Abstract:

The destiny of women and women’s rights are perennially relevant issues. Changes in traditional Kazakh society were gauged by the status of women. “Colonialism”, “destruction of values”, “development of science”, and “formation of urban culture” are the principal features characterizing Kazakh life in the 20th century. These changes in society are mirrored in literature. At this point, particular emphasis was placed on the destiny of Kazakh women, who were regarded as the mothers of the nation and the educators of the next generation. This is because societal transformations primarily impacted women. Kazakh women also received education, engaged in work alongside men, altered their attire, and adopted urbanized lifestyles. These changes, despite bringing about positive transformations, also highlighted certain shortcomings.

In our research article, we aim to identify and analyze how the portrayal of Kazakh women in Kazakh literature evolved at the beginning of the 20th century, exploring the factors contributing to this transformation through works written during that era. We seek to unravel the impact of colonialism on the fate, image, and role of Kazakh women in society.

The report discusses the ways of creating the image of a woman in Zh. Aimauytov’s novel “Akbilek”, published in 1927 in the journal “Women’s Equality”.

The novel is valuable as a work that shows the political, social, and historical panorama of colonized Kazakh Society at the beginning of the 20th century from different angles.

The novel describes social, cultural, and political changes in society of that period, the consequences of colonialism, violence to weak people, ignorance, and the decline of national consciousness. It tells about the fate of a Kazakh girl who was captured and abused by the White Army during the Civil War. When she returned to her village with a trampled dignity, starting with her father, all villagers hurt her. A Kazakh girl, a victim of stereotypes in society, fights for her existence.

Akbilek is the image of the first Kazakh woman who aspired to education and received civil rights. In our research work on the gallery of women in the novel “Akbilek”, the image of the Kazakh girl, her role in society, stereotypes in relation to women were analyzed. The work analyzes the image of a Kazakh woman formed by a new era, whose consciousness was changed through education.