Turkmenistan

A former member of the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan is located in central Asia along the Caspian Sea. Since independence was declared in 2001, the country has been struggling with a 60 percent unemployment rate, but further development of oil and gas reserves is eventually expected to improve the $6,700 per capita income. Almost half of the workforce is engaged in agriculture, mostly in cotton production. Roughly half the population lives in urban areas. At present, nearly a third of Turkmens live below the poverty line, and government corruption depletes what resources are available. In this homogeneous society, 85 percent of the population identify themselves as Turkmens. Because 89 percent of the populous is Muslim, this politically authoritarian country has a highly traditional culture in which a woman's status is essentially defined by reproduction. The government exercises strict control over the dissemination of information concerning the status of women. Although the constitution guarantees gender equality, in reality women have no legal right to protest discriminatory treatment.

When the Soviet Union gained controlled of central Asia in the 1920s, it launched a campaign of raskreposhchenie zhenshchin to free women from those restrictions and bring them into the agricultural and industrial workforce. Reform efforts included preventing arranged marriages in which young girls were basically sold into marital slavery, [Page 1479]the veiling and seclusion of women, polygyny, and limiting educational opportunities for females. The campaign met with violent resistance. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, religious and cultural traditionalism again determined the proper roles for women. The length of compulsory education for girls was dropped from 11 years to 9, and many girls began marrying at the legal age of 16. In rural areas, many of those marriages were arranged by parents who forced their daughters into marriage.

To counter Turkmenistan's high level of road fatalities, youth are trained on responsible driving, road safety, and first aid.

According to social indicators, the median age for women in Turkmenistan is 24.8 years. The country ranks 58th in the world in infant mortality, with 45.36 deaths per 1,000 live births. Females have a life expectancy of 70.95 years compared to 64.94 years for males.

Turkmenistan has a fertility rate of 2.22 children per female. Female literacy is 98.3 percent compared to 99.3 percent for males. In 2005, 94 percent of females 15 years and over were in the workforce. However, they were generally limited to fields such as education and healthcare, which are considered suitable to women. The limited data that is available indicates that women are discriminated against in both hiring and wages. Women received the right to vote and stand for election in 1926, but no women were elected to parliament until 1990. By 2005, only 5 percent of legislators were female.

Violence against women also continues to flourish, and women have little recourse against such actions. Turkmen law guarantees women the right to own and inherit property, but male rights predominate. Women are often forbidden from traveling outside the country, and movement within Turkmenistan also may be limited. When outside their homes, women are often subjected to security checks.

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