The Caucasus and Central Asian StatesTo review the interrelations between women,
gender, and constitutions, and assess the role and
significance of constitutions as a legal base to pro-
vide a regulatory framework for gender relations in
Caucasian and Central Asian societies, it is impor-
tant to look at the overall historic background.
During the pre-Soviet era (before 1917), the coun-
tries known now as Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
and Uzbekistan, belonged to the Russian Empire,
which maintained varying degrees of control over
its colonial territories. Indigenous societies, how-
ever, were allowed to exercise customary laws to a
certain extent, with women generally excluded
from public life and subject to strong paternalistic
attitudes. Since then, during the twentieth century,
these societies have been through a radical trans-
formation that affected all aspects of life, but the
status of women especially. This changed image of
“Eastern” women, who during the Soviet regime
gained access to education, employment, generous
social welfare, health services, and enjoyed far
more freedom when compared to Muslim countries
with similar income levels, was one of the principal
trump cards of Soviet propaganda.
Soviet times (1917–1991)
After the Bolsheviks seized power in October
1917, all legal norms of ex-colonial territories of
the Russian Empire were proscribed and the legal
norms adopted in Bolshevik Russia were to be fol-
lowed (Saidbaev, 1984). The Soviet doctrine based
on the theoretical assumptions of Vladimir Lenin,
Inessa Armand, Nadezhda Krupskaya, and other
Bolshevik ideologues who attached particular
importance to the liberation of women and equality
between the sexes began to be implemented. The
objective of these policies was to achieve universal
literacy for women and actively involve them in
public life and thus ensure their high participation
in the workforce. In these policies, emancipation of
“suppressed women of the East” was one of the
strategic priorities and one of the most important
political considerations of the central organs of the
Communist Party in Moscow from its earliest days
of rule.
The first decrees of the Bolshevik government in
Constitutions
1918, and then the first Soviet constitution adopted
in 1922, contained provisions to equalize women
and men. Equal rights at that time meant equal
rights to vote, to marry, or instigate divorce. In
1918, early marriages were abolished and the offi-
cial registration of marriage was made mandatory.
Still, these important legal acts remained declarative,
and the constitution alone was not able to change
deeply traditional societies. Therefore, constitu-
tional provisions for equality remained unclaimed,
and had to be reinforced by other measures (legal
acts, decrees, and decisions) of the Bolsheviks. In
Central Asia, specific policy measures to liberate
women and engage them in socioeconomic life were
also required.
With adoptions of new constitutions in the Soviet
Union, in 1936, and then in 1977, to reflect the
changing situation and political agenda of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the articles
declaring equality between sexes continued to form
an important part of the supreme law. By the 1960s
and 1970s, constitutional law provided women
with rights and social entitlements such as legal
guarantees for equality, property and inheritance
rights, greater access to education, increasing op-
portunities in the public sphere, child allowances,
state-sponsored childcare, lengthy maternity leaves,
and guaranteed return to employment after mater-
nity leave.
The status of women in the Caucasus and Central
Asia changed significantly within one generation
(from the 1920s to the 1960s). However, through-
out Soviet history, constitutions primarily served as
a tool for ideological purposes to demonstrate to
the world how the Soviet government “cared” for
the needs of women. There were no mechanisms
created to implement the constitutional provisions
other than political will and pressure coming from
the ruling Communist Party. Equality between sexes
was interpreted as “equality before the law,” and
remained limited, being largely perceived as same-
ness or similar identity. At the same time, the pater-
nalistic approach toward women’s specific needs
arising from their biological roles led to the develop-
ment of “protectionist” legislative measures that, in
turn, further enhanced perceptions of women as
mothers, bearing sole responsibilty for family and
children. Therefore, in spite of impressive achieve-
ments in the area of employment, education, social