Paper abstract:

The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of women leaders in Kyrgyzstan with a focus on the socio-historical, political and cultural contexts. It examines women leaders in government, business, education, science as well as non-profit and non-governmental organizations, art and the media. Our research approach combines both qualitative and quantitative methods. The survey addresses issues such as leadership characteristics and qualities, cultural and religious preconditions, practices and related stereotypes. It also considers the work-life balance of women leaders in Kyrgyzstan with an emphasis on family roles, particularly, the role of women as mothers, wives and daughters-in-law in patriarchal society. In-depth interviews with current women leaders in government, business, science, education and non-governmental organization sectors feature individual case studies on the challenges and opportunities that women leaders face in their careers. We argue that the role of women leaders in Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia as a whole has not been considered holistically, by taking into account local perceptions and, in particular, the views of women leaders themselves. We firmly believe that the results of our research can generate more public debate and policy-making agendas and initiate further scholarly work.