Regional Workshop on FoRB & Gender Equality in Asia (Caucasus & Central Asia)

Background

Stefanus Alliance International, with support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in cooperation with the Danish Institute for Human Rights and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, has been implementing a three-year project to explore regional issues in the intersection of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.

As part of this project, Stefanus organized several two-day regional workshops, grouped into four regions: Caucasus/Central Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and North Africa, and South/South-East Asia. On 30 and 31 April 2022, a workshop held in Armenia focused on the nexus between FoRB and gender equality in the region of Caucasus and Central Asia. This workshop included expert presentations, group work, and plenary discussions. Participants from Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan analyzed challenges related to FORB and gender equality in this region, anchored within the SDG agenda, and pointed to indicative examples of possible future initiatives on FoRB and gender equality in relation to these.

Presentation on FoRB & Gender Equality in Central Asia

During the Caucasus and Central Asia workshop, Indira Aslanova (Asia REF Learning Specialist) presented on the challenges of FoRB and gender equality in the Central Asian context. Indira’s presentation is below and available for download in the sidebar.

Additional Takeaways from the Caucasus & Central Asia Workshop

• • The most common FoRB and gender equality challenges in the region identified by Central Asian (CA) participants were polygamy, domestic violence, access to education and healthcare. In the first two cases, there is prohibition in the legislation; however, there is no liability at the level of the Codes, or the amount of fines is so small that it does not change the situation. In terms of social norms, polygamy is widely accepted, especially when it comes in rural areas. Domestic violence is recognized as a norm; due to the culture of shame, most of the victims do not contact the police or have limited access to justice.
    • Access to education was discussed both when it comes to the religious majority and minority rights. For the majority, it is an issue of wearing hijabs in public schools. All CA countries have some sort of provisions limiting or banning religious symbols in public schools, despite the fact that the constitutions and laws ensure equal access to education. Society is divided: one part supports these bans, speaking about the risk of Islamization of society; the second speaks about the rights and the Muslim majority in the state. For minority groups, the issue is intolerance and discrimination in the school environment.
    • Access to healthcare was discussed in terms of the right to medical care, which is more related to patriarchal gender roles and radical religious norms in some Muslim families. In many contexts, the notion of male superiority and authority may mean that women are not allowed to make decisions with regard to their own health without their husband’s consent, especially if it is a male doctor. This is indicative of the lack of infrastructure and religious sensitivity in the provision of medical care.
  • During group work, the team from Central Asia addressed the issue of polygamy in more detail. The group noted that this issue leads to a range of problems related to the vulnerability of women and children. The sources of the problem were not so specifically religious traditions, but rather social and economic problems. For example, it was noted that in Tajikistan, this is due to the high level of labor migration of the male population, whereas in Uzbekistan, girls from low-income families, divorcees, and widows are more likely to become second wives. In conservative communities in all countries, girls have cultivated the attitude that education is not important; the value is to get married as soon as possible. Also, for men, polygamy is a matter of acquiring a higher status.
    • A suggested tactic was to combine hard (laws and policies reforms) and soft (work at the level of communities, religious actors, CSOs, etc.) measures. For instance, instead of counter-narratives about polygamy, create alternative narratives about women’s empowerment.
    • Participants also suggested working closely with religious leaders, as “they do not exist on another planet, they all exist in the society and are also changing and developing.”
• • Among the highlighted challenges specific to the countries were hiring and getting into government/civil service in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Formally, there is general access, and laws prohibit discrimination on any grounds, but in practice, it is more challenging for religious women to get a job. However, these facts are more difficult to prove and the statistics on applications are quite low, if not fully absent.
    • Uzbekistan has a proselytizing challenge akin to Kyrgyzstan. The narrative of the connection between religious and ethnic identity is similarly widespread, i.e. to be Uzbek means to be Muslim (in the case of Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz = Muslim), hence the negative attitude toward Uzbeks who converted to Christianity. Women are especially vulnerable; they are under more pressure from family and society because they are more economically dependent. Mob attacks and forcible conversion to Islam are often common, which the authorities and law enforcement agencies turn a blind eye to. These circumstances, unlike in Kyrgyzstan, are less often reflected in official reports, perhaps due to the more authoritarian state structure in Uzbekistan. Representatives of religious minority groups attended the workshop and shared their stories.
    • Participants from Georgia focused on issues related to transgender and FoRB, as they were identified as the most vulnerable group and there has been a series of violent attacks on them in Georgia.

Overall, the workshop provided valuable insights into the challenges faced by the region in terms of FoRB and gender equality and identified possible future initiatives to address these challenges. Nonetheless, there is much research and work to be done in the region to examine and promote the intersectionality of FoRB and gender equality and ensure that all individuals are able to fully participate in society.

For more information on the relationship between gender & FoRB, please view this resource.
For more information on Asia Religious & Ethnic Freedom, please visit this page.

Do you have any reports on the intersectionality of FoRB and gender? Please share them with the ConnexUs network.

This resource is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the sole responsibility of Search for Common Ground and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.