【Original】 New observation of Kazakhstan
Female faces in the political arena: Will Kazakhstan have its own Otunbayeva?
In the eyes of most people, Kazakhstan has always been considered a patriarchal country, with few exceptions to the rather conservative view of women entering the political arena. But with President Tokayev's arrival, a new "rule of the game" has been laid out in the legislation: one-third of the parliamentary candidates should be represented by women and youth.
Irina Smirova, a prominent figure in the political field of Kazakhstan and a member of the People's Party in the lower house of parliament, expressed her views on the pros and cons of feminization in politics in an interview with Ia-centr.ru.
Q: What are your thoughts on women's issues in Kazakh politics?
A: I think we're doing an unusual job of that. As far as I know, the ratio of men to women in the population of Kazakhstan is: 51 per cent female and 49 per cent male.
But when we look at the composition of the government, it's basically all men. There are now 2 women ministers, Aida Barayeva, Minister of Information and Social Development, and Aktote Ramkulova, Minister of Culture and Sports.
In any case, we cannot expect an equal proportion of women and men in government until now. The latter has an overwhelming numerical advantage in the number of members of the government.
There are more and more men in the leadership, and there are more and more women in lower civil service positions, such as district chiefs. The work is difficult to do, the salary is not much, but it is directly responsible and needs to face many problems.
However, "gender equality" is demonstrated in the medical field, with 80% of female practitioners, as well as in the teaching profession.
Why is it that in countries with a high proportion of women, there are no women in the leadership?
Women don't do worse and aren't more corrupt than those who are constantly embroiled in various scandals. And I think women are no worse off than men at coping with complex state governance issues.
In order to change the stereotype that men are better than women, we have adopted the method of determining quotas. The aim is to inform the public that women can do their jobs in politics and perform leadership functions well. Therefore, Kazakhstan has revised the Election Law and the Political Parties Law. The list of candidates for parliamentarians submitted by political parties must include not less than 30 per cent of women and youth representatives, and it was once again emphasized that all persons had the right to vote. Political parties must therefore comply with this requirement when nominating parliamentary candidates. Without this quota, women would certainly not have received such attention.
I would like to point out that, prior to this, the proportion of women represented in the lower house of Parliament was 29 per cent. The upper house of parliament is less female. Women in political parties accounted for 37 per cent and young people for 7.5 per cent.
The situation in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan is interesting. Their legislation provides for quotas of no more than 70 per cent of members of the same sex in Parliament. Kyrgyzstan's laws do not indicate whether the 70 per cent are male or female. So women can also account for 70%, which is a more "witty" expression.
The world is moving towards equality between men and women, and women are no worse than men in the performance of their duties. Men and women are different, but men and women are equal.
Q: As far as I know, there are more women than men in civil society organizations and non-governmental organizations. Does this indicate that women are more engaged and active in these areas?
A: Yes, the more active the activity, the higher the participation of women, and in general, more women in NGOs. Where complex and serious decisions need to be made, there are also more female workers.
Q: According to social surveys, young people in Kazakhstan put their families first. Is it predictable that Women in Kazakhstan will also put their families first, and politics will not be second, and will be ranked further behind?
A: Of course, there are some women who put the family first, but it does not affect her participation in politics. Some people can combine work and family very well, and some people can't.
I would like to say that in women's careers, there is no "ceiling", that is, the statement that women can no longer move forward after rising to a certain level does not exist. If one wants to participate in the transformation of the country, if one wants to enter politics, then one can do so.
Q: Are you seeing more women in important positions in various fields? For example, the heads of the local states?
A: Kazakhstan already has a female governor, Kyzyl orda Governor Gulishara Abudkarikova, and I think she's doing a very good job. In my opinion, the development of the region is positive and positive.
On March 28, Kazakh President Tokayev signed an order appointing Gulishala Abudkarikova as governor of Kyzylorda Oblast. Previously, she served as Secretary of State and Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan.
Q: Maybe it was difficult for her to enter parliament after she served as deputy prime minister, so she went to be governor?
A: It's possible. You see, the former prime minister also went to be the head of the region, such as Almaty. (Note: The current mayor of Almaty, Sargentayev, previously served as Kazakh prime minister)
For some people, the career path is really difficult. You have to solve the real problem, but also need to come up with specific management decisions.
Another example: in the spring, Baktguli Khamenova served as deputy governor of Atyrau. She was previously the president of Atyrau University and a teacher of Kazakh language and literature. She works very actively, experienced and conscientiously. For women like this, we should boldly consider appointment and trust.
Q: 10 years ago, when Darika Nazarbayeva was considered the heir to the first president, people said we had a conservative society that didn't accept women to have such a high status. What do you think we are conservative in this regard?
A: Kazakhstan is a big country, some conservative in some respects, and some cases vice versa. This has to take into account regional differences.
But history shows that women becoming national leaders will help countries out of trouble. Take the historical Queen Tomiris (Tomiris was Queen Of Massagtai, reigned in the 6th century BC. The Masakotaeans were nomadic peoples of Kazakhstan on the eastern shore of the present-day Caspian Sea), as well as Otunbayeva of Kyrgyzstan, who served as president at a difficult time for the country, and then left peacefully, not coveting power and not causing unrest to the country.
On July 3, 2010, Otunbayeva was inaugurated as Transitional President of Kyrgyzstan.
Women can take the initiative into their own hands as they do at home: if a difficult situation arises, then men tend to evade responsibility and try to avoid problems, while women stay and stick to the end. The same is true in politics.
We can often find shocking mistakes made by national leaders. Especially during the epidemic, many problems have not been solved by the Ministry of Health at all. Then, people take responsibility for themselves and face the difficulties. They are ordinary medical workers, volunteers, mostly women.
So, I think it would be great if a woman were leading the country in a difficult situation, and she would bow to the good of the country. Who would object?
Q: Aren't there too many corruption cases involving women in Kazakhstan?
A: Not yet. Because there aren't too many women in high positions, you first have to put them there and then you have to wait and see. What we're seeing now is that during the pandemic, the health care system is operating on a female basis.
Source: ia-centr.ru
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