“Be courageous!” How women in Kyrgyzstan are bringing a fresh perspective to local politics
Ainura Omorova is an epidemiologist in the village of Saruu, in the Issyk-Kul province. She remembers well the day she first got elected to the local council three years ago: “When the election results were announced, one man made his way through the crowd of people that had gathered, stopped in front of me and said, ‘Ainura, I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart. You cured my child. I am very glad you got elected.’”
Ainura heads the infectious diseases department of the regional hospital. Her unit has capacity for 12 patients, which currently include a number of coronavirus cases. In addition to her work in the hospital and for the local council, the mother of three manages the household and the family’s farmland. Her husband died six years ago.
When Ainura was first elected, she was the only woman on the 21-seat local council. Following the elections held last September, eight others have joined her. Ainura not only succeeded in being elected for a third term, she was also appointed head of the local council.
I want to prove to society that men and women have the same rights.
A 30 per cent quota for women in local councils
The elections in Saruu were one of the first since the Kyrgyz Republic introduced a quota that reserves 30 per cent of the seats in the country’s 452 local councils for women.
With elections to 30 local councils scheduled for 2020 and to 422 in 2021, the hope is that the quota, adopted in August of last year, will help to reverse a downward trend in women’s representation in local councils from 19 per cent after the 2004 elections to only 10 per cent in 2016.
“Including women in local decision-making is important as they tend to address different issues than men. Whereas men might focus on big construction projects, women are likely to improve healthcare and education and prevent gender-based violence,” says Pierre von Arx, Head of the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek.
Whereas men might focus on big construction projects, women are likely to improve healthcare and education and prevent gender-based violence.
The OSCE Programme Office supports Kyrgyzstan’s initiative to increase women’s political participation. It assisted the government, together with civil society, in developing the Electoral Legislation Improvement Strategy 2018-2020, which explicitly identifies issues related to the participation of women and persons with disabilities as candidates and voters during elections and foresees the development of legal norms ensuring improved gender representation in local councils.
In March of last year the Programme Office, together with the public foundation Women Support Center, organized a high-level forum entitled “We support the 30% gender quota in village councils!”. Key stakeholders from the presidential administration, national and local government, civil society, academia and the media joined to give resonance to the promotion of women’s political rights and accelerate the review process of the draft law establishing the quota.
Training women for political leadership
The potential benefit of women’s participation in local governance is all the higher since Kyrgyzstan moved from a multi-level to a double-level budget system in 2012, whereby local councils across the country gained increased independence in planning and spending.
“In order for communities to fully profit from an increased representation of women, it is crucial that they are fully equipped with knowledge, skills and support to influence the decision-making process in an often still male-dominated council,” says Jannat Sooronbaeva, National Democratic Institutions Officer, OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek.
Last year, the Programme Office trained more than 200 women leaders from all seven provinces of Kyrgyzstan in political leadership, and is training more women this year. An intensive three-day School of Leadership covers international standards on women’s political participation, national electoral legislation, processes and procedures, pre-election campaigning and public speaking.
Gulbarchyn Mamytbekova is a journalist and teacher who had put aside her political ambitions after running unsuccessfully for the local council in Bayetov in the province of Naryn twice. She says the OSCE training has given her the confidence she needs to go forward and run in the next elections. “As a teacher I have often wondered how our budget is used, how much is spent on social issues, schools and educational supplies. If I get elected, I will focus on these areas.”
Even with the 30 per cent quota, women aspiring to political participation face a steep uphill battle, as was detailed in a recent policy brief by the OSCE Academy in Bishkek. Women need to manage their time between family, household chores and their primary jobs and are often lacking in funds to campaign. “Many women still do not believe in themselves,” says Gulbarchyn. “My message to them: be courageous. If you want to develop the place where you live, you have to run for a seat.”
For Ainura, 24 hours in a day are hardly enough: “I start very early in the hospital to check my patients, and after a full day’s work I spend several hours at the council. Sometimes, the work for the council takes longer. Yesterday, for instance, we distributed humanitarian aid to people in a village ten kilometers away – 300 bags of flour and 900 litres of cooking oil. I arrived back at five and continued to work until eight. On my way home to cook dinner I noticed missed calls from my children. ‘Mom, please come home to talk with us, we also exist.”
But she never calls into question the importance of her political role: “We have very ambitious plans, upgrading the village and its infrastructure, carrying out repairs in schools and kindergartens. There are many women who can and want to work and have the vision to act in the local councils, to improve the lives of our people.”
For its outstanding work in contributing to the promotion of gender equality, the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek received the OSCE Gender Champions Award in March 2020 for best gender-mainstreamed project.