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78POLITICAL SCIENCES
WHY DO WOMEN REMAIN UNDERREPRESENTED IN POLITICS IN KAZAKHSTAN?
Kozhakhmetova D.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7121188
Statements and declarations On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
No funds, grants, or other support was received.
Abstract
From the first days of the Independence of Kazakhstan, the state committed and ratified various acts and conventions regarding gender equality in employment to ensure women's participation in economic, social and political life. Yet, high politics is not within the grasp of female representatives, and this article focuses on the roots of women's underrepresentation in the political life of Kazakhstan. The discussion is organised around the historical domains, societal processes, and recent research in this area. The article discusses how the state's historical background and religion affect the current situation concerning the underrepresented female representatives in decision-making bodies.
Keywords: gender equality, female representatives, Kazakhstan, parity.
Introduction
In the country, according to the National Census of the Republic of Kazakhstan 2021, the sex ratio of the total population is 94.37 men per 100 women [1], the significant chasm between the numbers of male politicians and female politicians has been an acute problem, even though the state has made a significant breakthrough in terms of recognition of the international standards in gender equality. As a matter of fact, the Kazakhstani Parliament ratified the 'Law of State Guarantees of Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities for Men and Women' in December 2009 [2], which means the political representation of women should have been seemingly guaranteed to some extent by this law. Also, the country has adopted the Concept of Family and Gender Policy until 2030 [3] to promote equal rights and eliminate gender-based discrimination. In addition, the National Commission for Women's Affairs and family and demographic policy under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan has become the first national body to foster gender equality in Central Asia, demonstrating positive changes regarding
gender equality [4]. However, these alleged improvements did not make any difference in reality when it comes to women's empowerment in politics. More precisely, in the female political empowerment sub-ranking, Kazakhstan ranked at 69th in 2006, while, in 2018, the state lost the previous indicator and was at 94th position [5]. This is evidence that no progress has been made to retain its place in the ranking and improve the overall positioning. According to the data, the women's representation in 2006 was 10 per cent in the Parliament and 18 per cent in ministerial positions [6]. In other words, there is no expansion in women's representation in senior political roles (Graph 1). In contrast to the previously mentioned numbers, administrative and lower-level positions have demonstrated opposite trends for women's participation, showing a constant growth throughout the considered period of time. In 2018, the rate of women working as civil servants was 55 per cent (50.5 thousand); however, this percentage did not lead to a significant number of female representatives at higher decision-making levels [7]. This discrepancy might have made input on worsening gender gaps across the country.
Graph 1. Comparison between the numbers of male and female ministers over a period of 22 years [8].
Literature Review
Kazakhstan is a highly hierarchical, male-dominated country where the role of a woman is to be a good mother, daughter, sister, and wife, and this kind of narrative causes concern among not only layers of the grassroots but also researchers. As expressed in Cynthia Werner's research paper [9]: "As throughout Central Asia, gender relations are being redefined as Islamic values are reinstated as the 'guiding ethic for society', national histories and national traditions are rewritten and revived, and patriarchal authority is reasserted". Therefore, it is critical to have active women's representation in politics — bearing in mind the aforementioned patriarchal propensity within the society — to promote gender balance to ensure the government's receptivity to its citizens' needs and societal changes. Thus, by increasing the number of women in leadership roles, the government will progress towards inclusivity. By doing so, the main principle of democracy will be fulfilled: the participation of each social category — women are one of the social categories who have been infringed upon politically — is a prerequisite for a functioning democracy [10]. Taking into account that more than half of the population is women (51, 29%) [11], it is, therefore, vital to increase their numbers in legislatures to address all the possible societal matters.
The issue of inclusivity in Kazakhstani political life is a contributory factor to the problem of composition in legislatures. Karekurve-Ramachandra et al. (2020) found that less privileged women are unlikely to secure offices in decision-making bodies; so, it leads to comparatively more significant numbers of women representatives from privileged backgrounds [12], so-called 'upper-class' citizens. The scope of the research covered only India, and 'upper-class citizens', in the case of India, were the Hindus' upper castes (the system which divides Hindus into rigid hierarchical groups). However, it is also viable in Kazakhstan's case, which can be one of the reasons behind the issue of females' frail political representation. In the case of Kazakhstan, instead of the Indian caste system, there are establishments' families to deprive women of less privileged
backgrounds of political power. Karekurve-Ramachandra et al. (2020) claimed that the provision of quota led to the limitation of other underrepresented minorities, providing access to the electoral positions of so-called proxy candidates ("women who are running for office in name only and are really stand-ins for their husbands"). Proxy candidates or female politicians from privileged backgrounds tend to overlook issues of marginalised women in Kazakhstan — which is clear from policies that cannot meet female grassroots' needs — displaying some sort of unwillingness in taking actions as regards fostering political activity amongst not only a few female parliamentarians but also women from middle and low-class groups. As a result, women across the state struggle due to being ignored, secluded, and, more important, not being protected by the letter of the law. To give an example of the latter, it is enough to recall the fact that domestic violence, namely "battery" and "infliction of light bodily harm" towards women, was decriminalised in July 2017 [13]. It shows that women's affairs were not protected by those few female politicians in power. To give an example, Kaka-bayeva (2021) conducted interviews [14] with women with political agendas and women in politics. There is one quote from the interview with an, as the author stated, 'upper class' citizen: "I keep questioning myself, what and why do I need this? I have everything; I am not in jail; why should I be disturbed by this? Conversely, I envy the feminists who are concrete in their claims". As it can be seen it is obvious that in order to meet needs and live up to grassroots expectations, it is not enough to have qualified specialists but it is strongly recommended to include people from all the strata of society in political activity to provide inclusivity. The best example of this can be the United Kingdom, where female politicians make a difference for ordinary people even though they can be from deprived backgrounds. Take as an example the Labour Member of Parliament Angela Rayner [15], who is also serving as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work since 2021.
Even though Kazakhstan has made progress in meeting international standards, it is evident from the number of female politicians [16] that the pace of progress is slow and unchanging. One of the reasons, to explain why the government needs to expand women's representation, is the fact that women tend to pay attention to matters where men seem to be reluctant to take decisive actions. Gender theorists, Mona Lena Krook, Richard Fox and Jenifer Lawless, also stood for the increase of women in formal institutions [17], claiming that it would improve affairs of state. Take as an example India and Norway, where, according to UN Women, the matters of potable water and childcare coverage were tackled effectively because the number of female representatives was higher in decision-making roles compared to male counterparts [18]. On the other hand, Dahlerup (1998) realised that the main focus should be put on the critical acts in lieu of the issue of parity [19]. In other words, the main goal is to include women in the discourse. In turn, critical acts, as stated in Dahlerup's manuscript, rely upon the "willingness and ability of the minority to mobilize the resources of the organization to improve the situation for themselves and the whole minority group". Moreover, the main initiators of the critical acts may be not only women but also men. Yet, in the case of Kazakhstan, female politicians, along with male politicians, fall short of doing so. As reported by Kakabayeva (2021) [20], female politicians "do not politicise their gender identity and engage in political struggle on equal positions with male representatives". The reason for that, it is explained in Kakabayeva's research, is mainly due to the state appropriation of the gender equality agenda. Plainly put, according to Johnson (2016), "women are "boxed" in roles that suit the needs of the regime and, more importantly, are tightly controlled in those "boxes" by the informal — virtually all-male — elite, whose purposeful push for "traditional values" of narrow heteronormative roles for women and men" [21]. As an example, it is interesting to consider the first female candidate for the presidency in 2019, Dania Yespayeva, who had a well-fit profile as a former banker, possessing all the needed features to fulfil some sort of a tokenistic role. Even so, the candidate lacked prior political visibility to ensure the electorate votes. Meaning that, the number of female politicians is not a guarantee leading to equality and prosperity. In Kakabayeva's research interviews (2021), one respondent resorted to the Rwanda case, in which 50 per cent of Parliament is women, drawing attention to the fact that this number contributed to nothing. As it can be seen, this is in line with Dahlerup's position regarding the parity issue. In addition, some of the respondents emphasised that professionalism should come first rather than gender. In detail, the respondent stressed that feministic claims could limit the scope of supporters, which is why the respondent does not consider herself a feminist [20]. Another respondent went even further, explaining her position as regards feminism "When you say "women's, women's", it scares me, although I am sure there would be many men who share feminist aspirations. The feminist movement, due to the sometimes very radical views of
some members, is rejected by the male part of the population. I do not want to split up anymore, but to unite, to find common ground" [20]. It is clear that there is an air of feminist fear and threat among not only males but also females on the grounds of the radical views of some feminist representatives and societal cleavage. Khairullayeva et al. (2022) argue that the perception of feminism as a threat is one of the current trends in Ka-zakhstani society, and this can be one of the reasons why women's empowerment faces many challenges in terms of realisation [22]. The underlying reasoning for this might be explained in the context of history and the ill implementation of gender equality policies across the country.
Looking through the historical prism
Historical events affect not only the formation of a political entity but also political dynamics within society. That is why it is vital to delve into history to form a whole picture of women's agency in society. Besides, it is difficult to understand the current trends in society without prior knowledge of how women were emancipated in this region and historical and regional idiosyncrasy in order to evaluate the current situation. This is the main driver behind this historical analysis of women's roles in the nomadic confederation and the Soviet Union's policy regarding women in the Kazakh steppe. As a German politician, Martin Schulz, wisely noted, "We cannot walk away from our history, and today's politics are of course, related to events that happened in the past" [23].
Therefore, this section excavates the domain of history in an attempt to scrutinise the main trends in Kazakh society and its historical ancestors concerning women's political engagement. The section fleetingly covers the period when the Saka confederation (also called "Scythians") inhabited the Eurasian Steppe and then the period when the Soviets promulgated the idea of emancipation amongst Kazakh women.
In general, Kazakh women bore the brunt of material production and household work during their nomadic life. There was no possibility to reconsider and contemplate the order of things in their society because of ongoing predicaments. Moreover, the diversity of the tribes made it difficult for Kazakh women to unite and reflect upon their position within their society [24], let alone the historical events such as the Kazakh famine of 1930-1933. Additionally, in the case of Kazakhstan, it is notable that practised belief before Islam had been Tengrism (a polytheistic religion), which was a mixture of shamanism and animism (a vast system of animistic beliefs and practices) [25]. Perhaps, this affected the perception of women's position within society. Most often, Kazakh women possessed to some extent, unrestrained will and did have a say due to the fact above. While as an example, the Arab Middle East's Islamic norms are different from those that we might observe in Kazakhstan, and this was mentioned in Weller's research paper (2013), saying that "In traditional Kazakh culture the influence of Shamanism, Zo-roastrianism, and Tengrism is more predominant than Islam" [26]. For this reason, the role of women in Kazakh society may not be compared and analysed within the realm of Islamic countries, irrespective of the fact
that the majority of the population nominally holds Islam as the main religion.
The Kazakhs underwent several historical changes in how society perceives women regarding their role and function. Nonetheless, cultural norms had been evolving since the period of Tengrism, and then, the adoption of Islam, the tendency for constant changes in women's roles in society prevailed. Therefore, this lays the foundation for the idea that subjugated women were not prevalent. Moreover, there is a plethora of historical evidence that women rulers were popular within the nomadic pastoral confederation and attained military glory.
One of them was Tomyris — the Queen of the Massagetae and Saka — who defeated the ruler of the Achaemenid Empire, Cyrus the Great in 530 BC [27], following the refusal of marriage to the Persian ruler. This historical event was described in the ancient Greek historian and geographer Herodotus's work and the Flemish artist and diplomat Peter Paul Rubens''s famous painting "Head of Cyrus brought to Queen Tomyris" under the commission of Archduchess Isabella, ruler of the Southern Netherlands. Another Saka woman ruler was Zarinae (7th BCE) [28], from the northern and the eastern Eurasian Steppe's confederation. Zarinae was, following historical accounts, an accomplished warrior, a prominent politician, and last but not least, a bringer of settlement and civilisation. The tribes under Zarinae thrived on engineering and architecture. Thus, based on historical accounts, women in Central Asia were equal to men, participating in battles and governing tribes just like men did.
Moving forward to the XXth century, Kazakh people still had an idea of equality in mind; it is clear from the Alash Orda party's programme of equal rights for all citizens regardless of their origin, religion and sex in 1917 [29]. The Alash party consisted of the Westernised Kazakh elite, who represented and protected Kazakh interests following the collapse of Tsarist Russia. It is known as the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917 in history. Regardless of the Alash Orda party's programme, in the Turgai region, women's rights were addressed differently, pursuant to Koran suras [30]. According to Hosking (2006), after the Great October Socialist Revolution, the main agenda for the Soviets was to create a "new personality" in order to support the regime [31]. The main precondition for that was to change women's mindset as to their agency in society to change other social structures in Central Asia. Some researchers, for example, Zhetybayev et al. (2020) note that to incorporate the new Soviet ideology into people's mindsets, the Soviet regime disseminated the progressive ideas of women's emancipation among Islamic regions to introduce a new Soviet reality [32]. The stumbling point was religious authorities, which had a significant influence on people's minds. Ghassanova et al. (2002) outlined: "We suppose that in any case, the greatest obstacle on the way to women's liberation would be the aggressive opposition of religious authorities if they themselves were subjected to repression from Bolsheviks" [29], proving that a Muslim religious belief was deep-rooted in ordinary peo-
ple's ideology. During the Soviet period, it is noteworthy that the Central Party saw Central Asian countries as a threat because all the countries of this region might have been united under the ideology of Pan Islamism and that is where the Soviets used Russification policies to tackle the probable uniting of the Islamic republics of Central Asia. By doing so, the Soviet Union introduced the provision of the 30 per cent quotas for women representatives across the state to bolster women's emancipation. Despite these policies, after the Soviet regime had decayed, identity politics came on the scene, putting women on the sidelines.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Tatari et al. (2010) note that religious revivalism took place in Central Asian countries, including Kazakhstan [33]. Also, Cornell et al. (2018) argue that the Kazakhstani government was concerned as regard rising foreign religious influence competing for this region [34]. Meaning that, within the state, some strata of the society sympathised and would not be opposed to revitalising their cultural beliefs and traditions after the Soviet Union's oppression of religious beliefs and traditions. Although the government devised policies that pushed the process of secularisation among citizens irrespective of what had been expected after the fall of the Soviet Union. Tolsdorf (2017) claims that the level of religiosity is strongly correlated with decreased public participation, and, thereby, the increase in Kazakh society's connection to its foundational nomadic, pastoral roots causes the decline of women's political activity [35]. As a result of the patriarchal nature of Kazakh society under the influence of religion, it is primarily true that Kazakh women are prone to believe in men's superiority and defer to men in any matters, including political matters.
Discussion
Nowadays, the Kazakhstani government has officially committed to delivering gender equality and eliminating any discrimination based on gender, age, religion, nationality and race. As an example, in 2016, the government adopted the Concept of Family and Gender Policy in order to remove any probable hindrance on the carrier ladder for women. On top of that, in 2021, the first women's march was held in Almaty on 8 March [36], which was for the first time when the local authorities had permitted such an event. These kinds of events are paramount because it nudges women to be involved in politics, and make women more visible across the country, encouraging them to speak out about their matters. In the Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit for Co-operation Projects [37], one of the prerequisites for Gender Equality and Political Participation is "Addressing the male-dominated culture of politics and the functioning of the political fora which, in turn, would allow more women to enter and remain in politics". On this basis, I assume that if Kazakhstani women were politically involved in the affairs of state, expressing their opinions regarding policies, this would help rise the question of who represents women's affairs at the decision-making level. Profeta (2017) put emphasis on the fact that lacking women's representation at the decision-making level might be a reason for problems in social, healthcare, education and
women empowerment in the country [38]. As it was claimed:
"Equality between women and men is a matter of human rights and a condition for social justice and is also a necessary and fundamental prerequisite for equality, development, and peace. A transformed partnership based on equality between men and women is a condition for people-centred sustainable development."
(Beijing Platform for Action [26]) In other words, women's voices in Parliament might have helped to develop policies regarding gender equality if there were a sound representation. In spite of the acts and conventions adopted, the religious revival in Kazakhstan is underway, as it was claimed in the research of Junisbai et al. (2017) [39]. Hence, I assume that this societal change — as it was discovered in the corresponding section of historical evidence on the societal inclination towards religious revival — since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, cultural and religious revival has been gaining momentum and contributing to feeble women's political participation because a Muslim woman is mostly perceived as a person who has no agency in any sort of aspects of life. This is one of the main contributors to the perceived impartiality when it comes to parity in Parliament. For instance, one of the respondents of Kakabayeva's research [20], who held a ministerial position and was a member of the ruling party Nur Otan, revealed: "It is very important to remember about the preservation of the cultural code because, in order to preserve the nation, it is very important that women and girls have traditional values. It is vital that a woman understands her role in preserving the nation because language, culture, and traditions start with the family. If in a democratic society this notion is not significant, precisely traditional upbringing is a factor in preserving the cultural code, and here it is important to maintain this balance". As a result, the question rises regarding which kind of traditional values should be preserved. As I discussed in the previous part "Looking through the historical prism", whether it should be a legacy of women warriors, who were equal to men and were rulers of the nomadic confederations, or a warped, patriarchal view of Islam, where women are subservient. In my opinion, that is where there is a stumbling stone for Kazakhstani society.
In the light of the recent event that happened in January 2022 in the Kazakhstani two cities, the unrest that took place in Almaty (the financial capital of Kazakhstan) and Zhanaozen (the oil-producing city), how the trends in the region may eventuate is still a huge question. Storm (2017) claims that socio-economic grievance might incite mistrust in policies and cause a new wave of religious revitalisation [40]. Meaning that women's empowerment is at threat of being ousted from the current improvements, and this might lead to the deterioration of women's political involvement. Ramadhan (2020) explains that according to the Holy Quran, women are equal to men; however, Muslim patriarchal societies try to devalue women's role in any area, most notably in politics [41]. On the other hand, keeping in mind that the President of Kazakhstan
Kasym-Jomart Tokayev's one of the important questions on the agenda is women's empowerment [42]; there is room for a belief that political representation of women in Kazakhstan, including other gender equality issues, will be addressed effectively. For example, recently, Kazakhstan's Chair of Commission for Women Affairs held a roundabout with senior representatives of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Women's economic empowerment via Education, showing Kazakhstan's commitment to gender equality. To be specific, the initiatives discussed during the meeting were in the area of entrepreneurship, such as a resource centre for the support of women entrepreneurs and Kazakhstan's initiative to enlarge the work of the American Academy for Women Entrepreneurship. Moreover, the main achievements during Tokayev's presidency were noted at the meeting in Washington. One of the achievements was the amendment of the election's law, introducing 30 per cent quotas for women and young people in electoral candidates lists of political parties and its application for the distribution of parliamentary mandates, alongside the action plan for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325; the abolition of the list of prohibited professions for women [43]. Therefore, there is hope for amelioration in gender policies and women empowerment across the board. Yet, this quota is designed not only for women but also for the youth, which means that the share of women might be less than it is supposed to be. At the level of the populace, it can be deleterious when a woman part of the society does not have a voice in the faces of active female politicians at the decision-making level; it might render the majority of the population voiceless, which comprises 51.4 per cent of the population [44], excluding them from the equation of democracy.
Conclusion
Generally speaking, I arrived at the conclusion that Kazakhstan has gone through different historical changes, approaching the modern Kazakhstani society and still has ill gender problems as a heritage of the past because of diverse historical backgrounds and clashes between ideas, different religious practices, and opinions in the region.
I believe that for the country, where, according to the Report on International Religious Freedom 2021, 70 per cent of the population practices Islam [45], it is crucial to ensure women's role in society by providing voices in legislatory. For example, by introducing policies related to the educational system, it would be possible to transmit knowledge, debunk the false impositions on women's roles or misperceptions within the community and prevent any misleading interpretations of the principles of Islam. From my point of view to some degree, this is the underlying reason behind the low numbers of female politicians and poor implementation of gender policies within the country. Secondly, religious institutions should engage in societal changes in terms of sharing and disseminating knowledge to remove avenues for possible attempts to distort the fundamental principles of Islam and to eradicate the stereotypes regarding women among the members of society. After all, social stability hinges upon a policy of
the state towards women, which in turn guarantees political and social-economic stability, and that is why it is sensible to address gender inequality in politics to furnish stability, peace and prosperity for all members of the society. However, it is crystal clear that the government is still inefficient in tackling gender-related issues because, despite all these international commitments and programs such as the UN's Beijing Platform of Action, high-level politics is still occupied by mostly male politicians and sometimes with a few female political elites (members of the establishments' families). Thirdly, it would be better to introduce policies focusing on women's representation at the decision-making level, separating other groups from women. To summarise, the government attempts at the international level to adhere to international standards and norms; however, all attempts have made a veneer of movements toward gender equality rather than making those attempts a reality.
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