Paper abstract:

Media plays a vital role in shaping the perception of its readers. It is through media people get the reflection of what is happening in the society and around the world. This influences how people view men and women in a pervasive and powerful way. In Kazakhstan, the media plays a big role in shaping and sustaining the traditional views about what women and men should do, how they should respectively behave and what they deserve or not. Drawing from framing theory, this study intends to uncover how the mainstream press media in Kazakhstan frame gender stereotypes and how it affects normal readers of the newspapers under study. A qualitative content analysis of twenty articles from each of two newspapers Aiqyn, Karavan and websites Tengrinews, 365 info.kz will be done alongside in-depth interviews with readers to answer the set objectives of this study. The study expects to find as results that women are underrepresented, which falsely implies that men are the cultural standard and women are unimportant or invisible, that men and women are portrayed in stereotypical ways that reflect and sustain socially endorsed views of gender and that depictions of relationships between men and women emphasize traditional roles and normalize violence against women. This study offers the firsthand information on to what extent gender stereotyping exist in the Kazakh media. The study will be an eye-opener to the journalist who might have been unknowingly supporting gender stereotypes.

Keywords: Gender; Stereotypes; Kazakhstan; Fram(e)ing; Media

Paper abstract:

This article examines the current status of women in politics in terms of ensuring women's equal access to participation in power structures, decision-making and leadership. Through a comprehensive study of the current legislative frameworks, institutional structures and national gender policies the research explores the rationale underlying male dominance in decision-making positions in the patriarchal public sector. By revealing barriers, challenges, and opportunities women leaders are still facing in New Kazakhstan it discusses and further theorizes the importance of achieving gender balance in leadership via public policies and institutional reforms that may improve people wellbeing, human rights, human development, and economic growth. Using the national and international databases and qualitative comparative analysis of government-led initiatives, this text rethinks our understanding of gender equality and the circumstances that lead to success in public policy and social change. It is shown that despite announced democratizing reforms to ensure women’s empowerment, the effectiveness of these measures is low. The article concludes with possible explanations for the observed women under-representation, policy implications for decision makers to ensure gender diversity in leadership, and directions for further research of the role that governments play in women leadership development.

Paper abstract:

Why Tajikistan has one of the highest level of NEET-youth in the region, and about the highest level of NEET-girls in the world? The aim of the paper is to investigate factors that lead to school-to-home transition and increase the chances of girls becoming NEET (not in education, employment, or training) in Tajikistan.

35-41% of youth ages 18-29 are NEETs (Not in education, employment or training) in Tajikistan, that is the highest level in the Post-soviet countries, and is especially higher among the girls. 80-85% of NEET-youth in Tajikistan are girls. Tajikistan has one of the highest gendered NEET-youth in the world for the last several years according to data.

Period of leaving education and several years after is considered to be the critical period for future life and career of both boys and girls, but shapes girls more. This period became more individual in Tajikistan after the collapse of the USSR. Instead of school-to-work transition girls have higher chances to face 'school‐to‐home transition', i.e. dropping out of education or completing education.

Life-course approaches and transition to adulthood theoretical framework could help obtain a lot of quantitative and qualitative data collected during the last years. For the paper we will use data collected from 2014 to 2022.

For the first time, we will include findings on qualitative data obtained based on interviews with NEET-girls, and girls who are at risk of home violence.

Findings contain both multivariate quantitative analyses and qualitative findings for clearing of findings.

Summarizing initial findings, we came to the conclusion that family and individual factors, like financial conditions of the family, education level of parents, migration, level of education, and accessibility of jobs nearby have significant effect on youth employment, particularly for the girls. School-to-home leads to the social exclusion of girls. Some macro-factors, including COVID19 had more harmful effects on girls than boys.