Well, the campaign for Kazakhstan’s 3 April election has just kicked off, and women are coming under the spotlight, too. In celebration of the country’s twentieth anniversary of independence, the First Congress of Kazakhstan Women has just taken place in the capital city, Astana. From Kazinform:
The event brought together about 1, 000 delegates from every region of the country. These are the representatives of state bodies, NGOs, social institutions, deputies of the Parliament, prominent public figures, renowned writers and singers, militaries, youth, sportswomen, etc.
Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev welcomed the Forum participants and congratulated the women of Kazakhstan on the forthcoming International Women’s Day.
International Women’s Day (8 March) is a public holiday in Kazakhstan! President Nazarbayev, according to RIA Novosti, added:
“I instruct the government, together with the Presidential administration and the national commission for women’s affairs, the leadership of the Nur Otan Party, to form a concrete plan effective to 2016 for the promotion of women in taking decisions,” he said at the first women’s congress in the traditionally male-dominated Central Asian country.
There are presently no female regional heads, and very few women in other governmental leadership positions. The idea is to bring more women into managerial roles and working with the forthcoming opening up of state-owned companies. Sounds good, would have sounded better if President Nazarbayev hadn’t followed his announcement up with ‘it’s not for nothing that they say that female intuition is sometimes stronger than logic.’
Also, check out this interview with Gulshara Abdykalikova, who is a government minister and chairs the National Commission for Women’s Affairs and Family Demographic Policy, on how the situation for women has evolved in the twenty years since independence.