in with their parents. Remarriage is not stigma-
tized, although for those with large numbers of
children this may be difficult. Levirate marriage,
common before the revolution, is less prevalent
today. Much to women’s dismay, polygyny is on the
increase, especially among labor migrants, who
may have a wife in more than one place.
Major decisions are usually discussed in family
councils in which traditionally men are the main
locutors. In some circles women may voice their
opinions directly, in others only through husbands
or other males. Conflicts are similarly settled in
these councils, or with the help or support of reli-
gious leaders or ma™allatribal elders. However,
young people can rarely appeal against the edicts of
their parents, especially over choice of spouse.
While boys have considerable mobility and so can
distance themselves from family disputes, girls’
movements are more restricted to the home, where
many feel alienated and isolated.
In Kyrgyzstan and Karakalpakstan the practice
of bride stealing, either with the girl’s compliance
or against her will, is common. Suicide is one
response to forced marriages, particularly in Taji-
kistan and Uzbekistan, usually by self-immolation,
drowning, or imbibing industrial-strength vinegar.
Another option for girls under severe pressure is to
run away from home, if possible to a relative.
Otherwise, they may end up among the increasing
numbers of street children, who hang around mar-
ket places trying to earn enough to eat, and sleep
under bridges or in other sheltered places. Rates of
sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise among
this cohort, many of whom resort to prostitution to
survive.
The post-Soviet period has seen an increase in
family violence, mainly committed by husbands,
but also by parents and in-laws. This is worsened
by drug addiction, and compounded by rhetoric,
legitimized by appeals to religion that situates men
as the masters in the home, and the discourse of
honor that limits women’s rights to protest or
reveal family problems. Most republics now have
non-governmental organizations that provide
some protection and support for victims of domes-
tic violence but despite laws against this, it is rare
for officials to take action. Instead they remain
complicit with tradition, which, notwithstanding
the decades of Soviet rule, remains the most impor-
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and Kazakhstan [in Russian], Moscow 1980, 47–72.Colette HarrisSouth AsiaWhile Muslims in South Asia are divided be-
tween India (14 percent of the population), Pakis-
tan (97 percent), Bangladesh (85 percent), and Sri
Lanka (9 percent), their history is common before
1947, and different after that largely according to
the politics of each state.
In all South Asian families, the birth of a female
infant is celebrated less joyously than that of a
male. In spite of government family planning ef-
forts, as in India from the 1960s, most Muslim fam-
ilies are unconvinced about birth control methods.
The preference for sons leads to large families. The
prospect of dowry payments and of losing the
daughter to the spouse’s family makes daughters
less respected and cherished in perceptible ways,
although parental love may be the same for girls as
for boys.
The infant begins to be constructed as a gendered
being almost immediately after birth. As the child
grows up, the allotment of family resources in all
areas of life is in favor of men over women. The
majority of Muslims in India are either farmers in
rural areas, or artisans in urban areas. Girls as
daughters and women as wives are almost never
given apprenticeship in a craft, but they do play an
indispensable role in the family’s occupation. This
role goes unacknowledged, and all women are
regarded as primarily cooks, servers, and nurturers,
not workers. Women who are acknowledged as