Migration and patrilineal descent: the role of women in Kyrgyzstan

Gender Dimension of Migration from Central Asia to the Russian Federation

“…Overall, there seems to be a more favourable perception of female migration and more broadly fewer restrictions on women among Kyrgyz populations, rather than Tajiks and Uzbeks. This is reflected in the broader concept of gender order: among the three countries being studied it is Kyrgyzstan that has the highest Gender Development Index (0.967), which means that its gender relations are closer to equal than in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan (0.946 and 0.930 respectively), 11 and this observation is supported by the ethnographic evidence (Ismailbekova, 2016;Hämmerle and others, 2008;Akiner, 1997;Megoran, 1999).…”

“…Overall, male migration can lead to either an increase or decrease in gender inequality (Thieme, 2008) depending on the age and position of the woman in the household (Ismailbekova, 2014), as well as the number of children, household characteristics and living arrangements, that is, living with in-laws or not (Reeves, 2011). Male migration leads to a shortage of marriageable men, which drives an increase in the number of second wives whose position is more vulnerable (Cleuziou, n.d.).…”

Kyrgyz Genealogies and Lineages: Histories, Everyday Life and Patriarchal Institutions in Northwestern Kyrgyzstan

“…One important local example is a woman whose father had been executed in 1937 during the Stalinist terror: she made great effort to clear his name and to inform people about him. Other researchers among both Kyrgyz and Kazakhs have observed grandmothers teaching their grandsons their jeti ata (Ismailbekova 2014;Yessenova 2003), but I do not have examples from Kara Buura, because I did not spend much time in households where grandmothers cared for children in that age range. Some adults raised during the Soviet period considered uruu identities to interfere with social harmony and promote factionalism.…”

“…This offers them greater mobility and access to resources, as well as conferring on them the role of mediators among lineages. Although many aspects of Kyrgyz women's roles can be seen as reflecting a "bargain with patriarchy" (Kandiyoti 1988(Kandiyoti , 2005, women also benefit from certain resources, respect and authority in both natal and marital lineages that are less accessible to men (Ismailbekova 2014(Ismailbekova , 2016.…”

Remittances, rituals and reconsidering women's norms inmahallas: emigrant labour and its social effects in Ferghana Valley

“…We can see some details of these changes in M. Reeves (2011), who points out problematic gender structures in a detached territory of Uzbekistan through the cases of women staying there whose husbands migrate, and A. Ismailbekova (2014), who argues that the women in rural Kyrgyzstan who stay behind maintain patriarchal orders and strong patrilineal descent in the absence of men. In this paper, I will focus on changes to Muslim women's activities and ways of life in mahallas in a town in southern Ferghana Valley, and show how local norms for them have been shaken in the era of massive emigration.…”