managing workloads These andhours. in bothurban andruralareas, andare alsoflexible these professions would beinpermanent demand professionals, hairdressers because or tailors, that theirdaughters becometeachers, medical female occupation. Parents often recommend question of whatcanbeconsidered anacceptable complicated bythe women, thismatter isfurther profession theyhadenvisioned.Foryoung Kyrgyz educational choicesoften do notrelate to thefuture in otherskill-buildingactivities,theiractual the respective orparticipate courses, preparatory andfreemeans, parental timeto attend support structural disadvantages. Without similar financial students from often rural areas face of the country In comparison to theirurban prospective peers, (ORT) Admissions Test. orNationalUniversity scores intheannual‘All-Republican Testing’ Kyrgyzstan muchdependsonapupil’s performance and university the ability to select their faculty, in family: order to avoid becomingaburden to theirbirth decide to subordinate their individual ambitions in from ayoung femaleillustrates, women mightthen education of male siblings. As the following quote tend to prefer to invest scarce resources inthe incasesofFurthermore, financialhardship families fromabsence of parents support andspouses. responsibilities of young marriedwomen and into marriage,domestic Among theseare: entry or threats to theiracademicaspirations. pursuing that young femalesface awiderangeof barriers continuing education,theresearch datashowed schools or atuniversities. professional qualifications,eitherinvocational an awareness of thenecessityto obtainfurther Regardless of gender, therespondents showed promising wayto secure adecentlivelihood. prevailing majorityof young Kyrgyz asthemost educationisunderstood bythe secondary teaching. Thissituationnotwithstanding,post- semester forwhatisessentiallyunsatisfactory they were alsoforced to pay multiplebribeseach with dutiesof child-rearing, household chores orthe As regards enrolment into aparticular Despite thisencompassing notionof disaster. getmarried.’ SoIdecidedto have itwould beena university to Iwent that if tuition fees, and imagine siblings pay had to causeto hardship. more Bothof herinto my We hadonlymy motherandIdidnotwant both my atuniversity. andbrother sister were study.‘I wasactuallyplanningto Bythattime, their husbands orin-laws (often themother-in law) tomarried women notreported and controlled by respondents in the northern oblasts of Naryn, oblasts ofrespondents Naryn, in the northern not thewoman’. Incontrast,mostof thosemale ‘it isthemanwhoshouldgooutandmake money, the home’, ‘awoman’s dutyisto rear children’, or employment, arguing that‘awoman’s placeisin in thesouthern oblastswere opposedto female of parts Kyrgyzstan.and northern Avast majority found to differsignificantlybetween thesouthern decent foragirl’. ‘singers are unhappyinfamily’or‘singing isnot continuously challengedherdream, arguing that singer, thatherparents reported andotherrelatives respondent, forexample,whowanted to becomea these could threaten future family life. One female strongly discouragedbyparents, whoargue that by thefactthatalternative trajectories are often subordination of femalecareers isalsoevidenced for women, asitmightbetoo time-intensive. Such business wasfoundbymanyto beinappropriate of afuture husband. Accordingly, runningaprivate professional orientationandplaceof employment able to copewithsuchadoubleburden: also foundthemselves feeling guiltyfornotbeing to avoid family tensions andblame.Somewomen prioritise domesticlifeover their careers, inorder women often felt pressured support, members’ to example dueto alackof spousalorotherfamily provedWhen suchbalancing difficult,for efforts to keep upwiththeirregular householdduties. the family budget were also commonly expected Naryn: following quote of ayoung 17-year-old manfrom do soaswell. isreflected Thisperspective inthe their wives’ anddaughters’ decisions to to support had highereducationandwere working, claimed Issyk-Kul, inTalas, andpartially whoseownmothers Only inexceptional casesistheincomeof The perception of ‘working women’ was Yet, employed women whocontribute to to find acompromise, find to thatisforsure.’ a robot. “morally”…There She getstired isaneed some kindof like engine,whichwill always work not are Butontheother hand women well. becausetoo, shecould not manageher time this,shemightbeguiltyherself, cameto matter make to the adecision…Maybeif it isdifficult isoneof thecomplicated situations,when ‘This they shouldfeedthechildren.’ isnomoneycomingthere outof it…Byworking just stay athomeanddothehousehold chores, take shouldyou where food?Forexample, you if from do not [a work, woman] children. If you ‘Women You shouldwork. feedthe needto 23 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 24 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan masculinity: might perceive aworking wifeas undermining his respondent’s reflection on how a man’s peer group divorce. Thefollowingquote gives afemaleKyrgyz such adevelopment couldincrease theriskof constellations. Malerespondents emphasisedthat challenge theestablishedpatriarchal family in decision-making and participation thus independence, a woman might seek stronger shared thebeliefthat,followinghereconomic is less‘blessed’thanthatof amale. and there wasalsotheviewthat a female’s income as ‘beingrespectful’ towards husbands orin-laws, or schoolsupplies.Suchpracticeswere justified needs suchasfood,clothes,andtoys forchildren earn was usually spent on the family’s everyday if theylive inthesamehousehold.Whatfemales however, whentheearning potential forKyrgyz regarded asagoodwife.Especiallyin cases, health, andthusto their future potential forbeing physical safety, moralintegrity andpersonal was primarilyperceived asathreat to their mobility, especiallyof unmarriedyoung women, a legitimate opportunity, femalegeographic employment elsewhere wasgenerallyconsidered one. Whereas for young men, leaving home to find for a prolonged time has remained a controversial the issue of women migrating and living abroad their livelihoods. Inregard to genderperceptions, for many to improvean attractive opportunity economy, labour migration to Russia has become patterns of young men. (negative) turning point for the social mobility to mark asimilarly marriage couldnotbeobserved their professional future bytheir30s.Incontrast, they would notreach whattheyhadenvisionedfor return to previous employment,andadmitted that generation of mosthopedto marriedmothers charity projects ontheside,amongnext will work in managementpositionsandsponsor who imagined becominghighlyqualifiedexperts, their earlierambitions.Whileadolescentgirlsstill who hadnotbeenforced to significantlydowngrade considered less ‘traditional’, there are few women regions ofthe northern Kyrgyzstan, whichare over timerevealed thatevenopportunities in Following femaleperceptions of theirprofessional In addition,manyKyrgyz respondents In lightof Kyrgyzstan’s weak national strong?” Suchsituationscanoccur.’ manage hersince Didshebecome sheearns? so “What’s not Canyou wife? wrong withyour ‘For example, my husband’s maysay: friends through theprismof genderrelations: also consequencesof migrationwhenexamined well to illustrate potential causesand serves old Kyrgyz woman from the city of Jalalabad, home andthedomesticsphere. delineations between breadwinning outsidethe while at the same time it challenges ‘traditional’ ignore for families caught in precarious situations, isdifficultto suchanopportunity counterparts, women from migrationexceeds thatof theirmale quote byanotherrespondent: too strong-willed fora marriageto succeed. female migrantmightnotbetoo independentand raise doubtsamongfuture in-lawsasto whethera of ‘a girl who has seen Russia’, which tends to this wasbecauseshe would fallinto the category unmarried. The casestudyof Ainura,a24-year- Such a view is exemplified in the following However, she did not elaborate onwhether Ainurawasstill At thetimeof theinterview to beconfrontedto even withtypicalstereotypes, Ainura Still, remarkeduniversity). thatsheused student ofstudies (as an external aKyrgyz home moneyandeven her finish managedto migration Russia, to from shethensent where family’s expenses. SoAinura decidedonlabour was notenoughanymore contribute to her to and themoneythatAinura inthebank earned family becameburdened by problems, financial death of her father some previously, years the contributeto hertuitionfees.Following to the inorder inalocalbank work to Ainura started When shewasa4 did notgo.’ they if bebetter itwould itisdifficult, women places, foryoung Therefore, otherpeople,etc. but peoplewillstillsay shehasseen other Maybe shehasbehaved inRussia, there well they say: Russia”… “thisisthegirl whovisited from word abad her,hears thenimmediately someoneif any finds improper behaviouror becoming daughter-in-lawafter of someone, in thevillage…andspread thenforexample, which not seen rumours are this,butthere in Russia, orshemetsomeone We there. have that she married Because rumours are there forgirls… Russia,to hard marry itispretty to ‘Now, forexample, asfar asIknow, atrip after have thoughts.’ bad smokeprobably you ordootherthings?”They some “You peoplethink: have Russia, beento like those whothinklike that…AsIwassaying, girl.SoIdonot abad are thinksyou everyone ‘What I do not like Russia,to went is, you if anegative imprint: time abroad mighthave left from amongherown relatives, abouthow her th year university student university year unemployed husband overcame constraining mother of five children, give insightinto howher The words of Aisalkyn,a38-year old working stove’ wasdiscussedduringafocus group inNaryn. Such atrend of ‘housemen’or ‘husbands atthe household chores may ensure family well-being. Kyrgyzstan, thenapragmaticapproach to sharing for women over them,especiallyinrural areas of current conditionsfavour incomeopportunities one motherputit: divorce, which is seen as a realistic possibility. As also thattheywillbebetter ableto copeincaseof on theirhusbands’ orin-laws’benevolence, but sets isnotonlythattheywillbelessdependent behind suchinvestments into daughters’ skill- free undergraduate programmes. The rationale of low-ormedium-incomefamiliesto access foryoung women perceived asanopportunity towns of KizilkiyaorBatken, hascometo be system into institutes close-by, suchasinthe they enter marriage.Enrolling through theORT branchesbeforeeducation atlocaluniversity necessity to equip their daughters with higher in Kyrgyzstan’s southern andruralareas seea group respondents, more andmore families selling suchhomemadegoods. young women to drawadditionalincomefrom economic sector,within thetertiary enabling These skillsare understood to be indemand making actual contributions to the family budget. children or bake homemadepastries couldmean During marriage,beingableto sewclothesfor practical skill-setssuchascookingorsewing. are thatimprove sentoncourses reportedly Kyrgyzyears, girls in the Batken or Jalalabad areas school with this,asearlyduringtheirsecondary Inline enhance theirfuture incomeopportunities. which would keep daughters local,butalso Russia, parents revealed thattheyseekalternatives, early ‘unprepared’ marriagesandmigrationto about thefutures of theirdaughters. Asidefrom group discussionsrevealed seriouscontemplations notions of patriarchal pride: However, incases,where men acceptthat Furthermore, accordingFurthermore, to focus The voices of Kyrgyz parents duringfocus easily lost.’ for herfamily. Withouteducationshewill be will be forced inorder provide to goworking to alonewithherchildren.Thenshe and will be left who knows, maybeshegetsdivorced oneday will have andchildren. But husband acaring Hopefully, shegetsmarried. look like after she ‘We don’tknow how her[thedaughter’s] will life modest earnings: Aisalkyn tended to exaggerate theimpact of his over herhusband’s feelingsof economicinferiority, needed empathy andcareful attention. To gloss indicated thatthiswasstilladelicate balance that forms of violenceare likely of to beapart such had already experiencedthemselves, thatvarious respondents revealed thattheywere aware, or obedient, caringandsubmissive. FemaleKyrgyz wife fulfillingvarious householdchores andbeing For manyyoung Kyrgyz men,thismeanstheir need to prove one’s asa‘good versatility wife’. one of vulnerability, which was burdened withthe husband’s familywasgenerallyexperiencedas The positionof a‘daughter-in-law’ (kelin) inthe least, withhisparents, siblingsorotherrelatives. in sharingthelivingspace, forsome timeat husband’s household,whichinmostcasesresults family and joiningher entails leavingherbirth not actuallyhave anage-limitformarriage. respondents expressed theviewthatamandoes considered to althoughsomefemale be30years, market’. was often For men, the latest age to marry perceived to losevalue within the‘marriage were saidto facesocialstigmatisationandwere get married.Women beyond thatthreshold istheagebywhichawomanthat 25years should At thesametime,Aisalkyn’s remarks further Many of theKyrgyz respondents indicated For ayoung Kyrgyz woman, marriage Health Choices andA/SRH Marriage blessed (berekeluu)!”’ andbountiful 3000 soms [$44].Aman’s indeed are earnings him:“Looktell how much Icould buyfrom your ‘Sometimes haveI really a tell him.I lie to to are both very muchcontent aboutthis.’ bothvery are does notminddoingthehousework forme.We Now he seems have to changedhis mind. He he wasobeyingmeanddoingawoman’s work. because my mother-in-law kept him telling that the beginning,heused feel uncomfortable to does not feel ashamed of doing housework. In for dinnerorsomething easier…Infact,he potatoes guess. SometimesIeven fry askhimto By now heseems mebetter, understand to I Hestaysnot work. athome,buthelpsmealot. does Myhusband tiring! Itisextremely chores. takes because norest, of household remaining all daylong,comes homeintheevening and ‘A atschool with children,whoworks woman 25 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 26 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan experience of domesticviolence: by bride-kidnappingisfollowed bycontinuous if a forcedmay have to marriage face,inparticular violent predicaments that young Kyrgyz women and ‘does notbeat’. someone who‘does notdrink’, ‘does notsmoke’ and manyconsidered thatadecenthusband is mainly framedintheabsenceof negative traits, married life.Expectationsfora Bride-kidnapping alsoappeared to beamongthe a kidnapping,orhadbeen kidnappedthemselves. relatives orfriendswhoeitherhadparticipated in rural areas of Kyrgyzstan beingaware reported of tradition’. Ahighnumberof respondents from the legitimisation of bride-kidnapping asa‘Kyrgyz extremely limited. Thisbeginswiththecultural are end upinasituationwhere opportunities how Jyldyz or other young Kyrgyz women might aspectsthatare essentialforunderstanding further vi their daughter’s return becausetheir familybudgetwould hardly allowthemtofeed anyadditional members. 4 Certainly, incasesofprecarious livelihoodsthe‘cultural argument’ mightonly serveasafront, whilein factparents might bemotivatedto oppose olence, this case allows the identification of The following case study illustrates the Beyond theactualexperience of physical and she is currently lookingforajob. and sheiscurrently Jyldyz’sregistered childreninakindergarten Thebrother showed andsupport. understanding livethis timeJyldyzcameto withherbrother, who from her mother,As she did not receive support mother. adegradinghim into positioninfront of her and violentlyretaliated againstherforputting Jyldyz’s continued herhusband return, drinking have been living like this for many years’. Upon Your[turmush]. fatheralso used beatme.We to the and [to husband] live with him. This is life ‘Goback her: whathermothertold hearing did notbelieve after himbutstill returned promised not beat he her would again. Jyldyz Jyldyz’s and begged return husband her to somefrom the domestic violence. time, After having seen thebruises thatJyldyzhadsustained only after house, hermotherbelieved herstory hermother’s to timeJyldyzreturned The first her. applianceskitchen atherandverbally abused hands,threw beatherwithhisbare herneck, to kill her by to threatened husband puttingaknife Her thenightbefore. notsurvive that shewould not sleepingthewholenight.Jyldyzthought thehouse after earlyinthemorning time sheleft withherchildren.This when shewaspregnant thattheabuse alsoShe reported place took from severe physical andpsychological abuse. having suffered repeatedly times three after is troubled with an excessive alcohol problem, who herhusband, education.Sheleft further the 11thgrade. Since thenshehasnotpursued was kidnapped while she was still studying in from her earlier marriage. At the age of 17 she Jyldyz (24)isdivorced daughters andhastwo partner werepartner thus expressed support forviolentmeansofexpressed disciplining, support by thefactthatsomeof thefemalerespondents mother). suffering from violence(asinthecaseof Jyldyz’s help, regardless of even of ownhistory amother’s to leadto therejection of desperate requests for to take adaughter back’ maybestrong enough shows, thesocial anxiety associated with‘having ‘what willpeoplesay?’). Asthecaseabove vividly smaller villagecommunities(‘elder emnedeit?’ - pose forafamily’s reputation, especiallywithin collective power of gossipandthethreat thismight individual objectionto such a marriage to the felt obligedto subordinate theirdaughter’s (amounting to deprivation of liberty). many stilldidnotperceive of itasacriminalact kidnapping amongrespondents wasnegative, of age.Whilethegeneralperception of bride- alreadyreportedly been kidnapped at 16 years prime causesof early marriage, andsome girls had psychologically abusedandneglected. and thusare more prone to beingphysically and they are often regarded asonly‘2ndclasswives’, be saidto suffermostfrom thissituation,because Women whohave beenbride-kidnapped could sources willingto protectas trustworthy them). enforcement agencies (whoare notconsidered own parents, or thelaw- otherfamilymembers to resist tend from to receive their littlesupport women. Inconsequence,women whochoose has establishedastrong socialtaboothatsilences ofendure domesticviolence aspart life(turmush), families,andalsoconcludingthatoneshould birth to the‘shame’ thatadivorce would bringto their face multipleculturalandsocialbarriers. Pointing unhappymarriage from anabusive orotherwise inchildrearing. efforts being criticisedforalackof householdskillsor lives, whichwent beyond them in theireveryday asageneralsourcemothers-in-law of tension Young Kyrgyz women frequently identified their whoprotector mothers-in-law theirviolentsons. their daughters to remain inanabusive marriage, complicity of whoforce women, bethesemothers (violent) patriarchal practicesrelies alsoonthe perpetrators, thisshowsthattheperpetuationof bymale theviolenceexerted any wayjustifying not ‘care for the children properly’. Without in for examplewhenawife‘talkstoo much’or does Such a situation is further exacerbated Such asituationisfurther In thecaseof akidnapping,parents often In summary, Kyrgyz women whoseekanexit 4 anxious that this might provoke promiscuous and those with a religious background, who were ofalso members localcommunities, mostlymen of unprotected sexandsimilar topics, there were of spreading information ontheconsequences Although amajorityof respondents were infavour Health Choicesatschoolwasacontroversial topic. sources of information onthesematters. friends orolderboysintheirneighbourhood as male relatives, butrathermentionedtheInternet, orother andsexualitywiththeirfathers puberty by contrast, claimed that they would not talk about aunts, sisters andsisters-in-law. Malerespondents, offemale members theirextended family, suchas a preference fortalkingaboutsuchtopics withother and Osh.Young women from ruralareas expressed originatedmothers from theurban areas of Bishkek andsexualitywiththeir openly discusspuberty withgrandparents.and thenleft village/city where thechildwillbeborn insecret orrelocation to another clandestine abortion, may beaforced marriage,singleparenthood, aloneto face theconsequences,which often left Accordingly, unmarriedpregnant women were ‘save’ theirvirginity fortheirfuture husbands. women who were blamed for not thinking to widespread phenomenon,itwasalmostexclusively which respondents identified as a of wedlock, to women. Whendiscussingpregnancies out responsibility forreproductive andsexualchoices pattern thatpredominantly assignedthe value of femalevirginity: referring to onthesupreme themoraldiscourse to abstain from pre-marital sexual intercourse, A/SRH HealthChoices,butratherpressured girls focus lessonproviding actualinformation about remarked, however, thatthesegatheringswould councils attheirschools.Young participants attended meetingsorganised bythelocalwomen’s some from Talas that they had reported and Naryn, female respondents from Osh and Jalalabad, and sources of knowledge.Forexample,amajority of health, respondents indicated usingdifferent seen asa negative influenceemanating from was behaviour among youth (whichfurthermore The opportunity to educate youth onA/SRH The opportunity Those female respondents who would In fact,thisquote reflects amore general andsexualreproductiveAs regards puberty with a white dress [indicatingvirginity].”’ dress with awhite also sheet,marry sleeponthewhite wantto scold uslike: “Are laydown?! cattle to you You from this class who this got boy.to married They women’s‘The council aboutonegirl stories tells and expanded in reference to the ethnic minority themes, whichfrom here onwillalsobediscussed Kyrgyz establishedabaseline andarangeof structures ofopportunity young maleandfemale paragraphs ongenderperceptions and focus group discussionheldintheTalasoblast: ‘Western’ societies).Thefollowingisavoice from a prospect of becoming relevant decision-makers quite a lot of young Kyrgyz women with the and children. On the onehand,thisequipped being employable, but ready to prioritise husband being educated, butnot too old;andbetween daughters-in-law that they walk a thin line between requirements of future in-lawsdemandedfrom in the ‘marriage market’. In practice, the idealised negotiations remained a young women’s value Tajik orKurdish peers. Kyrgyz girls rather than, for example, their Uzbek, than in the south; and (2) for ofparts the country to exist(1)more for Kyrgyz girlsin the northern couldbeunderstood Thisopportunity daughter’. the boundariesof whatitmeantto be‘agood private-public balance withintheirfamilies,i.e. to actively negotiateto this existtheopportunity home. However, forKyrgyz girlsthere appeared academic or leisure activitiesoutsideof herown inextracurricular their daughters’ participation fear forthefamily’s reputation, tended to constrain parental control, whereby parents, actingoutof that, unmarriedKyrgyz women were subjectto female withanoutside-maledomain.Inline gendered upbringingthatjuxtaposesadomestic- Kyrgyz femalerespondents were exposedto a aspects. will highlightsomeof themostsalienttrends and groups of Kyrgyzstan. Thefollowingparagraph The insightspresented inthepreceding The primary orientationforthese The primary While growing up,mostof theyoung Discussion contact. live Better peacefully [sic!].’ girlsandboys between relationships andsexual giveit isnotappropriateto classes aboutthe in asexual Thisiswhy relationship. Ithink boy doitandtheymaygetengaged wantto inclass,agirland everything hearing after alone.Therefore, may notbetemporarily left may notfollow butthisdesire alldesires, people do to it. A personit, it may push young place. Forexample, explains whenateacher suchclasses if ‘I thinkitisbetter donottake 27 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 28 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan siblings byparents, forced manyyoung Kyrgyz or theprevious preferential treatment of male and employment,thelackof spousalsupport, smoke’ and ‘does not beat’. As regards education husband simplyifhe‘does notdrink’, ‘does not common forsomeoneto beperceived asadecent significantly lower anditwas thanviceversa, female expectationsforamalespousewere set were facing.Withinthemarriagemarket, barriers couldbedetected thatyoung women future (aswives orsingleparents). or sewing, which they could capitalise on in the in order for themto develop skillssuchascooking sent theirdaughters onso-called ‘short courses’ notable insouthern Kyrgyzstan, where parents higher education, a recent trend in this regard was and active in societal participants life. Aside from assigned to women. as non-maritalpregnancies waspredominantly responsibility to prevent andhandlematters such choices would instigate youth’s promiscuity, the information onthetopic of reproductive andsexual from theeldergeneration’s general suspicionthat the silencingof andaside women. Furthermore, to the perpetuation of patriarchal practices and could beidentifiedascontributingsignificantly whoprotectedmothers-in-law theirviolentsons, daughters to stay in an abusive marriage, or who forcedolder women, suchasmothers their to hercallforprotection. Thecomplicityof of their daughter place,orto inthefirst respond earlymarriage sufficient to prevent an involuntary for manyparents thisnegative prospect wasn’t to bring‘shame’ (uyat)upon thefamilyaswell, although adaughter’s divorce wasunderstood bride-kidnapping, itisinteresting to note that and otherabusesduringmarriage.Inregard to through bride-kidnapping, or domestic violence violence againstthem,bethatforced marriage woman willwin,themanlose’. advantage, butasazero-sum gameviz.‘whatthe of genderrelations notaspotential accumulative be reinforced, whichadvances anunderstanding all-male peer-groups suchscepticism appeared to challenge patriarchal familyconstellations. Within more indecision-making andthus participation to demand lead working women inparticular which,itwasbelieved,‘female character’, could respondents revealed thattheydonottrustthe or becoming housewives). Many Kyrgyz male aspirations (turning towards more ‘female’jobs women to diverge from their originalcareer 6 5 See National StatisticalCommittee oftheKyrgyz Republic(2016b). See National StatisticalCommittee oftheKyrgyz Republic(2016a). On theotherhand,multiplepatriarchal Kyrgyz women continuedto sufferfrom in theinterests of thewell-being of their families. and favoured femaleemploymentopportunities, of inescapable material circumstances which assigned roles asfamilypatriarchs, inthelight to distancethemselves from theirtraditionally whoproved flexibleenough ‘housemen’ of Naryn, patriarchy’. It was bestexemplified bythe Kyrgyz group could be summarised as a ‘pragmatic norms. Essentially, themodusoperandifor toprinciple, bepersuaded reassess traditional whocan,in initiative andmalecounterparts predestined but as subject to change by personal in education,employmentandmarriageasnot seemed to render a woman’s future positioning challengesandsetbacks thatoften opportunities, term ‘turmush’ (life)captures thisblendingof continue negotiatingtheirlifetrajectories. The are perceived intheircommunitieswasto consequence from howgenderrelations that foryoung women inKyrgyzstan themain ‘Marriage andA/SRHHealthChoices’. ‘Family Backgrounds’, ‘Professional Choices’and that willbeexplored among young Uzbeks are source forthissection of thethemes thereport, the largest ethnicminorityof Kyrgyzstan. lifeisperceived andimaginedamong everyday successfully captures theessentialaspectsof how chosen as theheadline for this section, becauseit of ‘endurance’, ‘patience’ and‘perseverance’, was term ‘sabr’, which encapsulates theIslamic virtues where theUzbekpopulationis26.6%. oblast, Jalalabad oblast,Oshoblastand city) presence inthecountry’s southern regions (Batken population. wide, theUzbeksrepresent 14.6%of Kyrgyzstan’s respondents of theethnicUzbekgroup. Nation- gender relations amongyoung femaleandmale structures of andunderstanding opportunity Endurance amongUzbekYouth The previous paragraphs have illustrated The following sectionwillexaminethe TheRelevanceSabr: of Following abriefcommentonthedata 5 More relevant, however, istheirstrong 6 TheArabic

this: community. Thefollowingquote exemplifies displaying proper behaviour withinthelocal childrearing, overcoming difficultiesinlife and reach theirmaximumpotential forhousekeeping, as guideshelped them tohow their mothers Respondents spoke withdeepappreciation about role model. astheprimary served mothers Uzbek respondents. consequences theseentailed,formaleandfemale degrees of manifestation,andtheparticular task of thissectionwillbeto examinethedifferent Kyrgyz of thesouthern region. From here on,the comparable to thosejustdepicted fortheethnic havingexperiencedwereyoung Uzbeksreported socialisation andpatriarchal familyhierarchies that treatment,were ethnicUzbeks. also of defendantsandvictimsof detention orill- Kyrgyzstan, whenamajorityof casualties,butlater back to the2010interethnic conflictinsouthern of suspicionandanxiousvulnerabilitydates topics, suchasethnicdiscrimination.Thisstate regarding theirfamily backgrounds or‘delicate’ to discusswhattheyconsidered ‘private’ matters of theyoung Uzbekrespondents were hesitant communities (‘mahalla’). local (Islamic)clericsandwomen of neighbourhood were of members localcommunities,including the city of Osh.Participants in these discussions divorced. (Onerespondent provided noanswer.) were unmarried,20were marriedandfourwere and 22withyoung males. 42of therespondents conducted, amongthem45withyoung females Jalalabad were andBatken. Intotal, 67interviews exclusively inKyrgyzstan’s southern regions of Osh, The basic patterns of gendered many forthisreport, During theinterviews Two focusgroup discussionstook placein Data forthissectionwere gathered almost Among Uzbek females of all age groups, Family Backgrounds Data Source is my mother. imitate to herandmy ideal forgiving. Thus,Itry these kinds of and friendly people, is patient, towards otherpeople,butmy mother, unlike and aggressive become nervous face difficulties Manyshe has always been patient. people who has but thesefaceddespite many difficulties, [sabrli] patient She woman. ‘My motherisavery ’ tongue. Ontheotherhand,graduates of such educationisoffered intheirmother secondary favourable picture of because schooling,inpart appearance: progress academicallyongrounds of herreligious questioned apupil’sschool personnel abilityto illustrates, confrontations emerged whenthe quote from a15-year-old femaleresident of Osh Asthefollowing wear the‘hijab’(Islamicheadscarf). tensions atschoolbecause of theirpreference to be sold. children, babysitting, orpreparing baked goodsto family budgetbyworking inlocalbazaars, tutoring Uzbek respondents indicated contributingto the from sellingfruitsandhome-madedrinks.Female helpingoutinthefields,or washingcars, work, vacations, earning money from construction Kyrgyz aimed to peers, work during their school limited. employment inthepublicsector, are significantly professional such as and further opportunities, additional languages,accessto universities Uzbek isnotproficient enoughinoneof these ‘official language’(Russian).Therefore, ifayoung in thecountry’s ‘state language’(Kyrgyz) or the exam(ORT) canbetaken entry university only education, especiallyas,since2013,thenationwide inregard toopportunities theircontinuing Uzbek-language schoolslater onmayfacelimited ‘Holy Prophet’ Muhammad: ‘an idealwoman’, were inspired bythelifeof the moral values, includingthequestionof howto be religious noted believers thattheir ethical and respondents who identified themselves as being thoseUzbek groups discussedinthisreport, quite incontrasttoFurthermore, theotherethnic Some femaleUzbekrespondents indicated Young Uzbek men, similarly to their Uzbek respondents generallydrew a Education andOccupation Professional Choices: prohibit wearing thehijab,aspresiden prohibit wearing to hasnoright the hijab.Infact,director a are lot of girls at school who wear ‘There why I admire them and try to belike to why themandtry Iadmire them.’ Thatis educated. very andwere ideal women They oncewere. distinguished themselves as asthey andeducated beascultured want to belike to try theProphet’shijab, we wives. We ‘As the from are family areligious andwear we t 29 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 30 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan daughters’ safety and well-being once they left daughters’ safety and well-being once they left continuing education,orparents fortheir fears of theirparents to ‘invest’ intheirdaughters’ young femaleUzbeks,the stated lackof readiness young women) hadenrolled For inuniversities. group onlyafewof them(especiallyamongthe professional futures, incomparison to theKyrgyz higher education to be relevant for their number of divorced young couples. to the heightenedof theirdaughters pertained education andfuture professional opportunities Uzbek parents behindinvesting inthecontinuing Kyrgyz anadditional rationalefor counterparts, city (foraprolonged period).Similarlyto their by nothavingto sendher to inthe auniversity maintain control of their daughter’s reputation less affluent families; and because parents could time; becausetheywould beaffordable alsoto to fulfilhouseholdchores andstudyatthesame convenient, becausetheyenabledwomen be very in rural areas, remarked could that such courses with young women. Uzbekrespondents, especially medicine or (fashion) design, have becomepopular skills, knowledge of topics suchasculinary months to two andaimedatimproving years, development orleisurepersonal activities. inthedomainsof to extra-curricularopportunities enjoying privileged access setting also reported people of who reside bothgenders inanurban the ethnicKyrgyz, withintheUzbekgroup young South Korea. Ashasalready beenmentionedfor for labour migration to places such as Russiaor Korean) to prepare was seen as an opportunity Improving Russian or other language skills (e.g. institutes asanattractive alternative to university. mentioned ‘short-term atprivate courses’ language out thenecessityto work ratherthanstudy. and incaseof limited financialmeans,alsopointed declining qualityof instructionatlocaluniversities, Uzbek malerespondents were criticalof the home to studyinacityaccounted forthis.Some Although Uzbekrespondents considered ‘Short-term courses’, lasting from six In relation to this,malerespondents most prestigious university.”’most prestigious uncovered your surpass the studentsandenter and biology.physics, chemistry “I will her: I told am keen secular onlearning sciences suchas hear my opinion. The hijab is just the hijab. I Shedoesnotwantto backwards. theyare as if it. She behavespermitted towards covered girls my hijaboff, Isay has herthatthepresident to timewhenshedemandsthat I takeit. Every [of Kyrgyzstan] it.Butshedoesnotlike permits males outsidetheirownkinshipgroup (mahram) working environment of awoman: contactwith conditions should ideally apply to the potential income purposesthanfor childrearing. Further where femaleeducationshallbeutilisedlessfor ‘guides’ fortheirwomen through life;and,finally, fulfil theirdutiesasbreadwinners, ‘teachers’ and education isto beprioritisedinorder forthemto especially incaseof insufficientresources, male and ‘respectful’ towards her husband; where, cleric, ‘athome’thewoman shouldbe‘modest’ within afamily, where, asoutlinedbythesame these draw on the perception of gender relations such goals to be realised are significant.Many of the conditionsthatneedto bemetinorder for of awoman, ‘…shecaneven becomeapresident…’, should benolimitto theprofessional achievements remarked that,from a religious standpoint, there studying andworking. Althoughoneclericclearly constraints foryoung Uzbek women inregard to communities addressed boththepotentials and clerics andelderlywomen of localneighbourhood courses: in the aforementioned household-related short education, and both atuniversity receive further her daughter notto be‘marriedoff early’, butto family whichshehadto fightagainstinorder for social pressures from withinandoutsideherown mother inher50svividlyillustrates themultiple of anUzbek studies.Thefollowingstory further of 21or22andthenewin-lawsprohibit their atthe‘usualage’ graduating, shouldtheymarry higher educationmayfacethepossibilityof never whom theirfamilieshave openedthewaytowards medicine orteaching. women, to, inbest-case scenarios,thefieldsof oflimit theactualcareer Uzbek opportunities such principles, even if not fully enforced, severely Kyrgyzstan’s rathersecularisedworking realities, accompanied byoneof theirmahram males. In lasting longerthanthree days,women shouldbe should beminimised,andduringbusiness-trips The focusgroup discussionswithIslamic But even thoseyoung Uzbekwomen for should Imake hersuffer?… Why andwhennot, shouldn’tyou? marriage should know for child is ready you whenyour We receiving already were matchmakers. But “No way. She isyet!” not ready young! She is too oneby one.Isaid: theirdaughters off marrying At heroff!” thattime,many families were marry We study? “What istheneedforagirl to will said, thefight!...They andIwon it! Mydaughter up for it, stood I wasjust for fighting ‘I firmly education: initiate doubts about the usefulness of secondary prism of marriageanddomesticlife,thiscaneven become exclusively constructed through the (mahallas). Foryoung Uzbekwomen whosefutures local unitssuchasaneighbourhoodcommunities the social trends within tightly knit and traditional apparentlyworking femalemembers, submitto thosewithouteducated or families, inparticular the idea of exporting agricultural goods or the idea of exporting stores. Somerespondentsor grocery mentioned existent ones, such as pharmacies, beauty parlours open their own business or expand on (parents’) plans mentioned weretime occupation. to Further astheirfull- school graduationthey would pursue forboys,mostlysewinggirls-whichupon crafts school-forexamplehairdressing or secondary whiletheywere stillat agreements witha‘master’ a lotof young Uzbeksentered into apprenticeship- and theprivate sector. Itwasmentionedthatquite imagined theirfuture careers inself-employment domestic lifeandresolve familytensions. to readjust thebalance between professional and quit theirjobsorbeganworking part-time inorder that they most married Uzbek women reported that ‘forawoman familyhaspriorityover acareer’, At theotherendof thespectrum,many The majority of young Uzbek respondents In linewiththepatriarchal understanding marriage, or plan to marry uneducated girls.’ uneducated marry orplanto marriage, they force drop girlsto outof after university when a man allows Moreover, work. his to wife myshould I waste Itisrare timeforuniversity?” ajobformen,sofind isnojob.Why formethere to will husband not allow Itisdifficult work. meto courses.informal attending They “My think: do get not to higher aspire education and prefer and donotallow Thatiswhy work. themto girls out of the home, force a headscarf them wear to ‘In ourdaysmenprohibit theirwives from going theseto kindof skills.’ sew. attention pay Nowadays, mothers-in-law with her, as she has higher education and can happy Now sewing very herin-lawsare curtains. enoughmoney quite init.Sheearned interested courses of how because sew to shewas curtains courses, thenextknittingcourses, andthelast, interested”. baking sheattended year Thefirst coursesinformal are vacations, during you if courses as her I friends. said: “You can attend Shealso rights?” your thesame attend to wanted courses Why for fight enoughforyou? don’tyou arguedMy daughter “Are withherfriends: these household-related informal attended courses. 9thgrade schoolOther girlsfinished and after receiveddaughter education. auniversity In our mahalla only [neighbourhood] my hijab: school becauseof anUzbekemployee wearing a following quote illustrates workplace tensions ata even beenverbally staff. abusedbyuniversity The ethnic Uzbekslower scores, andthattheyhad for example,claimedthatinstructors would give or religious students, convictions.Someuniversity at schooloruniversity, based ontheirethnicity they feeldiscriminated againstintheworkplace, to develop thesecareer paths. beingsatisfiedwiththeiropportunities reported sector, mostlyasteachers oraccountants,and Uzbek women, someof whomstillwork inthepublic to anethnicminority. Thisisslightlydifferent for institutions dueto theirdisadvantageof belonging advance theircareers inKyrgyzstan’s government sector was the conviction that they could not reason fortheirstrong preference for theprivate of Osh. Young Uzbek males stated that the major companies inKyrgyzstan, inthecity particularly establishing traderepresentations of international earn forthemselves and thechildren’, a‘sense such as:‘self-confidence becauseof theabilityto emphasised thesocialand psychological benefits, family budget,working femaleUzbek respondents the material benefitsthat thiswould bringto the favour of working women predominantly point out enjoys respect in society. Whilethosemenin who managesbothwork anddomesticspheres views,suchasthatawoman expressed supportive hand experienceof orsisters, working mothers education in particular, andthose with first- goods. be acceptable,forexamplefrom sewingorbaked generated from female home-based work would that, ifaman’s earnings are insufficient, income family order. However, somerespondents stated disobedience andchallengethepatriarchal while economicindependencewillencourage would not be equally ‘blessed’ as those of men, targets forsexualharassmentandtheirearnings Kyrgyz group, namelythatwomen mightbecome ofthose thatcouldalsobeheard amongparts the outside thehome.Thereasons given are similarto women are notencouragedto seekemployment A fewUzbekrespondents remarked that On theotherhand,maleswithhigher Most Uzbekrespondents reflected that resignation from quit.’resignation meandto ofmen around, demandedaletter thedirector I said thatIcould notdothisbecause were there or tietheheadscarffrom behindmy head.When used they demanded I take work, to my off hijab, a hijab. When the I came ‘I wear schoolto I where 31 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 32 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan basic Islamicprinciples.MostUzbekrespondents (traditionally) patriarchal genderrelations and working women reveals different aspects of those exactsamereasons. own wives ordaughters takingupemploymentfor and reliable, andthenargue strongly againsttheir depict working women asmore educated, assertive evident amongthoseUzbekmenwhoinitially perception of genderrelations. Suchisespecially reflected, aspreviously noted, inastrictzero-sum- experiences of femaleempowerment andare male inadequaciesstandinoppositionto such to ‘take care of their appearance’. Anxieties about ‘expanding theirsocialnetwork’, andthemotivation who cannotwork becauseof society’s constraints’, ‘an inspirationforchildren andforthosewomen of achievement to beabenefitto society’, being breadwinner forced themto doso. own income, because the absence of a male they migrated with the intention to earn their or be responsible forexclusively domesticwork; that relocated to Russia,where theywould still were of eitherpart (extended) familygroups experiences of labourmigration.Femalemigrants a fewUzbekwomen seemto have theirown family violates Sharialaw: such merging of a woman’s budget with that of a discussion, alocalclericremarked that,infact, related to childrearing. Duringthefocusgroup expenses,suchasthose to usethemoneveryday husband orhisparents, orthattheyare supposed their earnings are eitherfully controlled bytheir the family, whichinpracticemeansforwomen that stated thatmoneywould bemanagedjointlywithin The handlingof income generated by In comparison to theKyrgyz group, only whole family. Awoman’s income isherown only.’ money, because his money is common for the money, canspendherhusband’s butthewife own…The cannotspendhiswife’s husband income iscommon and thewife’s oneisher alawinIslam.Thehusband’s you ‘I willtell wished, inorder to clearthewayfortheiryounger earlierthantheywould havepressure to marry Among themwasthatolderdaughters experienced identified evaluate eachotherbeforehand. to get to know and couple have few opportunities periodof time,andthustheyoung within ashort marriage among Uzbek youth is usually planned thiswascombinedwiththefactthat Often having beeninvolved inthedecisionthemselves. by theirparents to take thisstep, ratherthan associated withmarriageandthattheywere told unaware of themeaningandresponsibilities an earlyage indicated thattheyhad been quite Those femalerespondents whowere marriedat while foryoung menthis wassetat24-26years. was considered theidealageforwomen to marry, Choices the followingquote from ayoung Uzbekwoman: delay theirmarriage.Thiscanbeillustrated with their on-goingstudiesoremployment,aimedto groups stigmatisedthosewomen who,dueto expectations of or otherpeer friends,neighbours siblings, asisexemplified inthisquote: Outside theirownfamily, thecollective Different socialdynamicscouldbe Among mostUzbekrespondents, 20-22 and(A)SRH Health Marriage rumours.’ Maybe I eliminate thesegot to married kind of expenses thewedding andso afford poor to on. too me, were and that we marry one to wanted my not behaving properly, were parents so no that rumours spread children. Theneighbours I graduated, orfour hadthree my already peers stayam goingto Bythetime without children. my withtheirchildren,itseemed friends I asif because I was bybothered stigmas. When I saw it…Perhaps understand to marry Idecidedto school. finishing Butpeopledidnotwant after and relatives did not. They had right married university,I attended whichmy friends married relatives perceived Ihadsomeme as if defect. and whenIwas24.Neighbours I gotmarried thanmehadchildren. those younger whowere ‘All of my even gotmarried, had already friends early.’ marry I hadto of instead askformarriage, to me.Thatiswhy to than me, so come to matchmakers her to started sister.‘I have ayounger Shehasgrown upfaster as leadingtowards early marriage. or elder sisters as essential interlocutors, their and regional backgrounds namedtheirmothers While femalesof allage-groups, educational information on the topic of sexuality and puberty. to the sources from whichtheyreceived actual life, young menandwomen differed inregards roles modelsfortheirownmarried as important sexes indicated thattheirparents would serve the Tajiks, Turks andKurds; seebelow). (but alsoamongotherminoritygroups, suchas justice system amongtheUzbekethnicminority low levels of trustinthelocallawenforcement and same conflictarea, couldbetaken to indicate the time, ratherthanKyrgyz familieswhoinhabited the turned to suchpracticesof earlymarriageatthis that itwaspredominantly Uzbekfamilieswho ‘daughters-in-law forfree’ (bekerkelins). Thefact daughters-in-law’ (gumpomoshchkelins) or by husbands andin-lawsas‘humanitarianaid violence orearlydivorce andwere stigmatised young bridesalsosuffered from psychological of asearly16years such age.Often, ‘married off’ led to situationsinwhichUzbekgirlswere reportedly women’s physicalsafetyandsexualintegrity, which apparently aggravated concerns aboutunmarried and oblast),the2010violentinterethnic conflict even over suchreligious opinions. family,burden for her birth seemed to predominate including theperception of agirlasaneconomic In thisregard, secularreasons forearlymarriage, theIslamicmarriage ceremony (nikah). perform underage marriage,and,for example,refused to acasewhereother reported theyactively opposed entering wedlock: juxtaposing physical and mentalpreparedness for an Islamicclericvoiced thefollowing opinion, married before thedeathsof hergrandparents, example thatof a16-year-old girlwhohadto get W male counterparts seemedtomale counterparts avoid raising this hile discussingcasesof earlymarriage,for Although Uzbekrespondents of both Within theUzbekcommunityof Osh(city At the same time, neither this cleric nor any limit for late marriage.’limit forlate society. Asforboys, theearliest ageis21,andno isastigmaof 23there “old maid” inour After So, letussay 23istheidealageformarriage. should rationally recognise these kindsof things. whentheyfaceand bepatient They bitterness. deal sensiblyto withsweetness, stand and to “sweetness” infamily life.Theyshouldbeready and deal life. is with married There “bitterness” does readiness not always the ensure ability to ofeven at 18 or 19 years age. Why? Physical girls off ‘I donotencourage marry to [parents] that ‘traditionalised’ genderperceptions, because within theextended familyseemed to beafactor their parents, husbands or in-laws. Co-habitation for education andemploymentwith opportunities less leverage whenitcameto negotiating their to enjoy young Uzbekwomen couldbeobserved Discussion taboo of speakingaboutthem(to strangers). within Uzbekfamilies,orbesubjectto astronger phenomena seemedto eitheroccurlessfrequently to the reflections of Kyrgyz respondents, such Uzbek youth aswell. However, incomparison labour migrationto Russia,canbedetected among Choices, suchasnon-maritalpregnancy following the actualexperiencesof young Uzbekwives and discussion again revealed a discrepancy between voice of anIslamicclericduringafocusgroup treatment of anewdaughter-in-law (kelin), the with thewife’s mother-in-law. Inregards to the domestic violenceandfamilytensions, inparticular earlymarriage,continuous divorce are similar: respondents. However, themainreasons for seems to bemore stigmatisedamongtheUzbek in addressing thesetopics. education showed themselves to belessreserved was noticeablethatyoung women withhigher preferences andexpectationsformarriedlife,it or TV. whenitcameto reflecting Furthermore, such asanatomy lessonsinschool,theinternet andsexuality,such aspuberty alongsidesources were fordelicate topics considered trustworthy for them.Foryoung men, religious explanations (books, imams,Fridaysermons) were influential (friends)orreligiousthat olderpeers sources topic withintheirfamilies,andinstead claimed considered as a voluntary andcharitableact. considered asavoluntary their contributionto householdchores shouldbe intheirnewfamilies,butthat obligation ‘to serve’ he clarifiedthatdaughters-in-law donothave an way thatshefallsonto asoft place’.) Furthermore, with ateeth-cleaning twig,or‘pushherinsucha and onlytheneithergive heranon-violentblow reprimand his wife,thenseparate his bed from hers, hecouldverballyinclude physicalviolence.(First, a husband’s options for discipline should never in casesof ‘disobedience, disloyaltyor illconduct’, the waysoutlinedinIslam.Theclericstated that In comparison to theirKyrgyz peers, In comparison to theKyrgyz group, divorce Other manifestationsof A/SRHHealth 33 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 34 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan observing a hierarchy of wife-husband-family-observing setting emerge sequencesof conditionaldecisions that from this respondents, it could be observed life-trajectories. From thevoices of Uzbekfemale complicates anyattempts to alternative pursue force of ahomogenisingpatriarchal opinion a localised social environment where the collective themahallacanbeunderstood as decided. Often were theprimeunitwhere afamily’s reputation was butalso with essentialnetworks of mutualsupport, families are embeddeddidnotonlyprovide them neighbourhood communitiesinwhichmostUzbek with these. be likely to comply feeltheneedto atleastpartially on a daily basis. Even a progressive husband would and monitored byparents, ormaybegrandparents, expectations of ‘rightconduct’becomearticulated self-confidence. social andpsychological benefits,such asimproved female respondents by contrast highlighted the out thematerial benefits of women’s employment, or sisters. Butwhereas malerespondents pointed with first-hand experiences of working mothers themselves hadahighereducation,andthose development ranked highestamongthosewho forsuch in-laws. Itwasnoticedthatmalesupport gain more independence from theirhusbands or continued education,whichwould allowthemto expansion of skill-sets(viashort-courses) and Uzbek voices thatadvocated foryoung women’s previousFurthermore, paragraphs have mentioned in ruralandsouthern areas of thecountry. by ethnicKyrgyz women, especiallythoseresiding ‘traditional’ familysituationswere alsodepicted Similarly,one that would be exclusively Uzbek. probability from and not be seen as others, should beunderstood to differindegree and quotes: to participate, asiscaptured inthetwo following often perceived themselves to have fewchances mahalla. Inthathierarchy, young Uzbekwomen Beyond thefamily, the mahalla As hasbeen noted before, suchascenario myself childrearing.’ to Iwill stay athomeanddevote I will; otherwise for me.Ifmy allows husband future work, meto graduating from university. isforemost Family ‘To after work behonest, I’mnotplanningto my marriage.’ person Iwill marry. So,my dependson career andfamily.work …Idonotknow whatkindof me,Iwillbalance between andwillsupport work I willmarry, andmy willallow husband meto ‘If Iwill not marry, Iwill focus onmy career. If education. secondary communities to doubteven the‘usefulness’of ofimpossible, causedsomemembers Uzbek which would make theirfuture marriagepractically them from possiblesexualharassmentorrape, underagegirlsinorder to protect off’ ‘marrying in southern Kyrgyzstan, thephenomenonof ofeducation. Intheaftermath the2010violence not to motivate their daughter to higher pursue then herparents mightconsideritmost‘rational’ forhereducationisdoubtful, continued support and ifexperiencesuggeststhatthenewin-laws’ while ayoung Uzbek woman isstillstudying, to thatof thehusband canbeexpected to occur family education. Ifthetransitionfrom thebirth influencing choices around continuing female market, couldbeconsidered asadditionalfactors stigmatisation of ‘old brides’ within the marriage according to most respondents, and the strong being20-22years, Uzbek women to marry language’ of Russian. Uzbekwomen of different either the ‘state language’ of Kyrgyz or the ‘official because asof 2013thiscanonlybetaken in admissionstest university (ORT), countrywide they donothave equalchances of successinthe attend institutionalisedUzbek-language schools, education, forwhichtheycouldstill secondary Young that,followingtheir Uzbeksreported Kyrgyzstan’s education andeconomicsectors. and acontinuousnarrowing of theirnicheswithin structurethat pointed to ashrinkingopportunity although hesitantly, indicated other developments preconditions. often unrealistic, asitcouldnotmeetthese working environment. was Actualparticipation to participate in Kyrgyzstan’s largely secularised that thesewomen have onlyahypotheticalchance for Uzbekfemaleemployment,whichoften meant and traditionstended to establish preconditions male interpretations ofpractice, everyday Islam zero-sum-perspective ongender-relations). In women (whichbefore hasbeendiscussedasa anxieties abouteducated andself-confident impact towards tamingexistent patriarchal from thespiritualdomainthere arose asignificant women. under-age marriageortherejection of working some of the constraining ‘traditionalisms’, such as revealed thatreligious tenets would infactoppose The statements of Uzbek Islamic clerics The perception of the ideal agefor young Male andfemaleUzbekrespondents, However, that it could not be observed many young Uzbekwomen noted amother’s theevents ofespecially after 2010.Andfinally, majorethnicgroup insouthern Kyrgyzstan,other’ due to theUzbeks’disadvantaged statusas‘the isalsounderstood to benecessary sources. ‘Sabr’ on puberty, sexualityand marriagefrom religious Uzbek mensignificantlysoughtfor knowledge different ethnic belonging, such as when young more inspiration from of Islam than their peers essential not only because Uzbeks may be drawing Kyrgyzstan.is Uzbeks in contemporary ‘Sabr’ encapsulates akey modusoperandiforyoung of ‘endurance’, ‘patience’ and‘perseverance’, ‘sabr’, theArabicterm depictingIslamicvirtues to enter thepublicsector.opportunities decreased Uzbeks’ since 2010, which has further treatment given to ethnicKyrgyz inthejobmarket adjustment inresponse to thepreferential employment, whichwasframedasanecessary envisioned their professional futures in self- school. Amajorityof young Uzbekrespondents with dismissalbecauseof wearing a‘hijab’at example,when a female teacher was threatened experienced religious discrimination,as,for ages shared instanceswhentheyfelthad 8 7 minority. second largest ethnic(butnon-indigenous) among Kyrgyzstan’sfemale societalparticipation of smallerfamilyunits,equal decision-makingand Asia aims to capture the comparative significance society’ (sovremennoye obshchestvo) inCentral headline’s reference to aSoviet-inspired ‘modern where theyamounttocapital Bishkek, 14.8%. especially inChuyandIssyk-Kul oblasts,andinthe areasstronger of in the northern the country, population. wide, theRussiansrepresent 6%of Kyrgyzstan’s respondents of theethnicRussiangroup. Nation- gender relations amongyoung femaleandmale structures and perception ofthe opportunity of waitingforincremental changeto happen. andnon-confrontational stance rather observant qualification for their role model, which reflects a ‘patient’ (sabirli)approach to lifeasthesuperior SeeNational StatisticalCommittee oftheKyrgyz Republic(2016b). SeeNational StatisticalCommittee oftheKyrgyz Republic(2016a). The focusof thissectionwillbeon Later paragraphs illustrated the way in which Society inCentralAsia (Soviet-inspired) Modern Russian Youth anda 7 Regionally, theirrepresentation is 8 The youth andparents. Participants inthesediscussionswere Russian Bishkek andthecityof Karakol (Issyk-Kul oblast). divorced. were unmarried, five were marriedandonewas and 11withyoung males. Oftherespondents, 28 conducted, amongthem23withyoung females were Intotal, 34interviews capital Bishkek. Chuy andIssyk-Kul oblasts,aswell asinthe ‘Marriage andA/SRHHealthChoices’. ‘Family Backgrounds’, ‘Professional Choices’and that willbeexplored amongyoung Russiansare source forthissectionof thethemes thereport, personality orbeing abletopersonality copewithdifficulties. they associate positive qualitiessuchasastrong asroleor other family members modelswith whom Russian respondents rarely indicated their parents This wasalsoreflected inthefactthat young divorce or the neglect of children or grandparents. in regardfamilies ‘ignorance’ within Russian to close tiesamongKyrgyz relatives withtheprevailing groups favourably, contrasting, for example, the the familydynamicsofassessed other ethnic failed to fulfilorhadabused theirparental rights. were theirparents sentto orphanagesafter had in Chuyoblast, respondents thatthey reported ortheirgrandparents.their mothers Inafewcases parents’ divorce, theyhadbeenraisedbyonly males andfemalesremarked that,due to their parenthood. Inconsequence,someyoung Russian here, wasahighrate of divorce andsingle comparison to theotherethnicgroups discussed males butalsobyfemales). violence andalcoholabuse(predominantly by of both or one parent (often domestic fathers), precarious financialsituations,unemployment forconflict,respondentstriggers mentioned tensions in their family lives. Among the major outspoken about both permanent and periodic Two focusgroup discussionstook placein Data forthissectionwere gathered in Following abriefcommentonthedata One noticeablefeature, especiallyin Young Russian respondents were Data Source Family Backgrounds In relation to this, Russian respondents 35 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 36 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan opinions. Thisiscaptured inthefollowingquote: which constrainedtheexpression of alternative and environment thatdidnot‘inspire to discover’ Russian respondents criticised a learning communicate inKyrgyz). young Furthermore, skills (unlike inIssyk-Kul oblastwhere respondents were associated withtheirlackof Kyrgyz language Russian studentsinChuyoblastandBishkek city and tensions of theirschoollives, whichamong other forms of violenceasthemainchallenges the Sovietera.Theymentionedracketeering and those ‘older teachers’ whohadbeentrainedduring satisfied withtheirschoolfacilitiesandalso urban thattheywere settingsreported generally rarely, Respondents inBishkek. inbothruraland schools inthecityof Karakol (Issyk-Kul oblast),or, whichtheycontinuedinvocational education, after school ofhad mostlynineyears secondary within theirfamily to theseaspirations. pursue orguidancefrom financial andemotional support this group,which appeared theleastlikely to expect a decentlivelihood. At thesametime,itwasalso education had not translated into limited secondary respondents who had seenthattheirparents’ amongthoseRussian inparticular observed ofpeople. Pursuit highereducationcouldbe of belonging to thehighersocialstrataof ‘educated’ self-esteempersonal andforthesocialrecognition asasignificantmarker fortheestablishmentofserve notwithstanding, obtainingadiplomacontinues to of post-secondary educationonsocialmobility also reflected theperception that,theactualimpact professional knowledge would not be required. This orfreelance sectors, where theirdiplomasor service education often hadto re-orientate towards the permanent income,whereas thosewithhigher degree were to employed andreported have a respondents, thosewithavocational school picture becamemore complex.AmongRussian this when examiningactualincomeopportunities, education for future professional success. However, highlighted therelevance of post-secondary Russian respondents from Issyk-Kul oblast Both maleandfemaleRussianrespondents Education andOccupation Professional Choices: was disappointed.’ say any or criticism disagree with teachers…I according older standards. cannot to And you all is supposedinteresting, anything be done to even thewholeschool system doesnotteach does notknow [thanthestudents],and more studyalot,butwhentheteacher ‘I wishedto University ofUniversity Central Asia (AUCA). Sometimes this in universities the capital, such as the American to sendtheirsonsanddaughters to prestigious was nottheactuallabourmarket situationbutrather vocational school(ortheotherwayround). even ifthatentailedatransferfrom to university to otherspecialisationsthatwere inmore demand, wasaccompanied byreadinessBishkek, to switch University, ratherthanaimingtowards optionsin educational institutions,suchasKarakol State local labourmarket. Enrolment inlocalhigher to remain flexible in light of changes in the rather pragmaticapproach thatallowed them in Issyk-Kul oblast seemed to have developed a made theirstudychoices.Inthisrespect, youth which residents of various regional backgrounds gender and education, but rather in the ways in Differences were noticeablenotwithregard to females couldbesaidto enjoy equalopportunities. education,young Russianmalesand secondary later ondidnot work intheir field of education or accountants or tourism professionals, for example, of thosewhostudiedto teachers, becomelawyers, respondents showed that a relatively high number more generally).Casesof bothmaleandfemale among Russian youth (and all ethnic groups was acommontrend thatcouldbeobserved career aspirationsandlater incomeopportunities much use’: education diplomasare now‘lyingaround without of teaching. Sheremarked thatbothof herhigher however she was much disappointed in the quality Kyrgyz-Russian-Slavic where inBishkek, University museums. Shethendecidedto studylawatthe diploma onlyqualifiedherto work inlibrariesor sherealisedUpon graduationfrom thather AUCA, despite her own interest in the tourism sector. parents ‘American to undertake Studies’ atAUCA, was thatof Alexandra,who was encouragedbyher later founddifficultto capitalise on.Onesuchcase resulted in an education that individual students For Bishkek families,bycontrast,thepriority andpost-In regard to accessingsecondary Such adiscrepancy between original pursued!’ I have notworked inany of thespecialisations I The knowledge level is, roughly speaking,zero. it…Now just lyingaround. bothdiplomasare becometo alawyer, on andtheybothinsisted for it.Theysaid try meto no!Mymumwanted did not likeparents apply me it and to forbade in thefacultyofinterested Butmy tourism. Humanities University, Ibecame where school secondary ‘I finished close Bishkek to employment in the service sector,employment in the service such as a Russian youth withhighereducationwas also captured inthefollowingquote: this languageskillfortheirlocalintegration. Thisis understood from early on the necessity to develop rural andKyrgyz-speaking environment, the latter, havinggrown upinthispredominantly those originatingfrom theIssyk-Kul area, because or Chuyoblastseemedto belessprepared than market. Inthisregard, Russianyouth from Bishkek became asignificantfactor whenentering thejob graduationtheabilityto speakKyrgyzthat after some Russian respondentsFurthermore, remarked networks thatdidnotfacilitate findingemployment. sector (in the Issyk-Kul area), and weak social rural areas, lowsalariesintheteaching ortourism this situation were high unemployment rates in were unemployed. Among the reasons given for Kyrgyz Republic2016a). 9 Kyrgyz orother ethnicbelonging.Thisfavourable often enjoyabetter reputation thanthoseof technicians and drivers teachers and engineers, similar reasons, ethnic Russianmedicaldoctors, ofindicated theposition.)For intheadvertisement (The phenotypicalpreference isattimes even be ‘more qualified,reliable, honest andclean’. front-service positions,considering themto of ‘Slavic appearance’ for administrative and preferemployers Russian-speaking personnel the ethnicUzbekgroup). According to thisview, under-represented instate structures (similarlyto sectors, butwere within thetechnical andservice remarking thatRussianscouldbecomeestablished aspects of employmentstructures inKyrgyzstan, Russian respondents pointed outtheethnic graduation. after shortly most of themwere ableto secure employment them, whichwassubstantiated bythefactthat itopened upto and theincomeopportunities satisfaction with their vocational school education respondents from Issyk-Kul oblastexpressed professional qualification.At thesametime,male tourist guide,whichdoesnotrequire theiroriginal vendor inashop,waiter, taxidriver or free-lance In-between 1989and2016, thenumberof ethnic Russiansin Kyrgyzstan fellfrom 916,500to 360,600(National StatisticalCommittee ofthe Consequently, thealternative formany During thefocusgroup discussions, while providing clients.’ to services a job.You know, also you have speakKyrgyz to SheisKyrgyz,bank. butIcould not easily find easily because sheknewsomeone from that Shegraduatedbank. withme,butfoundajob a find job]. I know a girl in who a is working have have goodsocial to networks, [to networks ‘I know how itisusually done in this country. You and Kazakhstan.Allyoung Russianrespondents is almostexclusively directed towards Russia in Bishkek. urban unemploymentandhigherlivingexpenses orasaresult ofand localincomeopportunities, or Issyk-Kul graduation, due to marriage after returningreported to theirhomeregions of Chuy Interestingly, quite anumberof respondents (including seasonal labour), marriage and divorce. area, are or to education, employment Bishkek, relocated from villagesto citiesintheIssyk-Kul the mostprevailing reasons whyyoung Russians from European-Russiaexported to CentralAsia. (and atheistic modernity) was said to have been shared Sovietexperiencewhere ‘development’ interpreted as a continuation of the previously Russian ethnicgroups themselves, whichmaybe reliability isnolesswidespread amongthenon- on perspective Russian professionalism and had spenttimeinRussia.A orfriendswho among theirfamilymembers fromknew femaleRussianmigrantspersonally phenomenon of a ‘modern’ society. Female Russian employed, whichwaspresented asaninevitable is predominantly thecasethatbothspouseswere breadwinners. Accordingly, in married families, it oftended to women asco- besupportive it wasnoticeablethatmaleRussianrespondents Within thelocalcontext of Kyrgyzstan, however, opposed to theid educational migration,butwere supported Bycontrast,malerespondents opportunities. perceive asseekingbetter studyandemployment favourable views about migrant women, who they permanently. noted astronger readiness to emigrate to Russia Russian respondents from Bishkek orChuyoblast ‘too Kyrgyz’ to befullyaccepted there. Bycontrast, arguing thattheywould already be‘too Asian’or ethnics, were ratherhesitantto leave forRussia, better Kyrgyz language skills than their Bishkek co- belonging to theirlocalcommunities,andalsohad Issyk-Kul oblast,who expressed astrong sense of local integration. Accordingly, respondents from abroad appeared to correlate withthedegree of permanent residents. The readiness to migrate cities where relatives oracquaintanceswere migration themselves, mostlystayinginRussian respondents hadexperiencedinternational Mobility beyond Kyrgyzstan’s borders With regard to internal migration, amongst Female Russian respondents generally held 9 ea of women working abroad. round onethird of 37 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 38 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan reflected inthefollowingquote: harassment at work andonthewaythere. Thisis from their husbands, or for fear of possible sexual theirjobsdueto feelingsofwomen left jealousy ‘back-up’ to thoseof hermalepartner. rather present herprofessional ambitions asa woman should not flaunt her independence, but same time, however, respondents reflected that a from aspouseorelevated self-confidence. At the working women, such as economicindependence respondents readily listed multiple advantages of employment: especially ifawifeisalready busywithheroutside domestic tasksshouldbeshared between spouses, By contrast,several malerespondents stated that male perspective: woman’s professional life)isnotanexclusively chores to females(or forbalancing thesewitha the assignmentof responsibility forhousehold from ayoung woman exemplifies thefactthat ethnic group, forexample.Thefollowingquote asinthe Uzbek it wasnotasclearlyobserved gendered wasrecognisable, perspective although responsibility. Inregard to labourdivision,a couples wasperceived to beanequallyshared A fewcaseswere where reported married Decision-making among Russian married Health Choices and(A)SRH Marriage support her,support Icancook.’ hard come and isnotableto homeearlier, Ican duties should be dividedequally. Ifsheworks However, and wife work. husband domestic both if It is ok, and I should work. ‘She canwork, woman…’ hard istheplace decision,thatthekitchen fora For myself Ihave decided,even thoughitwasa family, of course, hehasthese if possibilities… plans of forthefinancial responsibility the a manshouldprovide forthefamily, take duties. A man should not stand in the kitchen, ‘All shoulddealwithherown inall, awoman dangerous gethomeatnights…’ to intheevenings, late finished itwasalsowork could show andaccost theirinterest me.And forcedhusband because stop, meto customers liked it.Forexample, butmy Iwasawaitress, ‘I amunemployed now, butIworked andI divorced: a Kyrgyz manattheageof 18,butwasnow of ayoung Russianwoman whohadmarried story of thefollowingquotes. Thesecondquote isthe conflicts infamiliesiswell illustrated inthefirst or ‘different religious affiliations’mighttrigger The viewpointthat‘different ethnicbackgrounds’ they were well integrated into localcommunities. of theIssyk-Kul stated that area, whootherwise also the case among those Russian respondents a factor complicatingsuchmarriages.Thiswas areas ‘cultural differences’ were understood to be and seemed to be acceptable, whereas in rural concerned, inurban contexts thesedotake place getting to knowafuture spouse. registration wasconsidered to beagoodwayof a religious marriageceremony andofficial females. Sharing a household before conducting practised amongyoung Russian males and here, co-habitationpriorto marriagewaswidely their children wasnotdiscussed. that divorced hadan obligationto fathers care for legally enforce suchentitlements,andthe fact the femalerespondents affected attempted to or fortheirbiologicalchildren. Notably, noneof from theirformer husbands, eitherfor themselves often mothers did not receive financial support feasible future scenario. Following divorce, young wasdescribedasa groups, andre-marrying similarly stigmatised as those from other ethnic spouse. Divorced Russianwomen seemnot to be a deepcrisis,suchasthealcoholaddictionof a inevitable step in cases where a family encountered tragic event. Rather, divorce was considered as an Russian respondents did not reflect on divorce as a predominant causefortheirseparation. Young (physical, verbal andpsychological abuse)asthe domestic violence women indicated pervasive As farasinterethnic marriagesare Unlike allotherethnicgroups discussed Cultural differences aside, divorced doing…’ always dissatisfied withmeandwhatIwas Relations Shewas horrible. withhismotherwere but Ididnotthinkthatitcould bethatdecisive. aKyrgyz to gettingmarried knew itbefore guy, Ofcourse, worldviews. I different We hadvery could notbethere.’ moral andtraditions. norms Imyselfdifferent be accepted Ihave because there, Iamdifferent, formeinanotherfamily.be difficult Iwill not ethnic group], butthenIimaginedthat itwill someone marry of‘I hadthisidea[to another parents would provide themwithbooksandother interaction. Whileyoung Russiansmentionedthat of sources andbecauseitdidnotdemandpersonal made based ontheeasyavailability of awiderange rural orurban background, andwasapparently school) occurred regardless of therespondents’ internet over alternative sources (parents, friends, and A/SRHHealthChoices.Thepreference of the source of information forquestionsonpuberty respondents indicated theinternet astheirmajor unacceptable.) the women, asthiswasperceived to be socially (This didnotentailreactive violenceonbehalfof causeof violenceinfamilies identified asaprimary withmalealcoholabusewas ‘bad behaviour’ Thecombinationof suchfemale on’ theirpartners. ‘misbehave’, ‘cannot control theirtongue’ or‘cheat that women shouldbepunishedwhenthey many femalerespondents foundit acceptable wives was unacceptable and below their dignity, claimed that the physical punishment of their marriage. Paradoxically, whilemalerespondents during childhoodandwithinarelationship or having experiencedvarious forms of violence harassment. Thefollowingquote hintsatthis: felt thatthismadethemeasiertargets forsexual ‘sexually mature’ or‘accessible’wasraised.It was ofmembers otherethnicgroups as‘debauched’, girls andyoung women couldbeperceived by group discussion,theidea thatadolescentRussian females, wasbased onmutualconsent. Inthefocus ofas early14years age formalesand17 sexualintercourse,that first whichmighthappen to otherethnicgroups. Itwasmore important virginity would notmatter asmuchto themas explicitly remarked that,leadingupto marriage, approach her. of information, achildwould needto proactively a mother could be considered source a personal mentionedthatalthough respondents inparticular reading material about issues of sexuality, female Young maleandfemaleRussian Many young Russianrespondents reported Some respondents withintheRussiangroup offered alift.’offered not know agirlof any otherethnicitywho was And thisisjustbecause Russians. are we Ido on mywith a backpack orwith a back bag… but skirt, home!Iwasnoteven inashort a lift even say how many times I have been offered I cannot hours. long working evening after ‘Sometimes Ihave inthe walkhomelate to consequences. in case of unplanned pregnancy, to deal with the foreffectiveof contraceptionand, both partners females foregrounded theshared responsibility other hand, a majority of young Russian males and from thechild’ssupport biologicalfather. Onthe they couldfacesingle parenthood withoutany should be‘rational’enoughto that understand a family, respondents pointed outthatwomen than the‘shame’ whichthiscouldbringupon knowledgeable exclusively to women. Rather that assigns the need to be responsible and areas, tended towards aratherpatriarchal view Some Russianfemales,especiallyfrom rural would be to blame for non-marital pregnancy. other ethnicbelongingwastheperception of who Russian respondents andtheircontemporaries of discussions ordecision-making. infamily taking-up employmentorparticipating were namedinregard to gainingeducation, Nosignificantpatriarchalcounterparts. constraints to their male enjoying equalopportunities neglect of children andgrandparents. responsible forthehigherrates of divorce and configurations, forexample-wasconsidered Russian families,which-incontrastto Kyrgyz remarks aboutthesocial‘ignorance’withinmany theremodels. Furthermore, were self-critical a fewnominated astheirrole familymembers hesitant to speakaboutfamilytensions andonly the sametime,Russianrespondents were not family unit of parents and a few siblings. At group, a focus on the core- but rather reported of livingasacouplewithinanextended family males andfemalesdidnotmentionpatterns ethnic Kyrgyz Young or Uzbek peers. Russian social settingsfrom thoseexperiencedbytheir that theircomingof inquite ageoccurs different Discussion increasing their later employment opportunities. increasing theirlater employment opportunities. actual labour market development, thereby or (university vocational) education to match would flexibly andpragmaticallyadjusttheir the regional context of Issyk-Kul young Russians wherebyimbalances, in a trend couldbeobserved Rather thanevidence of anygender A finaldifference between theyoung The responses of Russianyouth revealed Young Russianfemalesmainlyreported 39 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 40 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek. Althoughmanyyoung Russian capital Bishkek. fromfully thantheirpeers Chuyoblastor the they have embracedtheKyrgyz languagemore Russians from the Issyk-Kul area showed that again be identified, according to which young With regard to thelatter, aregional dynamiccould networks andtheirlackof Kyrgyz languageskills. nepotistic labourmarket, dueto theirweak social that theyare disadvantaged withinKyrgyzstan’s this, Russianmalesandfemalesvoiced concerns such as precision, honesty and reliability. Beyond the Sovietassociationof ‘Slavs’withqualities and technical sectors, whichare stillinformed by medical ethnic nichefortheirgroup intheservice, Russian respondents outlinedtheexistence of an not have beenarequirement. for whichtheirprofessional qualificationwould orlow-salariedemployment to take uptemporary graduates inparticular, who then foundtheyhad market needs,however, itwassuchuniversity of ‘havingadegree’. Detachedfrom actuallabour andthemore university one personal a particular choices wasoften prestige, boththatof attending setting, theprimeorientation foreducational and females from Bishkek evidenced that in this In contrast,theresponses of young Russianmales 10 lifestylesofsuch personal equalfreedoms and responsibility. Young Russian respondents framed making wasconsidered anequallyshared to elevate theirself-confidence, and decision- which women expressed as having thepotential predominantly the case thatbothspousesworked, and thuswere prone to sexualharassment. those of otherethnicgroups aseasily‘accessible’ they can be perceived by Kyrgyzliberties menor women remarked, however, thatdueto such wasarealistic option.Russian and re-marrying acceptable practices,divorce waslessstigmatised, weremarital sexandco-habitationwithapartner other ethnicities,foryoung Russianfemalespre- in jointdecision-making.Unlike of fortheirpeers make theirowndecisionsorto participate equally to Russian women pointed to theiropportunities the ‘Asian mentality’. because theyhadalready becometoo closeto Kyrgyzstani Russiansto be accepted inRussia, was widelyshared doubtaboutthepotential of hand experiences with migrating there, there in Russia, and also mentioned first- or second- respondents indicated thattheyhave relatives SeeNational StatisticalCommittee oftheKyrgyz Republic(2016a). When assessingthelabourmarket, young In young Russianfamiliesitwas Concerning theirsexualandfamilylife, at times deserve physicalpunishment. at timesdeserve would that theirtypicallyfemale‘bad behaviour’ was exemplified by cases where women remarked kitchen isa‘woman’s place’. Moststrikingly, this in householdduties,declared forexamplethat the readiness to amongtheirmalecounterparts share Russian women, who,regardless of ageneral were introduced into this picture by some young template. Interestingly, patriarchal tendencies as the inspirational in Central Asia served for whichtheSovietera’s socialist‘achievements’ a ‘modern society’ (sovremennoyeobshchestvo), as beinginsyncwith female societalparticipation among ethnic Dungans, a total of 11 interviews among ethnic Dungans,atotal of 11interviews 13 of these were femalesandthree males.From with respondents whoidentifiedasTurks orKurds; were conducted married. Another 16 interviews males, of whom18were unmarriedand11were Among respondents there were 23femalesand six oblast of Batken (whichborders withTajikistan). young ethnicTajiks, predominantly in thesouthern Russian groups. minorities andthoseof theKyrgyz, Uzbekand young representatives from thesesmallerethnic between theresponses ofcould beobserved significant commonalitiesanddifferences that sources, thissectionwillhighlightthemost werethis report arrangedaccordingly. and focus group discussions for and the interviews regionsrepresentations of incertain Kyrgyzstan (0.9%). Uighurs Turks (0.7%)andKurds, Dungans(1.1%)and represented inKyrgyzstan. Theseare Tajiks (0.9%), gender relations among smaller minority groups structures andperceptions ofthe opportunity Dungans and Uighurs in Dungans andUighurs Young Tajiks, Kurds, Turks, Groups:Smaller EthnicMinority Gender Perceptions within Kyrgyzstan In total, 29 interviews were conductedIn total, with 29interviews Following abriefcommentonitsdata This sectionwillpresent insightson Data Source 10 Thesegroups enjoystronger opposed to theinterests of individualfamily and acollective focusonthefamilyunit(as making wasstructured byage-hierarchy, gender multi-generational households,where decision- oblast). in thevillageof Amanbaevo/Kyzyl-Adyr (Talas representatives of theTurkish andKurdish group village of Uchkorgon (Batken oblast)andonewith organised, onewithTajik respondents inthe seven of whomwere unmarriedandonedivorced. were five young femalesandthree young males, and Chuy and in the Among city them of Bishkek. oblasts ofpredominantly Issyk-Kul in the northern were conducted withethnicUighurs, interviews three married and one divorced. Another eight regard to civilstatus,seven were unmarried, young females and four were young males. With Chuy oblasts. Of these respondents seven were were collected, predominantly inIssyk-Kul and grade: two, whowasforced to the9th leave schoolafter Tajik woman, oldandamotherof now24years captured inthefollowingquote from ayoung marriage withinTajik communities.Thisisalso education dueto thelowage-threshold for unwillingness to invest inadaughter’s continued given were financial constraints and the parents’ beyond the 9th grade, for which themain reasons older relatives. FewTajik education girlspursued women tended to bemadefor them byparents or [sic!], patience andendurance(sabr). role models,especiallydueto theirstrong will indicated assuitable Uzbek peers, theirmothers concerned. Young Tajik females, similarlyto their such ashouseholdresources andexpenses were whereas participated where mothers domains as a child’s education,marriage and employment, whodecidedonmatters such usually befathers Respondentsmembers). described how it would Finally, two focusgroup discussionswere Tajik Youth Tajik youth resided predominantly within Educational choicesforyoung Tajik them. Whatshould Ihave done?’ burden didnotwantto for them.And Ireally assistance, isnofinancial there itwillbedifficult unemployedare My parents and at home. If do?” whatcanwe itright, enough. Understand resources ourfinancial university not are ‘…but thenmy mother said: “To into getyou One respondent remarked onthistopic that divorced or widowed, were perceived negatively. words of aTajik malerespondent: caring domain can be illustrated by the following representational domainandafemale-domestic- home. Thisclearseparation into a male-outside- ambitions to findemploymentoutsidethefamily prioritise childrearing andhouseholdchores over the convictionthatamarriedwoman should when suchwould entailrelocation to acity, and education foryounger women, especiallyincases This concerned bothoppositionto continued within thecommunity, andgeneralfamilyharmony. for itsnegative impact onthefamily’s reputation heads to constrain female mobility out of fear respondents depicted the preference of family voluntarily orunderpressure. whether theyoung woman’s signature was given male familymember. Thisraisesdoubtsasto office bythehusbandwith theregistry oranother signed bythebride‘athome’, and were thenfiled documents to officially register amarriagewere cases were alsomentionedinwhichthenecessary live like dead persons.’ In regard to forced marriage, live [inthisarrangedmarriage],butthey it: ‘They to result in ‘happy’ families; as one respondent put groom’s consent,were criticisedasbeingunlikely which were madewithouttheyoung bride’s and marriage. However, suchmaritalarrangements, traditional and predominant way of initiating at‘matchmaking’parental asthemost efforts drastic thoughts: this quote byayoung woman reveals, mayevoke of subordination to patriarchal preferences, as women for migration’. The continued experience Tajiks would rather‘die of hungerthansendtheir In contrast to the otherethnicgroups, however, domestic orotherviolence intheircommunities. in lawenforcement agenciesto dealwithcases of Young Tajik respondents referred to Tajik respondents alsoshowed littletrust In linewiththis,migrantwomen, ifnot Similarly to theUzbekgroup, Tajik other wayround.’ study, andshine. I read think it should be the for them,how nursethem,whilemy to will wife cook thinkingaboutwhatto with thechildren, Iwillsitathome if ‘But Ithinkitisnotright So therefore, I do not want to have Idonotwantto adaughter.’So therefore, hersufferings. watch I willnotable to sufferings, agirlandsee to her giveto want do not birth in their lives. So I Girls have difficulties more people, so draw you conclusions. Theysuffer. dayinthiscommunity see you other ‘So every 41 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 42 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan to knowledge,migrationto Russia,andthe respondents criticisedthefactthateasyaccess age existbetween different generations.Older on familylife,educationandidealmarriage respondents showed that different opinions on: of responding to violencefrom earlys way female ‘patience’ is conceived as the primary a 15-year-old Tajik femaleillustrates thefactthat were fated to accept.Thefollowingquote from ofthis asanintegral part life,somethingthey violence of tended to different ‘normalise’ sorts In consequence,thosewomen whoexperienced organisations to approach (e.g. crisis centres). but alsoalackof information ontrustworthy violence, additional reasons fornotreporting fear of as stigmatisationandvillagerumours victims isquestionable).Women mentionedthe of towardsimpartiality maleelders young female family or community matters (althoughthe (aksakals)asanalternativeelders wayto resolve they mentionedtheinformal councilsof village marry onlyinhis 30s: marry student, whoopenlyexpressed hisintention to reflected inthewords of ayoung Tajik university was arelated matter of discussion.Thisiswell independence from parents prior to marriage breadwinner (oranearning divorcee). Economic in order to prepare for a future of being a co- school, hairdressing) whilestillatsecondary (incookery,practical skillscourses sewingor whereby unmarriedTajik women attended budget. Accordingly, atrend couldbeobserved that theirwives contributed to theoverall for apatriarchal familysetup,menwould prefer before gettingmarried.Althoughstillarguing school, secondary vocational educationafter reflected thatwomen shouldatleastobtaina them too much. to familyandcommunitywould liberalise there would causeTajik youth to loosentheirties improved material situationfrom employment The younger generation,bycontrast, The focus group discussion among Tajik another three young children to take to children young another three of.’ care please feedmeand my becausewife?” he has ‘I don’t want ask to my dad: “Dad, can you 15 daysof lightand15daysof darkness.’ willhave days.Themoonhas bright you future, because of patience.difficulties Sointhe your (sabyrduu).‘Be patient You willovercome these ocialisation the singlesource of income,wasalsoafactor: local beanfields,whichformanyhouseholdswas tothe necessityforyoung familymembers work in given forthiswere domesticresponsibilities, but the 6thgrade-couldbenoted. Themajorreasons the9thgrade,andsometimeseven after - after Talas oblastasignificant early schooldropout rate among theKurdish andTurkish communitiesof physical mobility. concerned education,marriage,employmentand participate infamilydecision-making.This pointed to severe limitationsforfemalesto ofmembers theTurkish andKurdish communities theinsightsprovided by discussed inthisreport, (perevospitat) them and have themassimilate because itwould take to ‘re-socialise’ more effort were25 years, challengingmarriagepartners age-threshold, usually women beyond acertain for early marriage rested on the conviction that as a result of bride-kidnapping. This tendency at ages16-17,butalsoasearly14-15,often marriage. Respondents indicated thisto occur school before graduation appeared to be early other necessities: simply notallowforbuyingschooluniforms or theirhouseholdbudgetswould selling theharvest, obligation to attend school bysayingthat,before usually responded to herreminder aboutthe season(September/October). Parentsthe harvest of the school year (1stSeptember)the start and conflicting schedulesthatare afeature between As regards educationaldevelopment, In comparison to otherethnicgroups For girls, the major reason for leaving A schoolteacher gave insightsonthe Turkish andKurdish Youth working inthefields.’working school beuseless,to since willbe childrenafter allowed school, goto to educationisconsidered ‘Usually childrenof not our nationalityare are predominantly farmers.’ predominantly are forTurkishtrue andKurdish communities who bedonemanually. hasto work Thisisespecially machine,sofamily hasaharvesting that allthe cultivates five upto hectares of land.Almostno Usually afive-person wear!” shoes to family Theydon’t even feedtheminstead? to have thebeans.[Theysay:] “Areharvested going you their schoolchildren attend to until they have autumn. Parents openly us they tell cannot allow ‘It isaserious problem forschool, especially in marginalisation, plansto citing hispersonal enroll problems of femaleilliteracy andwomen’s social cleric expressed the needto alsoovercome young men: begun to embracethevalue of knowledgefor highlighting thatlocalfamilieshadonlyrecently changing approach to educationinto perspective, local Turkish communityleadertriedto bringthe potential: regardless of theiracademicorotherfuture inclination to pushyoung women into marriage, education,exemplifies the to further pursue a Kurdish familyto allowtheirtalented daughter school teacher who repeatedly tried to persuade marriage inthefuture would beslim: following quote depicts,chancesforanother addition, forthekidnappedbrideherself, asthe for othersiblingsto findamarriagepartner. In consequence would alsolimittheopportunities would bring‘shame’ onabride’s family, whichin to reject bride-kidnappingasanethnictradition onlyafewmonthsofdissolved after cohabitation. sometimes arrangedbyparents, were reportedly a significantnumberof suchforced marriages, to newfamilysurroundings. At thesametime, his eldestdaughter inmedicalcollege: Looking to thefuture, alocalIslamic During thesamefocusgroup discussion,a The followingcase,describedbyaKyrgyz Despite this,respondents explainedthat University inBishkek.’University boys even the[Kyrgyz-] entered Turkish Manas sending their sons Turkish to lyceums…and three Butnow inthefields. work afewfamilies started used parents send to themto was all. Afterwards, school only until the 4th or 5th grades, and that thatchildrenusededucation. Before attend to Turks boys’ to attention paying slowly started haveall thatshedoes…Onlyinrecent years Thatis andchildren. forherhusband care to isahousewife.‘No way!Awoman Sheisthere children.’she hastwo schoolanyway…after heroff. they married Now theTalas shehadentered if medicalcollege. But school. Shecould have become atleast anurse, secondary let Etara continue hereducationafter several muchthatthey very times,andrequested the bestpupilsinherclass.Italked herparents to grade withmy together daughter, wasamong good at school…Etara,very 11th whofinished ‘I should say some Kurdish and Turkish girls are anyway.’has beenmarried other families willconsider assomeone you who kidnappedonce were andrefused‘If you stay, to excellency in performing domestictasks. excellency in performing respondents tended to praise theirmothers’ due to their impact on family matters, while rural as significant roleidentified their mothers models reflected in the fact that urban female respondents as allocatinghousehold budgets.Thiswasalso and dominated familydecision-making, such ethnic groups - who were the only breadwinners it would ratherbehusbands -similarto other in villagesorthecityof Tokmok (Chuyoblast), shopsor market stands. grocery areparticipation common,suchasrunning responsibilities. Family businesseswithequal entail takingover household orchildrearing althoughthisdidnotnecessarily opportunities, spouses’ career development andemployment atmosphere inregarda supportive to their domestic life.Husbands were to reported provide as theirhusbands, combiningprofessional and Kuloblast) tended to work to the sameextent in citiessuchasBishkek orKarakol (Issyk- different ruralandurban locations.Females between todecision-making was reported vary in familyconstellations in andtheirparticipation different in ethnicgroups discussedinthisreport, the spectrumof genderperceptions amongthe pointof communities aslyingatthefurthest datamarkstheKurdish andTurkishthe interview or thelevel of knowledgeaboutA/SRHchoices, incidents of domesticviolencesuffered bywomen, and in-laws.Inaddition,withregard to unreported give upcontrol over thisincometo theirhusbands as hired labourinothercapacities, were saidto women whoinfactworked inthebeanfields,or and Turkish respondents. those few Furthermore, women are strongly rejected bymaleKurdish ‘traditional’standpoint. terms of theirvery In contrast,respondents that reported For themoment,suchideasaboutworking For young Dunganwomen, theirposition Dungan Youth parents, spousesparents, andchildren…’ anyway accountable inthe face of Allahfor choose to has theright one’s way. We all are they stay modestandhonourable. Eachof us isthat home, homeandhome.Mostimportant notravel. Allthatthey see is participation, no meetings[socialising], nocommunity abitwild:noschool, Ourgirlsare modern. and education.Theyalso become needto let itbe.Today ourgirlsneedsome occupation althoughitisbeingrecorded,‘I willopenlytell, 43 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 44 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan situation. spouse, andthatdaughters tended to acceptthis clearly dominate when selectinganappropriate setting (ascompared to Karakol) parents would of Tokmok indicated thatinthismore ‘traditional’ Dungan respondents from thesimilarly sizedcity restrictions. Incontrast,female impose certain negotiations withtheirparents, whowould still liking,even ifthisprocesspersonal alsoinvolves degree of freedom to choose a husband of their Karakol that they enjoyaconsiderable reported true formarriagedecisions.Female Dungans from wasalso affected young Dungans’ opportunities youth’s structures inKyrgyzstan: opportunity geographic locationcansignificantlyimpact on aside from andfinancialability, parental support Kyrgyz-Russian-Slavic University, illustrates that, who studied at the prestigiousfrom Bishkek, The followingquote from ayoung Dunganwoman true forrepresentatives of otherethnicgroups). where thesewere available to them(aswasalso they lived in,orcloseenoughto, anurban setting to attend extracurricular programmes because those young Dunganswhohadtheopportunity education, there were recognisable advantages for material gains: developing aworking attitudethanaboutactual and here mightbemore aboutmutualsupport areas). Asthefollowingquote hints,themind-set simply ‘help’ parents withtheirfarming (inrural either have their‘own cash’(inurban areas) orto to familybudgets,butratherto adesire to less towards aneconomicnecessityto contribute given byyoung Dunganrespondents pointed many Turkish andKurdish families,thereasons However, unlike as was previously noted for education. to work whilereceiving secondary indicated thattheirparents encouragedthem comparatively more ‘traditional’ wayoflife. exposed to ‘Soviet modernity’ early on, the Dungans of Chuy resettled from China only from the1950s onwards, andthusare understood to maintain a have quitedifferent settlement histories inKyrgyzstan. Whereas theDungans oftheIssyk-Kularea arrivedthere asearlythe1870s, andthuswere 11 This observation can also be linked to the fact that Dungans in Issyk-Kuloblastandthose ChuyoblastbelongtodifferentThis observation can alsobelinkedtothefactthatDungans ethnicsub-groups, which The observation that particular locations thatparticular The observation With regard to successinpost-secondary A majorityof young Dunganrespondents University]. Relations] atKRSU[Kyrgyz-Russian-Slavic exactly forentering IR[International prepared the entrance exams. say, Thatisto Ideliberately usfor theyprepared where “Slavic” university courses of preparatory attended already the because thewholeof during 11thgrade I ‘Probably, nosuchdifficulties, were there classes.’ after justhelpedparents we say Notto helped parents. worked, thatwe ‘Basically allof have ushere Well, fields. we 11 and subject. But parents also apparently did in guidingthemto asuitablechoiceof university school teachers, whowere largely disinterested Dungans remarked thattheyfeltneglected by had made about their study programmes. Young as theresult of un-informed choicesthatthey economics graduate beingasupermarket cashier, software engineerworking asahairdresser, oran professional situations,suchasthoseof atrained their fieldof specialisation. graduates thattheirlater employmentwasnotin it wasalsocommonamongDunganuniversity the casefor theRussianandotherethnicgroups, aswas now successfullygraduated. Nevertheless, re-enrolled andhad intheiroriginaluniversity theirmarriageandmotherhood,theyhad after respondents from Issyk-Kul oblastindicated that higher education.Forexample,allfemaleDungan age andgender, expressed thedesire to pursue most casesregardless of familybackground, constraining economicopportunities. was alsoidentifiedasahighlysalientfactor for lack of Kyrgyz languageskillsamongDungans gender, ethnicbelongingandage.Awidespread in Kyrgyzstan would occur on grounds of their reflected thatdiscriminationintheirworkplaces their abilityto leave. FemaleDunganrespondents a choiceto stay, ratherthanasaconstrainton cases presented this was framed as in this report, Butincontrastto other Dungans wasnotobserved. attending classesandsimplypaid-up: and endemic. As a result students stopped isinevitable earned where atuniversities bribery quality of theactualqualificationsthatcanbe respondents alsoexpressed frustrationaboutthe account actual labour market demands. Other doctor, teacher oreconomist,withouttakinginto usually suggested classic professions, such as not provide usefulinputonthismatter, asthey Respondents explainedunexpected Young Dunganmalesandfemales,in Migration among young male and female at all…’ Why go not to better are then [go]? Then we this. Anyway she [the takesteacher] money. ‘In thesecond about semester smarter were we behind upfront displaysof patriarchy: invitation to reflect onthefemalevigourconcealed which perspective, presented an interesting household. One respondent offered the following would usuallyhelptheirwives to managethe domestic chores, respondents noted thathusbands to gender-equal councils.Inaddition,inregard to their families, from male to female predominance, broad variety of decision-makingconfigurationsin respondent: also aspectshighlighted by onemaleUighur be exposedto from theiroldercolleagues, were and thepressure thatyoung professionals would happen ongrounds of ethnicityandgender. Age, Uighur respondents remarked that this would marriage: education asapossibleoptionafter future marriedlifealsopointsto continuingfemale young Uighurmaleabouthowheimaginedhis of highereducation: that perspective apparently extends into the realm this caseof anUighurfemalestudent illustrates, if afamilywasexperiencingfinancialtroubles. As young peopleshouldfocusontheirstudies,even preference waspresentedprimary asadesire that school. Parents’work while attending secondary few Uighur respondents indicated that they would Dungan youth in the previous paragraph, only a Young Uighurrespondents depicted a With regard to workplace discrimination, thefollowingquote fromFurthermore, a In contrastto whathasbeennoted about Uighur Youth delicate issues and at certain moments.’ issues andatcertain delicate incertain cannotbetrusted you Therefore, inexperienced are it meansyou andunskilled. mostof to young, are ‘If you theelderpeople openupsomeone’sto Iamforit.’ potential. something. Because education is always a way ‘Yes, because Iwantmy strive to wife for can…’time, you acertain thing,andthenafter studies, getyour said, will not. You no, you complete your will first simultaneously.study andwork They[parents] Bishkek. to ‘I went Isaid Iwill that Iwill work. patriarchy isjustagoldenvarnish (spraying).’ bysociety Theillusion of women. issupported be,ismatriarchal fromto theinside.Thewhole our society, howno matter it seems patriarchal knows that it.Ontheotherhand,Iunderstand Even when dad does notknow something, she ‘Mum isthecoordinator, sheknows everything. lifeworld: awife’sand theviewthatworking would diversify concerned material aswell asemotionalsupport, women. Asthefollowingtwo quotes show, this the familybudgetwhilereasoning aboutworking Uighur menwent beyond thoughtsof improving of mostothermalerespondents inthisreport, married life.Quite incontrastto theperception being employed whentheyimaginedtheirfuture expressed thattheywere infavour of theirwives with regard to education,young Uighurmales In linewiththegenderperceptions presented to betheidealageforyoung women to marry. violence, could better behandledby informal reference thatfamilymatters, includingdomestic life.Also related towithin everyday thiswas the models was to ‘normalise’ femalediscrimination qualityforfemalerole astheprimary ‘sabr’ that the consequence of presentingbe observed safeguard familyreputation. Itcould accordingly (geographic andsocial)mobilityinorder to among malehouseholdheadsto prevent female begin with,thisconcerned thestrong tendency similarities withthoseof To theirUzbekpeers. responses from theTajik group revealed most education, employmentandothertopics, the embeddedness related to perceptions onfamily, Uzbek andRussianmalesfemales. already has been noted for young ethnic Kyrgyz, contextualisation ofenabled a what further Kyrgyzstan. incontemporary This opportunities on genderrelations andonthedistributionof groups widened the spectrum of perceptions Discussion Uighur respondents considered 25 years In regard to how youth’s socialandcultural The examinationof smallerminority run outofrun theirminds,getdull, become irritable. who sit her at life. home I think women diversify professional activityforher, itisalso achance to isnotjusta ‘Having ajobforwoman romantic innature…’ date some of activityforthetwo leisure us,kindof a If she is I tired, will cook dinner myself, organise progress of Try herwork. her. to attention pay to how herworkday Show went. inthe interest of‘First attentively listen all, to I amgoingto circle of communication.’ common language with colleagues a and create Let Let themwork. themmake a moneyandfind 45 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 46 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan this was less the case in Tokmok (Chuy oblast), to them, also have equal work opportunities process of selectinghusbands, and later would beingactively involvedfemales reported inthe ‘liberal environment’ of Karakol (Issyk-Kul oblast) Whereas inthe shaping youth opportunities. of locationfor underlined theimportance employment, theresponses of Dunganwomen decision-making andaccessto educationor daughter to amedicalcollege. remarked thathehimselfintended to sendhis and mobilityinamodern society, stood out.He argued forthenecessityof femaleeducation this, the voice of an Islamic cleric, who resolutely continued education for male siblings. In light of have onlyrecently recognised theadvantages of was justifiedbyhighlightingthefactthatfamilies future potential. Within localcommunitiesthis without regard to femaleacademic orother rigorously defined through marriage and biographies inthesecommunitieswere identified as a major factor as to why female associated withthis,couldbe opportunities on agricultural labour, and the limited income perceptions. A one-dimensional orientation ‘traditional’ endof thespectrumof gender communities appearto belocated atthevery family structures madetheKurdish andTurkish bride-kidnapping) andstrictlypatriarchal exceptionally earlyforced marriages(through able to contribute to familybudgets. seeing future wives beingmore educated and a changeingenderperceptions andaspired to from labourmigrationto Russia,advocated for who, especially if equipped with superior income control. Thiswas inlightof ayounger generation be read as an anxiety about loosening social deteriorating familyandcommunitytiescould of whichtheeldergeneration’s criticismof between different generationsof Tajiks, aspart enforcement agencies.Adiscord was noticeable councils of (aksakals)thanbylaw localelders In regard to in family their participation Insights onearlyschooldropouts, with alater idealisedageforfemalemarriage favourably,judged very which corresponded Female educationandlater employmentwere alongside theirschooloreven studies. university were often prohibited by their parents to work in thefactthat,unlike they theirDunganpeers, lifeworlds, which was also reflected their everyday in educational achievements ashighlyimportant specialisation. adequate employmentintheiractualfieldof and subsequentlywould often failto secure parents andsubject, whenchoosingauniversity also criticisedalackof guidancebyteachers and motherhood. ButmanyDunganrespondents following abreak uponmarriageandinitial they had re-enrolled and successfully graduated respondents from Karakol infactindicated that among young Dunganmalesandfemales, higher education degrees was widespread of part Kyrgyzstan.northern Adesire to obtain a cityof similarsizeandalsolocated inthe for the other gender’s overallfor theothergender’s wellbeing. can beseenasarare indication of emphaticcare awoman’scould expand anddiversify lifeworld in which,forexample,workplace socialising bachelors. Still, theabilityto reflect ontheways married lifevoiced byrespondents whowere still and often merely suggested apossiblefuture for predominant opinioneven amongUighurmales, this time,suchstatements mightnotrepresent a continued managingthehouseholdchores. At them to take up employment,aslongthey as opposedto justpassively ‘allowing’ support, wives withanenvironment of proactive proclaimed theirreadiness to provide working improve afamilybudget, young Uighurmen of how a woman’s material contributionwould beyond mentioningonlythecollective aspect of ‘work’ within female self-perceptions. Going showed an advanced awareness of themeaning unlike of theirpeers otherethnicbelonging, of young Uighurmales,quite 25.Furthermore, Young presented maleandfemaleUighurs D Information and‘BeingYoung’Information Language, Location,Violence, Cross-cutting Perspectives: females inKyrgyzstan share views,constraints To account forthe fact that young males and of ethnic for group.the members a particular such aspectwould berelevant and‘typical’ only simply beconcludedfrom thisthatanyone structures. However itshouldnot opportunity aspects of theirgenderperceptions and of Sovietnationalitiespolicy). agendas and can be identified as a continuation that isprone to beinstrumentalisedforpolitical representatives of one ethnicgroup (apractise ‘traditions’ or ‘traits’ toassignment of all certain counter atrend of ‘ethnicisation’, i.e.theautomatic Kyrgyzstan, also in order to this seems important In the context ofto which this could be observed. degrees andaimtoperspective assessthevarying the following section will develop a cross-cutting beyond theirethnic belonging, and opportunities 16 15 14 13 Forfurtherillustrations,seeCummings (2008)andGullette(2010). 12 Harris (2004) employsthe term‘gendermasks’ Harris toresearch negotiationsofsocialorder inTajik familiesandintheTajik(2006). state.SeealsoHarris Handrahan (2001)discussesthe connection of ethnicity and gender among ethnic Kyrgyz in light of Soviet history, being Muslim, ‘tribalism’ and Referring to the transition from Soviet to early post-Soviet life, Kuehnast (1997, 1998) has described the approach of Kyrgyz women as ‘collaborative Reeves(2010),forexample,discussesethnicisation and ethnic nationalism inrelation to theviolence in southernKyrgyzstan in 2010.Marat(2016) particular contextual‘rules ofthegame’. gendered subjectivities and women’s ratheractive or passive resistances to gender oppression as an outcome of strategic negotiations oriented on ‘Western influence’.SeealsoKandiyoti (2007). life-courses develop‘domesticpower’. their during custom’ ‘through and authority create can women how on reflects (2016) Ismailbekova woman. Kyrgyz young a of mobility social and conservatism’, merging Kyrgyz ‘traditionalism’ withan‘openness’ tosocietal change.Schröder(2015b)provides arecent case studyonthegeographic presents the discourseofagroup of‘civic-mindednationalists’. Sucha spectrumof possiblerealities isalsocaptured inKandiyoti’s (2002)notionof‘bargaining with patriarchy’, whichdescribestheemergence of ethnic belonging highlighted particular ethnic belonginghighlighted particular discussions, young people of different andfocus group uring the interviews 12 oscillate and are being negotiated in-between between men and women in Kyrgyzstan tend to interactions that manyaspectsof theeveryday isintended toPatriarchy express andFemaleVigour’ ‘Displaysoftitle chosenforthepresent report. Uzbek orTajik among (sabr),ascouldbeobserved perseverance ofbehind gendered performances patience and present andeven definitive, butmaybeconcealed female biographies.Thenvigourisstill strictly structuring the trajectories of families and be forceful, i.e.notonlyamatter of but discourse, group. patriarchy’ was, for example, referred to as ‘pragmatic shaping force Such aconcept of opportunities. rhetorical, whileinfactfemalevigouristheactual residence, adisplayof patriarchy mayberather but alsoonotherparameters suchasplaceof these poles.Dependingonethnicbelonging, 14 Such a perspective isalso capturedSuch aperspective inthe Yet adisplayof patriarchy might equally 13 among respondents of theKyrgyz 15 respondents. 16 47 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 48 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan than inKyrgyz, being generallydidnotreport who haddeveloped skillsinRussianrather speakers, of ormembers smallerminoritygroups was depicted differently. Mono-linguisticRussian south. private sector foryoung Uzbeksinthecountry’s Kyrgyzstan,northern or inself-employment in the industriesforethnicRussians service-oriented responses, such as within the technical and niches couldbeidentifiedfrom theinterview groups would beconstrained. Kyrgyz, the professional ambitions of minority nepotistic labour market, which privileged ethnic respondents, theyalsopointed outthat,ina and Dunganrespondents. InlinewithUzbek upon, forexample,bysomeof theyoung Russian thepublic sector.in particular Thiswasremarked areasin order of to accesscertain employment, Kyrgyz languageskillshave becomeimportant that Within thecountry, itcouldbeobserved structures of allyoung Kyrgyzstani respondents. influential factor affectingtheopportunity southern areas. Uzbek’s strong regional presence inthecountry’s significance in light of the ethnic gains further Kyrgyzstanin contemporary isratherlow, which increase educationalorprofessional opportunities this language’sUzbek, general functionality few highereducationfacilitiesoffering classesin language, butonlyinKyrgyz orRussian.With test cannotanylongerbetaken intheUzbek admissions that nowadaysthenationaluniversity into higher education was complicated by the fact dedicated Uzbek-language schools,theirtransition education,forwhichtheycouldattend secondary southern Kyrgyzstan indicated thatfollowingtheir aspirations. Incontrast,Uzbekrespondents in educational or tertiary limited intheirsecondary 19 18 17 21 20 See Kirmse’s observations(2009,2013)on‘youth spaces’ andtheirrelationship todonor-funded activitiesinthecityofOsh. Korth (2001,2004, 2005)hasconductedextensive research onKyrgyz language revival and theaspectofeducation linguistic division, aswell Ismailbekova (2013) discusses ‘copingstrategies’ amongethnic Uzbeks insouthernKyrgyzstan intheaftermathof2010violent events, among It shouldbenoted,however, that, forethnic Kyrgyz, employment opportunities are structured -facilitated or constrained-beyondthisprimary as onattitudestowards languagesinKyrgyzstan. which were ‘publicavoidance’, migrationandearlymarriage (asmentionedbefore inthisreport). ‘everyday [Kyrgyz] nationalism’. in alaw-enforcement agency. Onthelinksbetweenethnicity, languageandreligion inKyrgyzstan, seeChotaeva(2004). scale categorisations ofclan orregional belonging (‘north vs.south’), andmaydepend,forexample, on thefatherofaschoolfriend oronsuperiors observation. Usually, developing a career forayoungKyrgyz isamatterofpersonalnetworkswhoseassemblymore complex than simplylarge- Kosmarskaya (1996,2006)provides insightsintothesituation of Russians inpost-Soviet Kyrgyzstan, including discriminatory experiences of an 19 With regard to education,thesituation Language couldbeidentifiedasan Language (andEthnicisation) 17 Ethniceconomic 20 18 to to in from Kyrgyzstan’s region. Withafew northern female respondents of different ethnicbelonging didnotfeaturesuch courses intheresponses of Kyrgyz, UzbekandTajik communities.Bycontrast, trend in the country’s south,includingwithin domestic skills,were mentionedto beapopular income-generating skill-sets based around ‘short courses’, in which young females developed and mobilities.Forexample,theaforementioned displays of patriarchy thatconstrainedfemalesocial could in fact be identified as reflecting stronger the ethnicgroups inhabiting southern Kyrgyzstan urban andruralareas. Examiningthesepatterns, southern Kyrgyzstan), to differences between inter- to and intra-regional tendencies (northern could beidentifiedasplayingarole, rangingfrom Differentrelations scales andrealise opportunities. matter for how young people perceive gender togrown uporcurrently dwell couldbeobserved in whichtheyoung respondents of have thisreport Location belonging. for youth of differentopportunities ethnic and Osh,were indicated asproviding more locations, especiallythemajorcitiesof Bishkek urban andruraldomains.Generally, urban to existbetween distributed couldbeobserved gender relations were framedandopportunities ‘conservative’ socialenvironment. butapparentlythe capitalBishkek, withamore and located intheneighbouringoblast,closeto inTokmok,than theirpeers acityof similarsize educational career and choice of future husband to influence their would enjoy more opportunities young females in the rather ‘liberal’ city of Karakol among Dungan respondents, that who reported and intra-ethnicvariation couldbeobserved higher education.Aninteresting intra-regional seemedto predominantlyof pursue the north Turkish andKurdish communities,young women especiallyin exceptions, whichcouldbeobserved In manyways,thegeographicallocations Another significant difference for how 21 This concerned both the objective Tajik andKyrgyz small-scalecommunities). exist andto exhibitsimilarsocialeffectsamong of themahalla but alsowithintightly-kniturban neighbourhoods environments couldnotonlybefoundinvillages, mother, showed thatsuchpatriarchal furthermore referred to here whichwasrecounted byanUzbek within andoutsidetheirownfamily).Thecase against thepressures to prevent (potentially outliers university, demandsconsiderablymore struggle in thecity, suchasto enableadaughter to enter thatwould beconsidered common opportunity of thecommunity. Insuchsituations,to seizean the family’s reputation asdetermined byviews concern wasabout communities theprimary a daughter’s orson’s education. described as includingallowances for investing in family budgets in urban contexts were generally to make use of them. An additional factor was that whether it would be legitimate for young women exams, aswell of asthesubjective understanding for enrolmentuniversity courses preparatory for example availability opportunities, of certain 1:Domesticviolence familyissue,nooneshouldknow isaninternal aboutit,itisashame. Chart 22 On the Uzbek mahalla as a socio-spatial field for urban dwelling and the ‘cultivation’ of proper personhood in southern Kyrgyzstan, see Liu (2012). By contrast,inmore traditional (Femalerespondents) 22 ‘type’(whichwerealso foundto 66% of males, and in the Uzbek group to 40% of Kyrgyz group thisrose to 24%of femalesand and 27% of males voiced their agreement. In the Within theRussiangroup only13%of females issue, nooneshouldknowaboutit,itisashame’. statement ‘Domesticviolenceisaninternal family ‘completely agree’ or‘ratheragree’ withthe the young maleandfemale respondents would local, informal institutions(suchaseldercouncils).’ to behandledinsidethefamilyorreconciled by brought to theattention of official bodies,butwas was considered aprivate matter thatshouldnotbe remains astrong tabooandbymostrespondents financial abuse or neglect. ‘Talking about violence physical andemotionalviolenceto verbal and of violenceandabuseof from different sorts, allowed fortherecognition of experiences pervasive females and50%of males. Violence Charts 1and2indicate whomamong Charts The responses of young Kyrgyzstanis 49 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 50 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 2:Domesticviolence familyissue,nooneshouldknow isaninternal aboutit,itis ashame. Chart interviews that the barriers to resorting to thatthebarriers to violence resorting interviews to butstillitwasnoticeablefrom strangers), the of (whatshouldbesaid publicmoraldiscourse 25 24 23 verbalising violent experiences.) as well in thatthisgroup showed theleastreserve Russian respondents. (Yet itmustbenoted here domestic violencewasprimarilymentioned by all ethnic groups, alcohol abuse as a catalyst for tosuch violence was reported occur within almost satisfactorily alongside their employment. While chores, orwhowere failingto managethese who were considered negligent of household verbal abusedeployed inorder to ‘discipline’ wives of liberty. It also included domestic violenceor were notperceived ascriminalactsof deprivation and Kurdish communities cases of bride-kidnappingwithinKyrgyz orTurkish patriarchal agendas.Thisincluded,forexample, thus beidentifiedasafeasiblemeansto enforce lifeinKyrgyzstan,into everyday violencecould and femalesof different ethnicbelongingoffered divorce). as restraining orders, communityostracisationor fear seriouslegalorsocialconsequences(such are low, andperpetrators often donotneedto Ismailbekova (2014)outlines thepotentially dominantrole ofwomen incasesofmale absence,such asduetomigration. Another such audience are local courts of elders (aksakals). Beyer (2015) reveals how these traditional institutions ‘customise law’ in Kyrgyzstan. Kleinbach (2003; etal.2005; andSalimjanova2007)hascarriedoutextensive research ontheissueofbride-kidnapping among Kyrgyz. Werner ‘measures ofredress’ forsurvivors ofdomesticviolence. A recent report by Human Rights Watch (2015) critically remarks that with their focus on reconciliation, such elders’ courts can limit the access to (2009) discusses the connectionofbride-kidnapping withpatriarchy andlocal discoursesofshameandtradition. (Malerespondents) Violence may also be condemned as part Violence mayalsobecondemnedaspart Judging from theinsightsthatyoung males 23 , whichpredominantly statement. of females and9%of malesagree withthis 41% of men.AmongRussianrespondents 17% 35%of women and arethese numbers higher: with thisstatement, whereas intheUzbek group group only8%of women and18%of menagree respondents, thisshowsthatwithintheKyrgyz over divorce’. Separated into male andfemale with thestatement ‘Physicalabuseispreferable groups either‘completely agree’ or‘rather agree’ show howmanyrespondents of different ethnic measures againsther.disciplinary of her son’s newwifeanddoesnotopposehis in-law who criticises the householdperformance identified asbeingcomplicit,suchamother- working wifeincheck; a manonwhetherheisableto keep his‘dominant’ are male peer groups which, for example, challenge culturally legitimisedbydifferent audiences.These emerge primarilyasashow of masculinity thatis Kyrgyzstanis attest thatviolence,abuseandneglect Ultimately, the accounts of young Charts 3and 4usequantitative datato Charts 24 butalsofemalescouldbe 25 Chart 3:Physical abuse ispreferableChart over divorce. (Femalerespondents) Chart 4:Physical abuse ispreferableChart over divorce. (Malerespondents) Montgomery (2015)provides insights onhow‘Muslims experiencedemocracy andthestate inKyrgyzstan’. 26 the needto ‘show of patience’ (sabr kyl)thatpart legitimised by women’s passive acceptance of marriage andelsewhere, whichsofartend to be in order to opposeactsof violenceandabusein alternative moralsources thatcanbepromoted McBrien (2009) discusses the nexus of ‘veiling and modernity’ in contemporary Kyrgyzstan. On a ?higherlevel (or isthis a ‘wider platform’??), From this emerges thenecessityto identify currently predominant ‘traditionalist’patterns pointed to religious tenets inorder to criticise who for example,itwasIslamicclericsinparticular society encourages.Infocusgroup discussions, women andthe neglectof femaleeducation. such asearlymarriage, the violentdiscipliningof 26 , 51 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 52 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan Chart 5: Where do/did you get information aboutSTDandHIV/AIDS?(Femalerespondents) getinformation do/didyou 5:Where Chart communication onawiderangeof ‘delicate face whenrelating to the opposite sex. their ownemotionalstates orthechallengesthey a forumforexpressing concerns about personal all-male peergroups theyare notprovided with with a kind of ‘masculine silence’, i.e. within their that quite afewof themfindthemselves faced of young Kyrgyzstani males,itcouldbeconcluded or of potential forcompromise. From theresponses including littleawareness of mutualexpectations with alackof lives, knowledgeabouteachother’s tendboundaries between genders to harden that and anxieties.Thislinksto theobservation be understood asaninabilityto verbalise frustration implementation of relevant laws,thesemustaswell a humanrightsissueintheabsenceof effective violentactsas acts onmoralgrounds andclassify verbalise emotionswithin peer-group settings. 26 Forthe urban context of Bishkek, Schröder (2012, 2014)hasprovided insights on social integration among male youth, including the hesitation to Further barriers forcross-gender Further Beyond theobviousneed to reject violent Flow of information 27 institutions, NGOsandschools. from massmediaandtheinternet to medical their knowledgeonSTDandHIV/AIDS,ranging that theyutilisemultipleothersources to improve addition, young Kyrgyzstanis ingeneralindicated do (Kyrgyz: 29%, Tajik: 25%, Uzbek: 13%). In 9%,Tajik:13%, Uzbek: 0%)thanyoung women discuss thesematters with theirparents (Kyrgyz: the sametime,farfewer young malesapparently do(Kyrgyz:peers 16%,Tajik: 27%,Uzbek: 17%).At for information onthesetopics thantheirfemale schoolmates (Kyrgyz: 36%,Tajik: 36%,Uzbek: 33%) shows thatmore young menturn to friendsor Separated into maleandfemalerespondents, this sexually transmitted diseases(STD)andHIV/AIDS. different ethnicgroups obtaininformation on 6 present themainsources from whichyouth of or between children 5and andparents. Charts present within families, meaning among siblings topics’, especiallysexuality, were to reported be Chart 6: Where do/did you get information aboutSTDandHIV/AIDS?(Malerespondents) getinformation do/didyou 6:Where Chart perspective ontoperspective male-femalerelations. those menwhotended to project azero-sum- thatexisted among of the ‘femalecharacter’ forexample, inregard toobserved, themistrust fuel speculation and stereotyping, as could be gender dividecouldbeunderstood to further the generalpaucity of suchglimpsesacross the domestic sphere exclusively to females.However, strict gender perceptions, such as assigning the being employed were better ableto move beyond had experiencesof orsisters theirownmothers women’, having thoseyoung maleswhoreported to the(admittedly lessdelicate) topic of ‘working the otherhand,itcouldbenoticedthatinregards into theothersex’s mind-setandreasoning. On potentially be sources for gaining first-hand insights male-female friendshiprelations, whichwould 29 (2007). Furthercontributions onthetopic ofeducationwere provided byShamatov (2013) andMerrill(2013). (2010),problems andtrends inthesecondary educationsector(2006)and the‘erosion ofsocialupbringing’ inschools 28 Thisisalso discussedinSchröder (2011). DeYoung (2011) haspublished widelyoneducationinKyrgyzstan, forexampleasregards ‘universityexperiences’ Respondents alsodidnotmentionany or universities. perceptions of whatare ‘prestigious’ professions current labourmarket demandsbutratheron matters, orwhentheirchoiceisnotbased on who are unmotivated or ill-informed on these face whenconsultingparents andteachers revealed thedifficultiesthatKyrgyzstani youth acceptable income opportunities. future profession thatwould present themwith and thus a post-secondary education track, taskof selectinganappropriatethe important information wasdisseminated whenitcameto male andfemalerespondents were criticalof how Aside from genderrelations, bothyoung 29 28 The interviews The interviews 53 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 54 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan matching withahusband andwhothuscould daughter, whom they might have trouble family stood to losemore from a‘misbehaving’ biographies. Within that marriage market, a priority orientation when imagining their future of allethnicgroups couldbeidentifiedasa market, whichamongyoung Kyrgyzstanis provided bythefunctioningof thelocalmarriage and theirpotential to allocate timeautonomously. their physicalmobilityto leave theparental home women were foundto benarrower, inregards to structures foryoung In consequence,opportunity maintain the image of raisinga‘good daughter’. women, withtheparamount requirement being to reasoning appeared to matter more foryoung perceived to reflect onafamily’s reputation, this the publicbehaviourof young maleswasalso both aneducationalandleisure nature. Although were permitted timeforextracurricularactivities,of domestic responsibilities, whiletheirmalesiblings expected to take over more householdandother youngcaptured women were inthisreport, gendered upbringingwithinmostethnicgroups opportunity forsomeoneto develop aresponsible opportunity this transition from child- to adulthood not as an within thehumanlifecycle, whichunderstood reflected amore gener this matter without slipping into promiscuity. This their children’s ability to handle information on number of parents expressed concerns about on thetopic of sexualeducation,quite alarge Kyrgyzstanis. Especially in focus group discussions the oldergeneration’s perception of younger smoke or beat’.drink, as agoodhusband, i.e.‘someone whodoesnot referred to the low expectationsfor what qualified such disparity washighlighted whenrespondents for thesupply-sideof future wives. Inpractice, future husbands endedupdictatingtheterms ma that particular natal kin-group forlife(andbeyond). Following patrilineal principles will be associated withhis than from a‘misbehaving’son,whoaccording to remain aburden asanadditionalfamilymember, 32 31 30 Inthecase ofTajikistan, Roche(2014) has describedthis aspracticesof ‘domesticating youth’. Onthisaspect,see alsoSchröder(2011). vs. ‘youth-as-victims-of-Western-influence’, withthelattergroup beingmore likelytobecome‘lost’ and‘delinquent’. of theSovietpractice, inconnectionwithwhichPilkington (1994) notedabinary oppositionthatperceived ‘youth-as-constructors-of-communism’ the elder generation and on gender among young males and females. Furthermore, a critical perspective on youth can be identified as a continuation Taking theexampleof ‘youthwork’ inlocalyouthcentres ofnorthern Kyrgyzstan, Schröder(2015a)provides insightsontheperception ofyouthby The majorrationaleforthisseemedto be of that,as part a It could beobserved Displays of patriarchy alsoconcerned Being Young rket logic,thedemand-sideof al scepticismonadolescence by marriageratherthanage. adulthood iscommonlyunderstood to bemarked opportunities. that constrainedthemfrom essential pursuing prejudgment ontheirdecision-makingability, however, often experiencedasadisproportionate control, which adolescent males and females, youth from ‘negative influences’bymeansof social appeared to befocusedstrongly onprotecting delinquencies of any sort. and femalescouldbeeasilyseducedinto personality, butasaperiodwhenyoung males marriage tends to be imagined as also opening up and forayoung woman to becomeamother, as forayoung manto becomeabreadwinner entails newandseriousresponsibilities, such agency. Regardless of thefactthatthistransition youth’s aspirationsforastatuschangeandnew by parents, butsuchastep mayalsoberelated to a young ageisnotalways instigated exclusively should benoted thatapushtowards marriageat 82% of Russians agree, but only 41% of Uzbeks. statement, while among men, 68% of Kyrgyz and Russian women, indicated thattheyagree withthis of both Kyrgyz and Uzbek women, and 87% of and femalerespondents, thisshowsthat89% fulfilment in a job/career’. Separated into male inamarriageshouldalsoseek both partners agree’ or‘ratheragree’ withthestatement ‘Now different ethnicgroups whoeither‘completely indicating thenumberof respondents from work would beadecisionfortheirhusbands. women mentionedthatwhetherornot theywould example, thiscouldbenoticedwhenyoung Uzbek the hierarchy of conditionaldecision-making.For ‘married man’promises to move thehusband up male relatives of similarage,thenewstatusof a muchlater thantheirfriendsor not to marry there alsoseemsto be significantpeer-pressure as ‘beingworthy’. Foryoung males,although by vulnerabilityandtheneedto prove themselves daughter-in-law (kelin) asalsobeingcharacterised the latter often depicted theirnewpositionof more thecaseforyoung malesthanfemales,as scrutiny. new freedoms from theaforementioned parental Charts 7 and 8 illustrate this further,Charts However, thisagainappeared to be In Kyrgyzstan thetransitionfrom youth into 32 30 Therefore, parenting 31 Accordingly, it Chart 8: Now both partners in a marriage shouldalso inamarriage seek 8:Now inajob/career. fulfilment bothpartners Chart (Malerespondents). shouldalso inamarriage seek 7:Now inajob/career. fulfilment bothpartners Chart (Femalerespondents) or even themselves, for failing to properly manage only bytheir husbands but alsobyotherwomen in caseswhere working wives were criticised,not Thiswasvividlyillustratedtheir malecounterparts. and ‘taken forgranted’ incomparison to thoseof rearing oremployment, tended to bedownplayed child- these related to education, domesticwork, regardlessmanifestations of of femaleefforts, whether contributions. Before marriage,the orafter but alsotheunequalvaluation of theirrespective distribution of maleandfemaleopportunities, displays of patriarchy concerned notonlytheunequal Furthermore, it could be observed that itcouldbeobserved Furthermore, socialise with colleagues. their elevated self-confidence to andopportunities that would come withemployment,especially women underlined thesocialandemotionalbenefits manyworking duringtheinterviews, of theirefforts sharing of responsibilities andlackof appreciation be comparatively low. Whileaddressing theunequal theactualcontributionmight ‘housemen’ of Naryn, as more ‘blessed’, even if, asinthecaseof the concerned the symbolic exaltation of male income job at the same time. Another illustration of this the domesticdomainwhiledoingtheirprofessional the doubleburden of beingentirely responsible for 55 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 56 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan recommendations madeinthefinalreport Recommendations Sub Recommendations: interested organizations thatprovide evidenceanddatato guidediscussion. discrimination against women. The campaign by should be driven by individual activistsand supported cultural practices and gender-rolesagainst discriminatory infamilyandsociety, early marriage, and educational out a systematic and targeted awareness raisingcampaign againstallforms of gender based violence,and popular with youth, internet and specifically mobilephone based applications lendthemselves astools to carry Additional comments: Inputs required: Beneficiaries: To whom: With internet resources accessibleto youth across Kyrgyzstan and the internet being a media platform Actions to betaken asproposed bytheresearch team inrelation to thegeneral Awareness raisingcampaign of againstallforms violenceagainstgirls and storage of theanonymizedresearch data. termsagreement andconditionsof specifying theuse and ethnicallysensitive manner. shouldsignan Partners data) isto be handledinanunbiased,culturally primary Research anonymized pillarreports, material (finalreport, involved entities. of regular work donebycommunications’specialistsof bono basis. Preparation of information material to bepart Participation of celebrities shouldbeonavolunteer/pro- Budget forproducing professional videoclips. Youth butspecifically thoseage14to 22. Women peer-educators. organizations, specificallythenationwidenetwork of UN of existing formal and informal networks of local youth of Culture, Information andTourism. Useshouldbemade with theState AgencyonYouth andMinistry andSports advocate genderequality, activists;inclosecooperation Local NGOs,INGOs,UNbodies,informal movements that for ateen audience. based discrimination and girl empowerment successes including comics covering research findings on gender- To to produce visualart commissionyouth artists that hinderempowerment of young women andmen. youth to advocate against harmful practicesandbeliefs known individuals in society who have influence over opinion-makers andwell- inthemedia,businessleaders To have celebritiesinpopularculture andthearts, youth. research findingsandevidenceto catch theattention of To video clips and infographics presenting produce short Additional comments: Required budget: Beneficiaries: Timeframe: To whom: Sub Recommendations: engendered socialscienceresearch. young researchersto qualifying onqualitative research. Further, thiscadre willbesensitizedto theutilityof based micro-research projects in gender-related thematic areas. The initiative will make a solid contribution evaluate research projects usingmixed methods,andapplyingthetheoretical knowledgeto individual/group learning environment onhowto andreceive courses design, conduct,process and participatory introductory sciences, andPhDstudentsyoung researchers. are Duringthesummerschoolparticipants inaninteractive, social scienceresearch. Thetarget group isbothundergraduate andpostgraduate studentsinthesocial cadre of professional researchers itisrecommended to organize asummerschoolonconductingengendered research, andspecificallyinrelation to applyingthemixed methodsapproach, andinorder to expand the Additional comments: Required budget: Beneficiaries: To whom: Sub Recommendations: and through whichmediashouldinform thecurriculum. online. Focus group discussions with university students regarding what content should be presented, how standard, as should be infographicmaterial showingresults of thisresearch inrelation to ASRH for distribution Infographicsandvideoclipscoveringand universities. basic ASRHknowledgeshouldbeproduced to WHO schools culturally sensitive wayto subjectstaughtatsecondary integrate ASRHeducationinto mandatory WHO andNGOsworking onSRHissuesshouldparticipate inworking groups aneffective and to identify of LabourandSocialProtection, of UNWomen, Education, Ministry of Health,Ministry UNFPA, UNICEFand Ministry a discussiononthemainstreaming of curriculum.ASRHexperts, ASRHtopics into themandatory ASRH education, it is recommended issues, and given the absence of to initiate mandatory health andpuberty Considering thegenerallackof knowledgeamongKyrgyzstani adolescentsonsexualandreproductive Considering often limited capacity of young Kyrgyzstan-based researchers in conducting social science Summer schoolonconductingengendered socialscienceresearch Introduction of ASRHeducation atallschools to be handled in an unbiased, culturally/ethnically in an unbiased, to handled be manner. sensitive data) is primary anonymized pillar reports, report, (final material Research Cost forcurriculumrevision and printing,andforteacher training. Young people,specificallythoseage14to 22. Relevant government ministries,UNorganisations, civilsocietyactors. presenting research findingsto raiseawareness. videoclipsshouldbeproducedof material and in discussions. Short studentsshouldbeinvolved school anduniversity increation Secondary research topics/questions. pertinent will select institutions UNWomen partner and research, For field accommodationandmeals. services; supplied withQDA software orsimilarto process andanalysedata;trainer research to stipendsforparticipants conductfieldresearch; computers Premises andsuppliesto conductclassroom training; researchers andyouth activists. Undergraduate and postgraduate students, PhD candidates, young Summer 2017. withresearchUniversities faculties. sciences. offeringuniversities undergraduate andpostgraduate degrees insocial The initiative shouldbeimplemented incooperationwithoneof the 57 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan 58 Research on Professional and Marriage Choices of Youth in Kyrgyzstan To whom: Sub-recommendations their educationalandcareer prospects. how to take advantage of them to provide less advantaged youth groups with a range of options relating to and thosenothavingfullaccessto information. Thisto existand raiseawareness onwhatcareer opportunities trends, andskillsrequirements foreffective labormarket especiallyforyouth participation from remote areas Required budget: Beneficiaries: Timeframe: Organize campaigns current onpost-secondary andemerging labourmarket educationalopportunities, Campaign on education and employment opportunities forgirls Campaign oneducationandemploymentopportunities participant universities, colleges, universities, privateparticipant companies and other organizations. Information boothsandtherelated logisticcostsshouldbecovered by For hostingcareer production fairs, of information materials. organizations. Indirect: colleges, universities, private participating companies and other Direct: thoseage 14to 18 young people,inparticular targetedand undertake preparation. students/university graduates sufficient time to make informed decisions Annually from September through December, to give senior school implemented bystakeholders. activities shouldalsobeincorporated into ongoingeducationalprojects sector companies, non-commercial entities,state agencies.Theproposed privateDevelopment, colleges,career universities, development experts, of Labour and Social of Education andScience,Ministry Ministry TV, radio,andinternet-based socialnetworks These events shouldenjoybroad mediacoverage andpublicvisibility via companies. educational facilities,exchange programs, private sector involvement of post-secondary universities, independentcareer experts, of Labor ofand Social Development with Education and the Ministry Education andcareer to fairs beheldundertheaegisof theMinistry - - - - - opportunities of migration,andonlegaldocumentationissues opportunities how to prepare jobapplicationsandforinterviews and state agencies onjobandinternship opportunities onadmissionrequirements,and courses, etc. scholarships, International labormigrationcorner to inform onrisks and Career center with a professional photo booth,andconsultancyon Information boothsof private sector, non-commercial organisations, Information boothsof educationalfacilitiesto inform ondegrees Guest speakers presenting successstories Required budget: Beneficiaries: To whom: Sub-recommendations extra-curricularactivitiesforgirlsandalsoboys. laboursubjectorinto compulsory existing mandatory agriculture, financialmanagement,computer literacy, sewingandcookingshouldbeintegrated inthe education.Life-skillsmodulessuchasbasics of ruralentrepreneurship,continue withsecondary effective recommended to offer alternatives withintheschoolcurriculum to motivate girlsandtheirparents to housework related commercial thatcloseoff courses theireducationalandcareer prospects, itis Required budget: Beneficiaries: To whom: To whom: targeted vocational trainingforfemalereturnees from migration. launch andgrow abusiness,howto accessfinancing,financialmanagementof abusiness,marketing and communities of origin.Suchcapacitation onhowto shouldincludecourses develop abusinessplan,howto migrants shouldbegiven skillsto deployknowledgeandcapitalasprivate entrepreneurs inBishkek ortheir out andreturnee women are unable to protect their rights as they cannot use their agency. Returnee female absence of anenablingenvironment thatwould permit migrantsto deploytheirassetstheeconomyloses A large numberof femalemigrantsbringskillsandsometimes alsocapitalback to Kyrgyzstan. Inthe Given thefact thatgirlsfrom ethnicminoritygroups often drop outof schoolinfavour of attending Enhancing usefulnessof to retain theschoolcurriculum girlsinseculareducation Skills trainingforfemalemigrantreturnees Development of curriculumandprintingcosts,costsforteacher training. schoolstudentsandteachers. Secondary projects andprogrammes. proposed activitiesshouldalsobeincorporated to current educational working onrelevant invarious disciplines.The topics, independentexperts of EducationandScience,(I)NGOsdevelopment partners Ministry approved bythestate foruseinpublicschools. have been school.Bothcourse youth andespeciallygirlsatsecondary made of the ‘My Safe and Peaceful School’ life-skills curriculum to empower toadditional modules and courses train livelihoods skills.Use should be schools andwhere acadre of existscanbecomplemented trainers by used for with many thousands years of students at more than 100 secondary Modules from the existing textbook ‘My Prosperous Farm’ which has been in Ministry of LabourandSocialDevelopment, vocational traininginstitutions, Ministry Use of funding. localbudgetsplus development partner dangers. in migration.Theystay Bishkek where theyare exposedto multiple earned independence andbecauseof negative stereotyping of females not to return to theirvillagesof originfearingthattheywilllosehard- Female migrant returnees. 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