Editor’s note: This post is a partnership post written by Josefin Åström, a Swedish colleague of mine who works with a local youth centre here in Osh through the Central Asia Solidarity Group, a Swedish NGO that supports civil society across Central Asia.  The post was translated from Swedish by Josefin and I together, and is part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.  From 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign is a time to galvanize action to end violence against women and girls around the world. You can learn more at the UN Women Website. -Mark

This project started out of curiosity on what girls and young women in Kyrgyzstan find important in their lives. I believe that the chorus of their voices can provide an interesting snapshot of Kyrgyz society today. As a young woman myself, I gathered that approaching the topic through the lens of fashion could be a non-intimidating way of getting access to this group in the street to start a conversation about themselves. This is why the project has been carried out in the format of a street fashion project.

By channeling the voices and images of young women in Osh towards a Western audience, I hope to nuance the picture of women and girls in this part of the world. Central Asia and Kyrgyzstan is to say the least a forgotten corner of the world (if it was ever remembered) and most people have no perception at all about what Kyrgyz society nor people is like. However, when people hear that Kyrgyzstan is a Muslim-majority country, the whole image bank is suddenly there, depicting women as veiled, passive and repressed without dreams or any agency in their own lives.

Therefore, my first purpose is just to offer some pictures – literally and figuratively – of what  young Kyrgyz women are like as a way of spreading information about the country itself. The second purpose is to show the variety in styles and lives of young women in Kyrgyzstan to show that they can be interesting, active and educated, to counteract stereotypes of girls and young women in developing countries, especially in Muslim-majority contexts.

Ailira, 23 Years Old

Ailira works in an international company that sells child care products.  I first ran into her in a pharmacy as she met with a pharmacist there about her products.  It turned out that I had bought a skin cream from the brand she sells a few days earlier.  Ailira has a degree in finance, and likes fashion and going out in the evenings.  For her, her greatest priority is to spread joy around her, and she dreams frequently about this.  Ailira used to live in Moscow, and would like to return there.

Akbermet, 22 Years Old

Akbermet studied international relations in Bishkek, and graduated this year.  She recently moved back to Osh because her parents needed her here, but said that she would have preferred to stay in Bishkek because there are more opportunities there and the city is more modern.  In Bishkek, she said, there are better universities, more jobs, and more globalization.  There, people do more things before they get married.

Akbermet would like to fall in love and start a family, but she said that she wants to get to know her partner before marriage.  This view isn’t especially common here, she said; most people here marry by the time they are her age, but she said that she would like to marry later.

Another dream of hers is to travel, but because of visas and costs, this can be difficult for people in Kyrgyzstan.  She previously visited Dubai, and was impressed by the skyscrapers.  They represent an international city, she said.  If she had the chance, her dream vacation would be to South America.

Despite wanting to move to Bishkek, she said that she doesn’t want to leave Osh permanently – she spent her childhood here, and this is where her heart is.

Meerim, 25 Years Old

Meerim works in finance for a candy company.  “There’s so much candy at work!” she giggles.  She was actually trained as an engineer, but her work at the candy company pays her more than she would make working as an engineer.  “Osh is too small,” she said.  New York would suit her better, she believes, having been inspired by watching “Sex and the City.”  When she’s not at work, she enjoys spending time with her friends, walking around, watching movies (Titanic is her favorite), and reading books.

Myrzaiym, 18 Years Old

Myrzaiym is a student studying design in the art department of the university here in Osh.  She sews custom clothing inspired by traditional Kyrgyz folklore, but with a modern twist.  Her mother also works sewing traditional clothing, so I visited her sewing room the next day.  Both her and her mother love Osh dearly, and we spent the next afternoon sharing stories and hearing about their favorite places in and around Osh.

Aikan, 18 Years Old

Aikan studied International Relations at the university here in Osh.  When she’s not at school, she loves reading books and singing Kyrgyz songs.  Her favorite artist is Mirbek Atabekov (who I also learned to love). She would like to travel to the United States and Dubai, and hopes to be a diplomat in the future.

While I was taking Aikan’s photo in one of the central parks in Osh, a bunch of guys on a bench began to whistle and holler at us.  Aikan and her friends seemed either indifferent or flattered, but didn’t let their heckling affect their poses.

Saltanat, 19 Years Old

Saltanat is an activist, specifically a feminist activist.  She had always seen and understood that society was unequal, but for a long time she was unsure how to influence it.  Now, she feels like she can do anything, although she has been condemned by many.  It was difficult at first, she said, but she does not care.  “People say to me, ‘You are a Kyrgyz girl, why are you like this? After university, you should get married. Why would you differently than us? We are happy!'” For Saltanat, though, the goal is not marriage itself, but if she finds the right one, then that’s fine.

Saltanat is religious, and she thought at first that she might have to choose between her religion and feminism because she believes that no religion directly gives women rights.  This is a big problem.  As she learned more about Islam, she began to understand and interpret it differently.  To her, religion is in the soul, and teaches basic rules such as to not kill or beat anyone.  There is also a rule in the Qur’an that no human being should have to be afraid of another. Moreover, no one can force another person to do something because no man can behave as God.

To Saltanat, the biggest challenge to gender equality in Kyrgyzstan is the conservative approach to gender roles.  Kyrgyz society is built on clearly defined gender roles.  There is a great emphasis placed on a girl’s virginity at marriage.  While there isn’t any way to properly verify virginity before marriage, many myths still exist, which is difficult.

Barchinoi, 19 Years Old

Barchinoi studies English at the university.  When she isn’t in school, she enjoys painting.  Her only dream is to travel, but she hasn’t had the chance to leave Kyrgyzstan yet.  She’s especially interested in visiting France because she’d like to see the Eiffel Tower.  Her main concern related to Kyrgyzstan is the low wages in the country, which average between $100 and $200 per month for most people.

Aiperi, 20 Years Old

Aiperi is from Jalal-Abad and is studying medicine at the university in Osh.  She immediately brings up the divide between the North and the South in Kyrgyzstan, which Aiperi defines as a difference in perception of traditions.  To her, it is more traditional in Southern Kyrgyzstan (editor’s note: people in most rural regions of Kyrgyzstan say this as well).  For example, it’s not okay for girls to wear short dresses or go out after dark, and it’s normal for a woman to be married at 20.  When I pointed out that the “traditions” she mentioned only seem to be about women, she replied with one word: “Exactly.”

According to her, she cannot choose her spouse or her job.  She hopes to become a surgeon, but friends and family have told her that she cannot become a surgeon because she is a girl.

“I cut my hair because of this, and I wear short skirts because of this,” she says, explaining that she wants to go against what is expected of a girl in southern Kyrgyzstan (according to her, a girl is expected to keep her hair as long as possible).  She wants to show others that they can live differently than what is expected of them.

“Traditions are not necessarily bad,” she continues.  For example, she thinks that traditional Kyrgyz dresses can be very beautiful, and that the Kyrgyz tradition of hospitality is also positive.  She is proud of Kyrgyzstan and its rich history, and she mentions Kurmanjan Datka during our conversation as well, and she loves many traditional stories like the one that gave her her name:

“There was once a little girl without family. She lived with an angry woman. At night the girl fetches water but she is terribly afraid of the dark. Moon loves this girl and lit up her way. One night, the moon takes the girl to the moon. The Kyrgyz believe that the spots on the moon represents that the girl is there now.”  Aiperi’s name means “Angel in the Moon.”

Aiperi has developed these views because of meeting many different tourists that have come through Osh and through meeting Kyrgyz people living abroad who talked with her about global issues.  Since then, she has been a volunteer for the Red Cross and attends lectures on human rights at the University, even outside her field.  She not only wants to be someone’s wife and mother. “I want to be a big person!”

Every time she violates a traditional edict, or someone she knows does, she realizes that many things that are traditionally considered important are often less important than we think.

“So this was a fragment of my own little revolution.”

Aigerim, 20 Years Old

I met Aigerim while she was waiting to take a marshrutka to visit her mother 200km from Osh in the village where she grew up.  She likes to go there to visit on the weekends, while during the week she studies design in Osh.  Someday she hopes to travel, especially to California, not just because it’s California, but also to practice her English.  Outside the classroom, she enjoys sports, especially tennis, and she goes running every evening with her friends.

Fatima, 18 Years Old

Fatima studies English and Latin and loves to cook Kyrgyz and Uzbek food.  In the future, she hopes to go to America and France, and would like to maybe immigrate there.  Her future plans are to become an English teacher and to be a good mother.  She thinks it’s very important for Kyrgyzstani students to study hard and for the country to work to develop its industrial sector.  As it stands today, she says, there are not enough factories in the country, and unemployment is a problem.  As a result, too many people feel they must move to Moscow or elsewhere in Russia to find work.

Umutai, 18 Years Old

Umutai is a law student at the university.  She loves to read books and enjoys Kyrgyz traditional dances.  Like most people here in Osh, she speaks Kyrgyz, Russian, and Uzbek.  Her family is big, and they’re all girls except for her father.  All of her sisters work full-time while she studies.

Yasilya, 28 Years Old

Yasilya works as a project assistant in a project which hopes to encourage young people across southern Kyrgyzstan to vote in the forthcoming local elections in December.  Part of the project also includes educating and training young people to be election observers.

Yasilya isn’t married, and her friends and family talk about it frequently because she is 28, an age where it is “urgent” for a woman to be married.  Yasilya herself doesn’t see it as a problem because she wants to marry someone she is in love with.  “It’s an important decision, and it must be right,” she says. “I will have time.”

Three times a week, Yasilya, who is ethnic Tatar, studies in an English course, and she plans to pursue an MBA abroad.  In the future, she hopes to develop rural entrepreneurship in Kyrgyzstan, and such training would be useful for her to have.

Aigerim, 20 Years Old

Aigerim is a medical student working to become a doctor in the near future.  She would like to travel in the future, and hopes to visit Russia, England, Germany, and the UAE.  Her future plans include becoming a good physician and opening a clinic in Germany.  According to Aigerim, the biggest challenges facing Kyrgyzstan are poverty, corruption, and lack of education.

Sara, 18 Years Old

Sara studies English at the faculty of foreign languages.  She hopes to become a teacher or to work in an international organization.  She loves music, especially Mirbek Atabekov, and in the future she hopes to be a good wife and a happy mother.

The biggest problem in Kyrgyzstan right now, according to Sara, is that too few people speak Kyrgyz.  She worries that the language will disappear completely.

Burulai, 18 Years Old

Burulay lives in a village far from Osh, but she still comes into the city during the days when she has courses in English and sustainable development at the University.  She likes dancing and music, and her favorite artist is a Kyrgyz artist named Arsen.  Her goal is to get good grades and to be a good wife and mother.  She also wants to travel.  The biggest problem in Kyrgyzstan according to her is pollution.

Nuriza, 19 Years Old

Nuriza is a business student and would like to travel, ideally to Sweden but also to Paris.  She is sure to mention that she doesn’t mean she wants to leave Kyrgyzstan permanently; but she would like to move to Bishkek, where her friends live.  When asked what problems she sees in Kyrgyzstan today, she hesitated, pointing out that most people in Osh are doing well.  After another pause, she said that environmental problems could be an issue in the city.

Overall, it was very interesting to speak with all these young women and hear about their thoughts, ideas, and experiences.  It was surprising to hear how many spoke about travel, because it came across as a desire to leave Kyrgyzstan.  But soon I realized that everyone in some way desires to leave their hometown and see more different things, sometimes across the world, not that differently from Mark and I seeking to work and travel beyond the places we already know.  As it turns out, we are all more alike than we are different.

About the Author
Josefin Åström works at Novi Ritm in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, a youth organization affiliated with the Central Asia Solidarity Group, which works to develop the potential of youth in the field of human rights, especially women’s and girls’ rights. Before Kyrgyzstan, she worked in the Swedish Ministry of Culture and Democracy and as a teacher for young refugees. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Stockholm University. 

This post is a part of the 16 Days Of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign organized by UN Women.  Learn more about the campaign at the UN Women Website, follow the Facebook page at facebook.com/SayNO.UNiTE and share your stories with the hashtags #orangetheworld and #16days.

This blog is also part of the BloggingAbroad.org blog challenge, responding to the prompt “Community Member Interview”  Learn more at BloggingAbroad.org.