PRESS RELEASE
SEMINAR FRIDAY 19TH NOVEMBER 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM
RIKSSCENEN AT SCHOUS KULTURBRYGGERI

Women’s position in Tajikistan before and after the fall of the Soviet Union

Vatanova Khayrinso	Nargis Nurulla-Khoja	Munira Shahidi

Tajikistan – a cultural, ethnic, religious and geographical crossroads in Central Asia. What situation does the female population in the country have? Three central Tajik women, a PhD in women’s position in the country, a professor of comparative literature and a female artist, offer three different approaches to knowledge about women’s situation in the country and the country’s situation today.

After the fall of the Soviet Union and the civil war in Tajikistan during the first part of the 90s’, women’s situation has changed significantly in Tajikistan. Illiteracy among women has increased by 10 % after that period, but at the same time, the level of education among women is very high in the Tajik cities. The friendship group Rumifestivalen-Oslo/Diba-Dushanbe has, with support from NORAD’s Friendship North/South started a multidisciplinary culture exchange program between Norway and Tajikistan, and wants to focus on women’s status in the country. History and the situation as it is today both make this a very interesting subject.

Tajikistan has always been a cultural, ethnic, religious and geographical crossroads in Central Asia. The country has large amounts of unused natural resources and is at the same time listed at the World Bank’s list over the world’s poorest countries. The country borders to China, Afghanistan, Kirgizstan and Uzbekistan, and has 7,3 million inhabitants.
Rumifestivalen in Oslo has picked up three women with different backgrounds to give us here in Norway a perspective of what is happening, both in Tajikistan and in the region in general.
Nargis Nurulla-Khoja: She holds a PhD in the distribution of gender roles in the modern countries of Central-Asia. She currently lives in Moscow. Nurulla-Khoja has been the project leader for several UN-projects and for UNESCO in Tajikistan.

Munira Shahidi: She is a part time professor at The Educational University in Dushanbe. She was a guest professor at Mazon de Science L’Homme in Paris in the period between 2004 and 2005, and in Kuala-Lumpur University of Islamic Thought and Civilization in 2006. She is also the director of the Zyiodullo Shahidi institute of music, and is a central cultural figure in Tajikistan. She has always been strongly engaged in the women’s movement, and is part of a worldwide roundtable network for women.
Vatanova Khayroniso: She is a Tajik dancer who has revolutionized the traditional Tajik dance style.

The seminar will be lead by Laura Mitchell.

Laura Mitchell

Laura worked in Tajikistan during the Civil War (1994-1996) and then, again in 2002, 2003-2004. During the Civil War (Oct. 1994-Nov. 1996), Laura Mitchell worked for Save the Children UK on a project to assist and support women headed households in the southern conflict-affected Khatlon district - working with women heads of household from a variety of regional and ethnic backgrounds. Many of the women were returnees.

In 2002, she worked as a short-term consultant on a feasibility study of micro-credit for the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC).

In 2003-2004, Mitchell worked for one of the Aga Khan-affiliated organisations, FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance USA on a community disaster preparedness and resilience project funded by the EU in the Pamirs.

The seminar is supported by Friendship North/South, Albatrass DA and Fritt Ord.

Contact:
Kristin Groven Holmboe
kgholm(at)gmail.com
Phone: (+47) 916 18 448