Emancipation of Muslim Women in the Soviet Union

Shamsuddin Amin
Central Asian Studies Institute
December 2021
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Emancipation of Muslim Women in the Soviet Union

The Bolshevik revolution of 1917 had fundamental impacts on the socio-economic status of the Central Asian people. One of the main changes the people of Central Asia experienced was the so-called emancipation of women. It has been narrated that before the Bolshevik revolution, women in Central Asia lived under a strict sharia law that had limited their social roles and personal growth. This paper attempts to critically analyze the emancipatory factors of women in the Soviet Union and questions some of the notions classified as emancipatory. There seem to be discrepancies between genuine emancipatory policies and the so-called emancipatory policies that the Soviet Union adopted for women in Central Asia. The paper will briefly touch upon the main changes that were brought in the lives of the Central Asian women due to the Bolshevik revolution. Subsequently, the paper will question the true intention behind it and will argue that the intention of the Soviet authorities was the complete eradication of the Islamic culture since it was perceived as a significant ideological threat to the Soviet Union. While the consequences of the Bolshevik revolution for Central Asian women are portrayed positively, this paper will highlight some of the negative aspects of the so-called Muslim woman emancipation.

A brief historical background:

After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, thousands of miles away, Central Asia went under fundamental transformation. CA was an area that had nothing to do with the social revolution. Therefore, the change was not willful. The whole enterprise was imposed on the people of Central Asia(Morrison, 2017). It is important to note that the Soviet system, however ruthless and wasteful of human life, was not merely a resumption of Russian colonialism in another shape. A dramatically modernizing government turned Central Asia from what had previously been a culturally and politically unassimilated province of the Tsarist Empire into the nation-states that we know today.  Today, central Asian countries continue to bear a strong Soviet influence on their government, institutions, and national identity.

The Muslim community did not sit back and do anything. They had previously taken control of the Tashkent City Duma in the only more or less free elections ever held in Central Asia. In response to the Soviet Union's seizure of power, they declared an autonomous government of the Muslims of Turkestan, with its capital in the cotton-rich city of Kokand in the Ferghana Valley, as its capital(Morrison, 2017). Central Asian Muslims had realized that the revolution was about to change their entire lifestyle. Essentially, it was both a conceptual invasion and a land invasion of CA by those who did not have much in common with the Muslims in the area. The Soviet Union was in Central Asia to bring radical changes(Edgar, 2006), especially in the status of women. This change is often perceived as a genuine intention of the Bolsheviks to emancipate Central Asian women, while the whole agenda behind the so-called emancipation was other.

How did the Soviets emancipate Muslim women?

In general, Muslim women's emancipation in the Soviet Union is perceived with a considerable level of ambiguity. Some scholars view Soviet reforms concerning women in Central Asia as dubious, while others consider it a needed and appreciative development. For instance, Ninja Bumann has reviewed a book by Yulia Gradskova, and Cham Springer, whose main argument in this book is that Soviet emancipation initiatives established ethnic minority women as an "other" who required outside assistance to achieve "emancipation" and "development," which the authors believe was a continuity of the Russian colonial narrative (Bumann, 2019). According to Bumann, Yulia Gradskova demonstrates that the "Commission for Improvement of Work and Everyday Life of Women" attempted, per the Soviet understanding of "emancipation," to improve working skills and promote the transformation of everyday life of ethnic minority women. The changes in health care and social practices, the implementation of new Soviet family regulations that influenced personal and family relationships, the promotion of reading and education among girls and women, and the support of European dress were all part of these initiatives (Bumann, 2019). At the same time, initiatives such as the promotion of education, provision of employment opportunities, and development in the health care sector for women can indeed be classified as measures that could bring fundamental positive changes in the lives of Muslim women in Central Asia. Nevertheless, the question is how would unveiling and promoting European dree style among the women be counted as emancipatory. 

First and foremost, it is essential to reflect on some studies that have compared the socio-economic status of Muslim and non-Muslim women. For instance, Sharon Ghuman has looked into whether higher child mortality rates can be attributed to the lower autonomy of Muslim women in select Muslim communities (Ghuman, 2003). Ghuman's findings indicate that there isn't significant evidence to prove that the lower autonomy of Muslim women has resulted in a higher infant or child mortality (Ghuman, 2003, p. 432). Ghuman also finds that difference in the freedom of movement was not significant between different religious communities. However, his study also finds that on issues such as decision-making on economic matters and taking care of ill children, Muslim women have not performed as well as non-Muslims. Another relevant finding Ghuman has pointed out is that women in Muslim and non-Muslim areas were almost equally beaten and had an insignificant difference in control over their earnings (Ghuman, 2003). We can conclude from these findings that the differences in the level of freedom and autonomy both in Muslim and non-Muslim women were insignificant. Studies also indicate that Islamic countries were impressed by Muslim women's development in the Soviet Union. However, Islamic countries saw the development of Muslim women in the Soviet Union with skepticism(Crisostomo, 1982, p. 340). Overall Muslim countries questioned the motives of the Soviets in Muslim areas such as Central Asia; thus, Muslim nations were reluctant to adopt the Soviet development model (Crisostomo, 1982).

The concern of the Bolsheviks in Central Asia:

The Bolsheviks, from the beginning, regardless of the religion, attempted to suppress organized religion; the primary concern was Islam as an ideology, which was perceived as the biggest challenge for the Soviet Union (Walters, 1985). Secondly, the fear within the Soviet Union, that the neighboring states, such as Afghanistan, Persia, and Turkey, may overtake the soviets in their progressive policies toward women (Edgar, 2006), as in and around the early years of the 1920s, countries like that of Afghanistan saw notable changes concerning women rights and modernization in these states (Nemat, n.d.). Hence, the concerns of the Bolsheviks concerning Muslims and women in Central Asia were two folded, the fear of Islam as an Ideology and the fear from outside its borders in the Muslim world. 

In a similar vein, the religion of Islam promises rights for women. And as socialism and Islam contradict each other in many ways. Islam, unlike commonly understood as a mere way of worshipping God, is a complete package for a particular lifestyle that promises happiness, independence, security, and prosperity for those who follow it. But women's rights in Islam are a controversial subject that often draws the Soviet Union not to implement its plan unless they had dealt with the level of Muslimness of the people first. As in Central Asia, the Soviet program of 'class struggle' considering the realities on the ground seemed more farfetched and unapplicable; women were regarded as 'the potential revolutionary stratum' to help in initiating the revolutionary struggle in these communities (Massell, 1974, pp. 93–95). This meant that the Soviets had to move from established notions of the class struggle to that of gender struggle, hence, "from a real proletariat to a surrogate for it" (Massell, 1974, p. 93). Given the historical struggle of Central Asian Muslims against Tsarist Russia, the Soviet Union needed to tackle the ideology in the most effective way possible. Therefore, the level of Muslimness of the people had to be decreased. For this to happen, the pretext of emancipation of women was one of the most effective ways to start with. 

Women Related Reforms of the Soviet Union in Central Asia:

First and foremost, women's emancipatory action was the removal of the veil by the Soviet authorities. As part of the emancipatory action, removing the cover from women implies that the veil limits women's ability to work, study, or enter the public sphere. This turns out to be incorrect when we consider the achievement of Muslim women who freely choose to dress the way they want. In other words, imposing a specific dress code on women itself is despotic and can negatively affect women's performance. Therefore, providing certain conditions for women's socio-economic improvement should not require women's give up on their traditional way of dressing. Given the current status of Muslim women in Western countries, one can easily disprove the notion that merely taking off a veil from a woman's face can be considered anything but emancipatory. Muslim women in western countries proudly put on their covers or scarf and achieve milestones. The veil has been an essential part of Muslim women's identity and removing it does not necessarily impact the performance of women in society.

One area that Soviet authorities stressed was women's involvement in daily labor. Central Asian women went on to work in factories, as tractor drivers, and as leaders of community brigades and farming cooperatives(Kassenova & Rukhelman, 2019). A number of them served in elected councils at the municipal and national levels. Given the harsh conditions on farms and in factories, women found it difficult to cope with the physical pressure and family issues at the same time, as example, the construction of the ‘Great Chuy Canal’ (1941-1958)  in current day Kyrgyzstan saw an influx of women working in the harsh conditions, resulting in a rise in women mortality rates (Sputnik, 2017). This raises the question of whether Soviet authorities were interested in emancipating the women or increasing the numbers of workers to achieve their economic goals. To reflect on the Soviet policies related to women in Central Asia, one can argue that the primary purpose of women's emancipatory measures by the Soviet authorities was to weaken Islamic ideology in the region. Whether it was periodic educational programs for women, imposing particular dress on them, or exploiting them as labor seems to have been part of a larger plan of countering Islamic beliefs. Measures against Muslim women's veil resulted in other social implications, such as labeling pro-reformists as prostitutes (Massell, 1974, pp. 280–282). Many were raped and killed for giving up on their traditional values. The idea of undermining Islamic values created cleavages among families and society at large. Undoing a culture that existed for centuries deeply affected the social fabrics of Central Asia and favored the larger objectives of the Soviet Authorities. 

Conclusion:

To sum up, Soviet Union's reforms concerning Muslim women are viewed both as a developmental measure that brought fundamental changes in the lifestyle of Muslim women in Central Asia and as an attempt to undermine the Islamic identity in the region. Actions such as the promotion of education, employment for women, and facilitation of improved health services have had a fundamentally positive impact on women's lives. However, actions against some of the Islamic values, such as unveiling women and promoting European dress style for women, were initiatives that can be perceived as a mere pretext for implementing another plan to eradicate Islamic culture.

Given that Islam as an ideology posed a threat to the Tsarist Russian empire and the Soviet Union, it was pivotal for the Soviet authorities to tackle the doctrine among the Muslims in Central Asia. Hence, the Soviet authorities attempted to attack the ideology under the pretext of modernization and emancipation of women. Whether the Soviet authority truly emancipated Muslim women in Central Asia is controversial, given that the women in various Muslim nations were able to achieve milestones.

Works Cited

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