Dreaming out loud — the role of nostalgia in forming our future.
When we asked a question about a feminist future and the ideal situation of women in Kyrgyzstan, their answers of our respondents were often so unexpected as to leave us dumbfounded. Older activists talked fondly of the stability of the Soviet era. They were nostalgic that there was work in contrast to the perceived mess of today. They imagined the cultivated and practiced ideals of a woman as being independent with freedom of action, equality in partnership. This ideal woman is listened to as a citizen, and helped by the state in dealing with reproductive health. Access to a nursery, kindergartens, schools and medicine, all while maintaining her feminine ‘nature’ – preserving family and household values. Some young and less conservative activists imagined matriarchy or absolute equality, which would make it impossible to distinguish women from men. A total lack of gender identities, sexual orientations, statuses, and so on.
Tursunai
Muhae
Gulmaidan, Nookat
Positive dialogue, Osh
“All women will know their rights, live together and happily with their families. Everyone will have a job, and new manufacturing jobs will be created. There will be no problems. There will be kindergartens and schools for children.” 72
“Confident, happy girls in their lives and careers. They will be educated. There will be something that many girls don’t have a chance to have – a life. Before she gets married, she lives for her parents, and after she get’s married, she lives for her husband. She does not have her own life.”
