Control, gender and HIV in Uzbekistan

June 2, 2008

Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan is one of the most tightly controlled countries in the world. Everything is orderly and clean and one constantly feels watched. All of our meetings are attended by more than one person, presumably to control the information that we receive. There seems to be little crime. But they can’t seem to keep the drugs out. In some areas of the country (near Afghanistan and Turkmenistan) heroin is apparently cheaper than vodka (which is dirt cheap). One can imagine what a nightmare it would be if the same were the case in Europe or the U.S. Some say the problem has gotten worse since the Americans entered Afghanistan. Others give a more nuanced picture, which is that it initially peaked, but then has declined and is still quite high.
We have been told that before the ‘War on Terror,’ “Everybody loved Americans.” Now not everybody loves Americans. Despite this, we met several people who say they know at least 10 people who have emigrated to the U.S. They say they like it, except for the food.

I didn’t feel any anti-Americanism there, albeit I was speaking Swedish the whole time. Those who did find out I was American usually smiled broadly and asked where I was from. Then they told me where their family and friends lived: “New York, Tennessee, Los Angeles…”

One of the unfortunate backsides of this lovely and friendly country is the status of women. Although they are to be found at all levels of the workforce (30% of parliamentarians are women, which is better than the U.S. senate!), their role is apparently extremely controlled. Girls are tightly guarded and married off between 18 and 20 years of age. We were assured that “There is no pre-marital sex in Uzbekistan.” If it is discovered that a girl has had sex before marriage or a child out of wedlock then she is banned from the family. If a woman with children is divorced or widowed and re-marries she is considered a “bad mother.” Boys and men are, of course, also restricted by gender norms (marriage by 25 being de rigueur for them), but sex outside of marriage for men is tolerated, and even encouraged. We’re not exactly sure who they are having sex with if women are not allowed; presumably sex workers or “fallen women.”

The honor of the family can sometimes result in a very tragic outcome: some babies or children who are born with HIV or infected through blood (which several hundred were a few years ago), have been given up for adoption by their families because of shame and stigma. Of course, this is also due to lack of knowledge and information about HIV, which is something that the country is trying to improve. Unfortunately, personnel at the orphanages do not have the knowledge themselves to care for the children so they are doubly stigmatized (actually, triply, since orphans are also a stigmatized group in themselves). They reportedly divulge the child’s status to others, refuse to give them their anti-retrovirals, and refuse to bathe them with other children because of fear that they will infect them. We met a non-governmental group running a wonderful child development center for HIV positive children in Tahskent, but they are the only group of their kind in the whole country, and their funding is minimal.