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Kyrgyzstan

At A Glance

Indices and Rankings
Gender Gap Ranking¹	#54
Gender Inequality Index²	0.37
HDI Ranking³	#126

Political Participation
Women parliamentarians lower/upper houses	23%/--
Women in Parliament ranking	#54
Women at ministerial level (ranking)	10% (#66)
Year women received right to vote/be elected	1918/1918

Overview
Government	Republic
Total population	5.5 million
GDP per capita (PPP)	$2,400
HDI ranking³	#126
Population under age 15	30%
Urban population	35%
Internet users	40%
Languages	Kyrgyz 65%, Uzbek 14%, Russian 12.5%, others

Indices		Education & Employment		Political Participation
Sources (January 2013): CIA World Factbook, Inter-Parliamentary Union, Internet World Stats, MDG Info 2010, Quota Project, UNESCO Institute for Statistics, UNICEF ChildInfo , UNICEF State of the World's Children 2011, United Nations Development Project Human Development Reports, World Economic Forum, World Health Organization Global Health Observatory Database. 1.The World Economic Forum's Gender Gap index assesses how well countries divide resources and opportunities amongs male and female populations in four areas: economic participation and opportunity (salaries, participation levels and access to high-skilled employment), educational attainment (access to basic and higher level education), health and survival (life expectancy and sex ratio), and political empowerment (representation in decision-making structures). 2. The UNDP's Gender Inequality Index is designed to reveal the extent to which national human development achievements are eroded by gender inequality. It is a composite measure reflecting inequality in achievements between women and men in three dimensions: reproductive health (maternal mortality ratio and adolescent fertility rate), empowerment (share of parliamentary seats, and secondary and higher education attainment levels) and the labour market (women's participation in the work force). It varies between zero (when women and men fare equally) and one (when men or women fare poorly compared to the other in all dimensions). 3. The UNDP's Human Development Index (HDI) is a summary composite index that measures a country's average achievements in three basic aspects of human development: health, knowledge, and income. It was created to emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone. 4. Vulnerable employment is a Millenium Development Goal (MDG) 1B indicator; vulnerable employments are lower productivity and informal activities such as own-account workers and unpaid family workers. They are therefore more likely to lack benefi ts associated with decent employment, such as adequate social security and recourse to effective mechanisms for social dialogue. Vulnerable employment is often characterized by inadequate earnings, low productivity and substandard working conditions that undermine fundamental labour rights.
Gender Gap Ranking¹	#54	Adult literacy rate, females as a % of males	99%	Women parliamentarians lower/upper houses	23%/--
Gender Inequality Index²	0.37	Population with secondary education, female/male ratio	100%	Women in Parliament ranking	#54
		Vulnerable employment for women (men)⁴	47.1% (47.4%)	Women at ministerial level (ranking)	10% (#66)
				Year women received right to vote/be elected	1918/1918
		Health		Quotas
		Lifetime risk in maternal death, 1 in	480	Quota type	Reserved seats
		Births per woman	2.7	Constitutional quota in lower house	No
		Births per 1000 women aged 15-19	29	Electoral quota in lower house	Yes
				Voluntary political party quotas	No

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Our Partner

Human Rights Movement: Bir Duino-Kyrgyzstan, founded in 2000, aims to decrease corruption, poverty, and injustice, and to improve the human rights situation in Kyrgyzstan by empowering local NGOs and activists to become sustainable, self-sufficient civil society actors and activists, involving them in decision making processes at all levels. READ MORE >

In The News

Smartphones could help women who experience street harassment - Slate Magazine (blog) / April 9, 2013

Iranian New Year 2013: Celebrate These Persian Women Who Have Fought For ... - PolicyMic / March 25, 2013

Bride-kidnapping divides Kyrgyzstan - The Zimbabwe Standard / December 16, 2012

KYRGYZSTAN: Censorship amendments to Religion Law signed - Forum 18 / December 13, 2012

Reports & Updates

UPDATE: WLP Kyrgyzstan- Tolekan Ismailova is Denied Fair Trial

November 30, 2012 | Asia, Human Rights, human rights, Human Rights Alerts, Human Rights Center/ Citizens Against Corruption, Kyrgyzstan, Leading To Choices, Kyrgyzstan

On November 27, 2012, the Inter-District Court of Bishkek dismissed a complaint brought to the court by Tolekan Ismailova, Director of WLP Kyrgyzstan/Human Rights Center-“Citizens Against Corruption” and the human rights Bir Duyno Film Festival.

November 14, 2012 | 2012 Events, Americas, Leading to Action, Brazil, Egypt, Political Participation, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Turkey, Zimbabwe

In October, WLP traveled to Lima, Peru for the World Movement for Democracy (WMD) seventh Global Assembly, Democracy for All: Ensuring Political, Social, and Economic Inclusion. The conference brought together WLP Partners and more than 500 democracy activists, practitioners, and scholars, providing an important opportunity for learning, exchange, and networking with civil society actors from across the world.

October 23, 2012 | Asia, Human Rights, human rights, Human Rights Alerts, Human Rights Center/ Citizens Against Corruption, Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan

WLP Kyrgyzstan/HRC Citizens Against Corruption held their annual Bir Buino Film Festival in Bishkek from September 24-28. On the last day of the festival the organizers were set to screen the independently directed film, ‘I Am Gay and Muslim’, a film that features young Moroccan men speaking about their sexual and religious identities.

September 26, 2012 | Activism, Advocacy, Asia, documentary, Film festival, Human Rights, human rights, Human Rights Center/ Citizens Against Corruption, Kyrgyzstan, Leading to Action, Rights & Reservations: Realizing CEDAW, Stop Violence Against Women, Women's Human Rights, Kyrgyzstan

The Sixth Annual International ‘Bir Duino’ (‘One World’) Documentary Film Festival on Human Rights is in session in Kyrgyzstan this week. WLP's Kyrgyzstan partner Human Rights Center/“Citizens Against Corruption” hosts this annual competition to recognize films that give an honest and powerful depiction of issues such as gender based violence, drug addiction, homelessness, and migration.

March 27, 2012 | Asia, Leading to Action, Leadership, Leading To Choices Multimedia, Political Participation, Kyrgyzstan

From March 23-27, 2012 a national Training of Trainers (TOT) on "Leadership and Women's Political Participation" was held by WLP Kyrgyzstan/Citizens Against Corruption as part of WLP's Global Training of Trainers Initiative.

October 26, 2011 | Human Rights, human rights, Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan

On September 27, WLP Kyrgyzstan/Human Rights Center “Citizens against Corruption” (CAC) celebrated the opening of its fifth annual One World International Human Rights Documentary Film festival in Bishkek. The event featured documentary films from a broad range of countries, including Afghanistan, Israel, Iran, South Africa, India, Great Britain, Ethiopia,Canada, as well as several from Kygyzstan.

June 3, 2011 | Asia, Leading to Action, Political Participation, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan

WLP convened a Regional Institute on women’s political participation in Central Asia on April 14, 2011 in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, co-organized by WLP Kazakhstan/Shymkent Women's Resource Center and WLP Kyrgyzstan/Human Rights Center “Citizens Against Corruption.” Thirty women leaders, including activists, journalists, students, as well as local and state administrators, participants shared experiences on networking with organizations to advance women’s political participation, promoting the transparency of government agencies, and developing women's leadership in the Central Asia region. They also highlighted the importance of monitoring governmental institutions on the development and implementation of gender policy, analyzing local and national elections, and empowering women on the ground to push for positive change for their full political participation.

November 11, 2010 | Asia, eNews 27, Leading To Choices, Leadership, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan

For civil society, Central Asia has become one of the most difficult places to work. Freedom of assembly, an open press, and internet usage have eroded throughout the region.Uzbekistan has remained all but closed to NGO activity. WLP's former partner in Uzbekistan, Tashkent Women's Resource Center (TWRC), which organized WLP's first Central Asia Regional Institute in 2005 in cooperation with Shymkent Women's Resource Center (SWRC), was forcibly closed by the government in 2006.Kyrgyzstan has seen significant political turmoil, with a coup in April. A violent outbreak in southern Kyrgyzstan in early June led to further attempts to intimidate and silence human rights activists.