{"id":9445,"date":"2012-07-19T11:36:50","date_gmt":"2012-07-19T08:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.waynakh.com\/eng\/?p=9445"},"modified":"2012-07-19T11:36:51","modified_gmt":"2012-07-19T08:36:51","slug":"chechnyas-fashion-dictator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waynakh.com\/eng\/2012\/07\/chechnyas-fashion-dictator\/","title":{"rendered":"Chechnya’s Fashion Dictator"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Chechnya, the warfare has been turned against the Russian occupied country’s women. The most public aspect of this campaign is the progressive imposition of a so-called ‘Islamic’ dress code. Lisa Kazbekova, a journalist based in Chechnya, charts its course, enquires why it is happening, and how Chechnya’s men and women are responding.<\/p>\n

The imposition of a severe Islamic dress code is the visible front of an aggressive campaign against women being waged by Chechnya’s [pro-Russian] government. Demoting the status of women has become a political priority for the republic’s [pro-Russian] leader, Ramzan Kadyrov. Back in 2006, when still only acting [pro-Russian] prime minister, Kadyrov was already exhorting women to show more ‘modesty’. After becoming leader, he declared that women were the property of men and endorsed polygamy. Recently, he has publicly condoned the spate of \u2018honour killings\u2019 of women with \u2018loose morals\u2019, in the name of \u2018reviving Chechen traditions\u2019. Men up and down the republic have echoed their [cruel] leader’s views enthusiastically.<\/p>\n

It was six years ago that women in [the pro-Russian regime’s] government departments, university students and schoolgirls were first instructed to wear traditional kerchiefs on their heads. \u2018Our boss simply called us in and informed us that the [pro-Russian regime’s] president had ordered all women to wear headscarves. Those who objected were told they could submit their resignation,\u2019 recalls Malika, a pediatrician at the children\u2019s hospital in Grozny.<\/p>\n

The inherently violent character of these \u2018reforms\u2019 became clear in the summer of 2010. Right in the middle of the capital Grozny, dozens of women who were not wearing headscarves were attacked by men armed with paintball guns and rubber bullets. In August, during Ramadan, \u2018representatives of the muftiyat\u2019, wearing the traditional loose-fitting Muslim garb started going up to women in central Grozny. They publicly shamed them for their \u2018immodesty\u2019 and handed out brochures containing detailed descriptions of clothing deemed appropriate for a Muslim woman: sleeves and skirt should be long and the head should be completely covered. These men would be joined by aggressive youths who grabbed at women\u2019s sleeves or hems, their hair or bare arms, shouting obscenities.<\/p>\n

Ramzan Kadyrov made it clear on television on 8 July 2010 that he approved of the paintball campaign, and wanted to \u2018show his gratitude\u2019 to these anonymous fighters for the moral state of women. The victims, he said, only got what they deserved.<\/p>\n

Then in January 2011 a written order appeared in every [pro-Russian] government organization in the form of a letter from the chef de cabinet of the Head of the [pro-Russian regime in the Russian occupied] Chechen Republic stating that all employees must conform to a dress code appropriate to “the norms of Vainakh ethics”. A scanned copy of this letter was published on the website Waynakh Online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In May last year came the turn of schoolgirls aged 13 plus to be dragooned into long skirts and full headscarves. A couple of months later [pro-Russian] government’s women employees were banned from entering [pro-Russian] government buildings unless every part of their body was covered except their face and hands.<\/p>\n

A barrage of propaganda has been deployed to drive the message of this campaign home. Giant posters of women in full hijab, with lowered gaze, adorn buildings and billboards. Even the mannequins in store windows are not \u2018allowed\u2019 to flaunt their pale plastic bodies publicly: swathed in billowing clothes, their bald heads are wrapped in headscarves.<\/p>\n

These outlandish new rules are illegal. They contradict the Russian constitution. This is why they were for a long time only handed down by word of mouth, on the direct authority of the [pro-Russian] head of the republic. But the fact that they are illegal makes them no easier to resist.<\/p>\n

In [the Russian occupied] Chechnya, Kadyrov’s word is law. President Putin’s total support for him, and the fact that the Russian constitution effectively doesn’t extend to Chechnya means that Kadyrov behaves as if the [Russian occupied] republic belongs to him. Last summer, for instance, a (verbal) instruction was issued that female newsreaders should be removed from the nation’s television screens. According to the head of the TV station, Kadyrov did not think that \u2018young women should be presenting the news\u2019. A month later, to the great relief of the women, word came down that they should once more be allowed to read the news. No one knows why Kadyrov changed his mind.\u00ad<\/p>\n

He treats Chechnya\u2019s inhabitants like rag dolls whom he can abuse to his heart\u2019s content. If he feels like dressing women up in Islamic dress, it will be done. If he doesn\u2019t like the women reading the news, he\u2019ll make a phone call and she\u2019ll be gone. A bit later, he feels like seeing women on the box again. Fine \u2013 that\u2019s no problem. This is one young politician who is prepared to declare quite openly, without a twinge of embarrassment, at an official function: \u2018I\u2019m the boss here \u2013 you\u2019re just a bunch of nobodies\u2019.<\/p>\n

Homilies about women are read at Friday prayers in almost all mosques-government controlled, of course – as well as being broadcast on local TV. In their obligatory lessons at the university and all Chechen schools, representatives of the Centre for the Spiritual-Moral Edification of Youth (which operates under the [Russian occupied] republic\u2019s [so-called] official \u2018muftiyat\u2019) pay particular attention to the moral instruction of girls:\u2019 Usually, the mullah tells us that women who don\u2019t obey their husbands and brothers will burn in hell, along with those who display parts of their bodies in public\u2019, one woman student told me. She reports that [so-called] clerics tell the boys that in order to allay Allah\u2019s wrath, they must control their sisters, monitor what they do, to whom they talk, and if possible accompany them everywhere.<\/p>\n

What drives this campaign against women?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When he first came to power, Kadyrov claimed to be guided by a desire to \u2018revive the lost traditions of our forefathers\u2019. Before the Russian revolution, women in Chechen society were indeed mostly viewed as \u2018keepers of the hearth\u2019, mothers and obedient wives. But with the beginning of the Soviet era things changed. Chechen women began to be educated and to work outside the home \u2013 first in agricultural collectives and later on in factories and even in leadership positions.<\/p>\n

However, men did manage to preserve their dominant role in some parts of Chechnya. This was particularly true in the eastern region bordering Dagestan, where the [pro-Russian] president\u2019s native village Tsentoroi is located. \u2018Ramzan Kadyrov probably wants to impose this way of life, the one he grew up with, on all women\u2019 reasons Amina, a 32-year old woman lecturer in Russian history at the Chechen State University. Chechens are well aware that even during the Soviet period women in that eastern region remained under the rule of men and always wore full headscarves and long dresses. Few received an education, and they were taught from childhood to be obedient wives to their husbands.<\/p>\n

However, local human rights activists point out that Kadyrov\u2019s interest in conservative traditions of Islamic culture really began when he started travelling to those Arab countries with which he had friendly relations. There were regular journeys to Mecca, surrounded by large numbers of his relatives and clerics. There were meetings with members of Jordan\u2019s royal family and visits to exclusive racing stables in Dubai. All these trips, which were always extensively reported on in the [pro-Russian] Chechen media, seem to have exerted a growing influence on the young leader. \u2018Every time he comes back home, the [pro-Russian]president introduces “something Arabic” into our society\u2019, comments Zarema, a human rights\u2019 activist with a special interest in women\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Kadyrov\u2019s own actions blatantly contradict his pronouncements on public morality. In the course of a typical night\u2019s viewing on Chechen television he will be seen condemning the non-Muslim conduct of Chechen women, while going on to revel in the performances of Russian and international starlets whom he has invited to sing in Chechnya. Absurdly, the performances of scantily clad guest stars alternate with Chechen singers in full \u2018Islamic\u2019 dress. He barely attempts to reconcile these contradictions, beyond repeating his mantra that \u2018We are a full and equal subject of the Russian Federation, but we must not forget that we are Chechens and Muslims\u2019.<\/p>\n

Turning men against women<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whatever may have inspired Kadyrov\u2019s discriminatory policies against women, Zarema is clear that his main motivation has to do with power: \u2018It\u2019s an ideal method of controlling half of Chechnya\u2019s population while courting popularity with the other half\u2019.<\/p>\n

The policy of gender discrimination is certainly popular with men. Many Chechen men maintain that women\u2019s real role is in the kitchen, looking after a husband and children. They invoke Chechen tradition as well as Islam in support of this view. Even those who otherwise resent the [pro-Russian] Chechen leader\u2019s politics agree with their [so-called] leader that women need to \u2018know their place\u2019.<\/p>\n

Umar, 25, and Adam 30 are typical. Good-looking and well-educated, they appear to be thoroughly modern young men. But touch on the issue of headscarves and that Western air evaporates: \u2018Women must obey men and dress modestly – that\u2019s how it\u2019s always been!\u2019 Umar repeats a favourite maxim of his leader. \u2018Why doesn\u2019t anyone acknowledge all the good that Ramzan\u2019s done?\u2019 Adam complains. They talk up Kadyrov\u2019s reconstruction of the republic. There are the huge entertainment complexes he has built and the gigantic new stadium, at whose opening stars of international football stars like Diego Maradona, Bortez and McManaman have played. \u2018Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that Maradona himself would play in Chechnya!\u2019 Umar enthuses.<\/p>\n

\u2018Kadyrov has won the support of much of the male population thanks to football, headscarves and his promotion of polygamy,\u2019 reflects Amina, a lecturer in Russian history. Reasserting control over women was the easiest way of restoring the self-esteem of Chechen men, which has taken a battering in recent years. \u2018Our men have a very short memory\u2019 Amina goes on. In wartime the historic role of breadwinner switched from men to women. Women did not only have to take care of the domestic chores, they became the sole breadwinners of their families.<\/p>\n

They also, quite literally, became the protectors of the male population. \u2018During the war, I witnessed again and again how women lay down right under soldier\u2019s machine guns and protected their husbands, brothers, sons, neighbours with their own bodies.<\/p>\n

Often enough they did the same for men they didn\u2019t even know,\u2019 Amina remembers. Women grew confident in the war, when many men opted to stay indoors because of the risk to their life as soon as they stepped outside. Women learned skills, pursued their education and their influence in the social and political life of the republic grew correspondingly.<\/p>\n

Much of the male population did not like that new-found female empowerment. And when he came to power \u2018Kadyrov got the support even of those men who had spent the entire war hiding behind women\u2019s skirts\u2019 Amina comments.<\/p>\n

The fearful regiment of women<\/strong><\/p>\n

How have Chechnya\u2019s women reacted to these developments? \u2018The atmosphere of fear has become so overwhelming that we don\u2019t even dare to express our dissatisfaction among our colleagues, because we\u2019re afraid of informers,\u2019 admits Khadizha, a 54-year-old [pro-Russian] government worker. In her view it would be not just pointless, but dangerous to object to the draconian new dress code imposed on [pro-Russian] government’s female employees.<\/p>\n

So what of the future? Things could well get even worse, in the view of local women\u2019s rights NGOs. Even activists see little they can do to stop it. \u2018The young [pro-Russian] president controls everyone and everything, and with complete conviction. He takes every opportunity to stress that \u201cHe is everything and everyone else is nothing\u201d\u2019 says Malika, 41, who works for a local women\u2019s NGO. To invoke the legal protection which the Russian constitution theoretically affords is virtually impossible: \u2018It\u2019s not just that there\u2019s nowhere to file a complaint,\u2019 Malika goes on: \u2018These kinds of violations of people\u2019s rights have become the norm in our society.\u2019 Many women have internalised the view that fighting for their rights and expressing their opinions would shame their family, she believes. They fear the judgment of their community, and the condemnation of their own relatives. \u2018They prefer to suffer in silence rather than to fight\u2019 she concludes sadly.<\/p>\n

Others keep silent out of fear for their loved ones. Zarina is a young teacher who was shot by a paintball on her way home from work. She ended up hiding what had happened to her from her own family: \u2018My brother would have tried to find the perpetrators and punish them. And I don\u2019t want him getting involved with those thugs,\u2019 she explains.<\/p>\n

When the schoolgirls heard about their new dress code, some refused to accept it. Aza, Zaira and Liana went to school in their usual short skirts, the little kerchiefs in their hair being their one sartorial concession. The school director sent them home: unless they came back dressed like \u2018proper Chechen young ladies\u2019, they\u2019d be expelled. Their parents\u2019 objections fared no better: \u2018If you don\u2019t like it, go find another school,\u2019 the director told Aza\u2019s mother Malika, a 42-year old paediatrician. \u2018The order had come from the top and there was nothing anyone could do about it\u2019, Malika realised. She and her fellow doctors at the children\u2019s hospital had long since had to succumb to headscarves: \u2018But I\u2019m over 40 \u2013 they\u2019re just children! To cover them up in those blankets robs them of their childhood!\u2019<\/p>\n

When I met up with the girls, they\u2019d only been wearing their new uniforms for a week. \u2018I hate those long skirts and big headscarves!\u2019 ranted 15-year old Aza, pushing her unruly dark curls back under a blue scarf. \u2018They make me look like an old woman!\u2019 14-year-old Zaira agreed. \u2018I just want to leave this place, move abroad and dress like my Western peers.\u2019 Zaira\u2019s parents have been seriously considering moving to somewhere in Russia, because they feel that the constraints are having a bad effect on their children. \u2018What if one day Kadyrov forbids girls to go to school altogether? Who can be sure that our society would resist it?\u2019<\/p>\n

The political climate on the dress code fluctuates constantly. By late May 2012 there was a renewed push to introduce an even stricter one at the universities, the [pro-Russian] government\u2019s preferred laboratory for its social experimentation. Floor-length skirts, long sleeves and fully covered hair are already de rigueur. Female teachers and staff are now being told that in the autumn they will have to wear a hijab, a headscarf that wraps around the front and covers their neck. By now the debate seemed to be about a few centimeters of fabric \u2013 would this newly mandated hijab have to cover their jawline as well, or could they tie it below the chin?<\/p>\n

There are glimmers of light in this gloom. Laila, a 4th-year student at Grozny State University, wears a short, close-cut dress and her hair loose on her way home from university, and she carries a large, bulging bag. In it is her uniform – floor-length skirt, standard-issue blazer and headscarf. Laughing, she pulls out the skirt and demonstrates how, sarong-style, it opens at the front and can be put on and taken off easily over her much skimpier outfit. She had the skirt specially sewn for this purpose, and so, she says, have many other students. \u201cWe used to find some hidden place to change discreetly after leaving campus, but now we strip off our uniforms right in front of the guards at the entrance. Imagine how they stare at us!\u201d Despite Zalina\u2019s obvious glee at her and her classmates\u2019 symbolic subversion of the dress code, she knows her actions are not without risk. There are stories going round about girls who were expelled from university for pulling off their long skirts while still on campus.<\/p>\n

Another such glimmer concerns the paintball attacks. These stopped as suddenly as they started, and there has been no recurrence. Many human rights activists believe this was a result of the international reaction they provoked. \u2018We can\u2019t prove that the attacks stopped because of pressure from abroad\u2019 admits human rights activist Zarema. But the activists agree that the fact that the attacks stopped as soon as the world started paying attention is no coincidence. \u2018This gives us hope, at least. It encourages us not to give up fighting for our rights\u2019.<\/p>\n

Lisa Kazbekova<\/strong>
\n18.07.2012 – Open Democracy Russia<\/a><\/p>\n

*The author is a journalist based in Chechnya.<\/em>
\n **The names of the author and women mentioned in this article have been changed for their protection. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Chechnya, the warfare has been turned against the Russian occupied country’s women. The most public aspect of this campaign is the progressive imposition of a so-called ‘Islamic’ dress code. Lisa Kazbekova, a journalist based in Chechnya, charts its course, enquires why it is happening, and how Chechnya’s men and women are responding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"views":1526,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waynakh.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waynakh.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waynakh.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waynakh.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waynakh.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9445"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.waynakh.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9447,"href":"https:\/\/www.waynakh.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9445\/revisions\/9447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waynakh.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waynakh.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waynakh.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}