The Soviet system gave Kazakh women an active role in public life through employment and education, but after Kazakhstan gained its independence, Kazakh women experienced a return to their pre-Soviet lives, because the movement away from socialism after the collapse of the Soviet Union did not categorically transition every aspect of Kazakh society from elements of communism to elements of first-world capitalism (Gal and Kligman 2000; 12). There are various continuities between the two time periods that continue to affect the role of Kazakh women in society and their relationship to Islam.
Inequalities between Kazakh men and women have been institutionalized into society, although a greater level of equality has been achieved when compared to the family structure that defined society before the Soviet Union (Gal and Kligman 2000; 11). The idea of the perfect Soviet woman has remained partially unchanged in the modern era. In 2013, 99.9% of Kazakh
literate. 96.2% of the same population attended secondary school. Women are highly educated in Kazakhstan, and the female labor force rate in 2014 was 67.9% of the population above age 15, a percentage that has increased steadily since 2004, when the rate was 64.1% (unicef). Forces of modernization pull Kazakh women into the realm of employment, while influences of the traditional nomadic past demand them to maintain the same level of involvement at home they were able to achieve before entering the work force as the wives of nomadic herdsmen. The amount of pressure placed on Kazakh women differs from a woman’s place in society in other countries, because women in other societies are given more flexibility in deciding how large of a role they want to play in domestic life. Simultaneously, the relationship between Kazakh men and women is changing as state allocations are redistributed and the economy of Kazakhstan modernizes. Kazakh men still enjoy better jobs with higher pay, security, and benefits. (Gal and Kligman 2000; 61-90).
Despite the high literacy rate and relatively high rate of female employment, many women, particularly those over the age of 30, worry about the sinking of Kazakhstan to the standard of a third-world country. Kazakh women are concerned by the resurgence of tradition and the return of women to the home after the decrease in demand for women in the workforce. The reimplementation of traditional gender roles highly concerns them, especially considering they felt more equal to men during the Soviet Union. The place of women in Kazakh society is also in contradiction to modernization theory, because
Certain aspects of Kazakh society and culture have changed completely due to the influences of the Soviet state. Women chose not to re-veil after its collapse because Kazakhstan was more intensely “Russified” than other newly independent Central Asian countries. For instance, women living in Shymkent did not choose to recover their heads after Kazakhstan
gained its independence because they were often severely harassed and disrespected while wearing a veil (LoBue 2007; 16-18).
Contrastingly, other aspects of the Islamic faith that were repressed during the course of the Soviet Union have been revived effectively, and continue to increase in popularity as the Kazakh population returns to Islam. Translations of the Qur’an are now widely available, and Kazakhs are reconnecting with the parts of Islam that were previously forbidden in the public sphere. A form of Islam that can be practiced in private and freely displayed in public when in accordance with the state’s rule has replaced the parallel Islam of the Soviet era.
Wendell Schwab provides two case studies that exemplify the way Islamic traditions have been tailored to fit the needs of individual women in Kazakh society in the present day. A Kazakh woman named Aygul “reads the Qur’an each day and follows the Prophet, the Qur’an as a physical text itself, hadiths, and the primary differences between Muslims and non-Muslims (Schwab 2012; 16).” In contrast, Gulsara, a member of Ata Zholy, which is an Islamic movement in Kazakhstan, does not own a copy of the Qur’an or the hadiths. Instead, she “focuses on the importance of Kazakh traditions inlaid into the framework of Islam, including ancestors, saints, and traditions of the Kazakh people (Schwab 2012; 18).” Aygul’s form of Islamic practice is more deeply based in ideas from the Qu’ran, while Gulsara’s form of Islam is highly influenced by Tengrianism.
Both of these women are Kazakh, and both are Muslim, yet the impact of the history of Islam and the role of women in Kazakh society has led to two different realizations of the Kazakh identity and the role of Islam in modern day Kazakhstan. To develop an understanding of the role of Islam in the lives of Kazakh women, the tumultuous history of the Kazakh people is a necessary piece of the puzzle. Each distinct time period was defined by an outside influence
that attempted to change the nature of the Kazakh people at its core. Considering that Islam provides guidance in every aspect of life, understanding the particular qualities of Islam in Kazakhstan is crucial to understanding the changing role of Kazakh women in their society. History leads to the conclusion that neither Islam nor women in Kazakhstan can be generalized under an all-encompassing term that defines Muslim women through a set of stereotypes. An understanding of Kazakh history creates new concepts of Kazakh women that set them apart from women in all other Muslim nations.