Central Asia and the CaucasusThe Muslim states of Central Asia and the
Caucasus (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan) have
many common features in their cultures and histo-
ries, but have taken different ways in their transi-
tion to democracy. An overwhelming majority of
the population of Central Asia are Muslims. In
Azerbaijan and several republics of the Russian
Federation, Daghestan, Ingushetia, and Chechnya,
all indigenous peoples identify themselves as
Muslim as well. Except for some groups of Shì≠ìs in
Azerbaijan and the Ismà≠ìlìs in Tajikistan, the
majority of Muslims in Central Asia and the
Caucasus are £anafìSunnìs.
Before the 1917 October Revolution, all these
countries were part of the Russian Empire. They
organized several holy wars, gazavat, against what
was seen as Orthodox Christian rule. In the nine-
teenth century and at the beginning of the twenti-
eth, Jadidism (from ußùl-i jadìd, the new method)
spread among the Muslim population of the
Russian Empire, including Crimea, Volga, Central
Asia, and the Muslim Caucasus. Led by Ismail Bey
Gasprinsky, this movement for Islamic moderniza-
tion proposed to elevate the status of women in
society. Jadidism advocated equality and secular
education for women, and condemned polygamy
and the poor treatment of women. Jadidists
believed that Islam grants women the right to
knowledge and participation in a new enlightened
Muslim society. However, after the takeover of
Central Asia and the Caucasus by the Soviet gov-
ernment, Jadidism as an Islamic political and cul-
tural movement was uprooted and the idea that
emancipation of Muslim women was an important
element for modernization and national progress
was forgotten.
During the Soviet era (1917–91), the Communist
Party aimed to suppress Islam as an ideology and
paid great attention to gender relationship and
the status of women in Muslim republics of the
Caucasus and Central Asia. A Soviet campaign, the
khudzhum, forcing and encouraging women to dis-
card their veils and be integrated in political and
economic life led to numerous deaths of women
and their relatives; it also drastically changed gen-
Civil Society and Democracy Ideologies
der relations in Muslim societies. £ijàband veiling
were strongly suppressed by Soviet authorities as a
sign of ideological backwardness. With open prac-
tice of Islam discouraged, a substantial proportion
of women continued to worship at the holy places
(mazàrs). Modernization, women’s emancipation
campaigns, the abolishment of Sharì≠a law and
introduction of secular Soviet law, mass education,
and participation in elections and the public sector
all had great impact on the status of women. The
active participation of well-educated women in
public life in post-Soviet Central Asia and the
Caucasus is a consequence of the Soviet policies.
In 1991, Central Asia and the Caucasus gained
independence. After perestroikaand the collapse
of the Soviet Union, a remarkable process of re-
Islamization spread across the area. Thousands of
mosques and tens of madrasas were established,
and millions of people began to openly practice
Islam. Women set up non-governmental organiza-
tions (NGOs) that support local cultural and
Muslim traditions and modernity. In Kazakhstan,
for instance, a league of Muslim women has several
branches across the country.
In all Muslim countries of Central Asia and the
Caucasus, political leadership has imposed strict
state control to prevent the spread of fundamental-
ism and Islamic militancy. In Uzbekistan, after a
short period of perestroika, a Soviet-style attitude
to religious believers has been restored: men and
women suspected of participation in Islamic move-
ments are persecuted; the government discourages
women from wearing the ™ijàb. The establishment
of political parties based on religion is forbidden
everywhere except in Tajikistan. After the civil war
in 1992–7, the Islamic Renaissance Party actively
participates in political life and has its representa-
tives in the government.
The countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus
signed the United Nations Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW). However, on the whole, this has
had little impact on the improvement of women’s
status in society. Women’s representation in national
governments and parliaments is significant com-
pared to many other countries. In Turkmenistan
under authoritarian rule women form 26 percent of
the parliament and in Kyrgyzstan with its more lib-