welfare, especially visible in the context of Central
Asian and Caucasian countries, equality of sexes
remained illusionary as hidden discrimination con-
tinued to exist. It found its reflection in gender dis-
parities and unequal gender roles when women had
a disproportionate burden of responsibilities and
men were alienated from the family sphere.
Post-Soviet times
Constitution in its modern role of a supreme
national law, providing legitimacy and symbolizing
sovereign statehood, has been considered as an
important tool in the process of nation-building
in Caucasian and Central Asian states. After the
collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, all these coun-
tries renewed their legal frameworks, and adopted
new constitutions. This did not apply to the parts
of the Caucasus that remained as constituencies
of the Russian Federation (namely Abkhazia,
Chechnya, Daghestan, and Osetia).
Constitutional law in the Caucasian and Central
Asian states, as in the Soviet past, recognizes fun-
damental human and civil rights and freedoms, and
guarantees equality regardless of sex, race, ethnic-
ity, language, religion, social origin, political con-
victions, or individual and social status, according
to the principles and standards of international law.
All states have also signed and ratified the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) without
reservation, and have made other international
commitments in terms of the protection and pro-
motion of gender equality.
As the Soviet regime suppressed freedom of con-
science and other human rights related to spiritual
faith, expectations arose at the beginning of the
1990s that the newly independent countries, in
search of national identity, would turn to Islam as
the principal religion in the region. Over the last
decade the situation has remained complicated, but
the legal and constitutional frameworks of these
countries, especially with respect to gender equality,
have remained secular.
While most Soviet social, economic, and political
rights continue to be upheld, they have not been
implemented, as throughout the region govern-
ments have failed to mobilize resources for ade-
quate social spending. Another problem is that
policies aimed at equality of sexes repeat mistakes
once made under the Soviet governments: clear def-
inition of discrimination based on gender is absent
from the legal domain, as well as mechanisms to
implement equal rights. The de factosituation
reveals serious gaps in terms of implementation of
the constitutional provisions. Moreover, such pro-
indonesia 79visions do little to counteract common mindsets in
terms of traditional gender roles that form the root
of many gender-related inequalities and problems
in the region.Bibliography
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of studies and current problems, Tashkent 1991.
S. Akiner, Between tradition and modernity. The dilemma
facing contemporary Central Asian women, in M. Buck-
ley (ed.), Post-Soviet women. From the Baltic to
Central Asia, Cambridge 1997, 261–304.
V. Asatryan and A. Harutyunian (eds.), Women status
report. Impact of transition (available in English and
Armenian), Erevan 1999.
Gender Development Association, Georgia, Status of
Women in Georgia (available in English and Georgian),
Tbilisi 1999.
Islam and women of the Orient. History and present day
[in Russian], collection of articles, Academy of Science
of Uzbekistan, Tashkent 1990.
M. B. Olcott, Women and society in Central Asia, in
W. Fierman (ed.), Soviet Central Asia. The failed trans-
formation, Boulder, Colo. 1991, 235–56.
S. Saidbaev, Islam and society. Results of historic and
sociological study [in Russian], Moscow 1984^2.
S. Tadjbakhsh, Between Lenin and Allah. Women and ide-
ology, in H. L. Bodman and N. Tohidi (eds.),Women in
Muslim societies. Diversity within unity, Boulder, Colo.
1998, 163–87.
M. Tokhtakhodjaeva, Between the slogans of commu-
nism and the laws of Islam, Lahore 1995.
UNDP (R. Ibrahimbekova coordinator), The report on
the status of women of Azerbaijan Republic (available
in English and Azeri), Baku 1999.Dono AbdurazakovaIndonesiaA constitution can be defined as “a set of funda-
mental laws, customs and conventions which pro-
vide the framework within which government is
exercised in a state” (Ebert 1981, 4). Its basic con-
tents are: the framework or structure of govern-
ment; the power of government; and relations
between the governors and the governed, especially
rights of the latter.
Women and gender issues within the Indonesian
constitutional system can be viewed from several
aspects, such as women’s participation in the con-
stitution making process and the protection of
women’s rights in the constitution and in imple-
menting legislations.The constitution making
process
The importance of women’s involvement in a
constitution making process can be explained by
the argument that “the effectiveness of a constitu-
tion requires acceptance by the community and