1. Introduction: Overview of the Gender Situation in Turkmenistan

Despite formal ratification of international conventions and the adoption of a National Gender Equality Action Plan (2021–2025), Turkmenistan continues to demonstrate systemic neglect and regression in the field of gender equality. Gender-based discrimination, restrictions on women's freedom of movement, censorship of appearance, and increasing economic vulnerability are compounded by a lack of transparency, accountability, and political will to advance women's rights.

Findings from the Turkmen Helsinki Foundation (THF) and interviews with over 180 respondents both inside and outside the country reveal that:

• Domestic violence is grossly underreported and culturally normalized.
• Legal protections are absent, particularly in the areas of labor rights, bodily autonomy, and reproductive health.
• Government statistics do not reflect reality, and many abuses are silenced or denied outright.
• Women in Turkmenistan suffer a 23% wage gap, lack representation in governance (only ~25% of parliamentarians), and are subject to harassment, coercion, and forced traditional conformity in public life.
• Particular attention should be paid to women’s work in agriculture. According to ILO monitoring published in March 2025, more than 90% of cotton pickers are women. A third of pickers receive less than the government-set wage for their work. And since 78.4% of pickers do not have a legally binding contract, this has serious consequences for their already difficult working conditions. About 40% of pickers reported poor nutrition.
• Another alarming sign is that women are subject to forced labor, as they are traditionally more numerous in the public sector: teachers, educators, doctors, nurses, and technical staff are used annually in cotton harvesting, to the detriment of their main work. Refusal to participate can have serious consequences, including dismissal.

2024 Observance of recruitment and working conditions in the cotton harvest in Turkmenistan

The lack of gender-specific policies, particularly in relation to environmental and climate challenges, adds another critical layer of risk and inequality.

Barriers to Education and Mobility

• Young women face systematic restrictions in:
• Leaving the country for education.
• Access to higher education due to corruption and cultural norms.
• Some are barred from travel unless accompanied by male family members.

Key Supporting Data:

2. Climate Change, Environment, and Girls’ Rights

Turkmenistan is among the most climate-vulnerable nations in Central Asia, facing extreme heatwaves, droughts, water scarcity, and desertification. Yet gender is almost entirely absent from climate policies, despite the clear link between environmental degradation and the worsening status of women and girls.

Key Impacts:

• Water Stress: Runoff from major rivers like the Amu Darya is expected to decline by up to 30% during the growing season by 2050.
• Drought and Resource Access: Women, particularly in rural areas such as Mary velayat, report severe utility shortages (electricity, gas) and face disproportionate hardship as heads of households.
• Malnutrition: More than 50% of women and girls reportedly suffer from low hemoglobin, directly impacting reproductive health and development.
• Labor Exploitation: Over 90% of cotton pickers are women, often without contracts, underpaid, and subjected to forced and exploitative labor conditions.
• Gender-specific climate adaptation is nearly non-existent. Although events such as the 2023 Ashgabat workshop on gender and water management raised awareness, implementation has been minimal. Gender issues and sex-disaggregated data on the impacts of climate change are missing from national policies on the environment, climate change and disaster risk reduction, including in countries prone to disasters. 

Central Asian governments discuss the integration of gender equality into climate change policies | United Nations in Turkmenistan

• On December 7, 2023, a workshop titled "Gender and Water Resources in the Process of Adaptation to Climate Change" was held at the UN office in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan..

The workshop focused on the gender aspects of water management in the context of climate change. Water resources are one of the main economic development factors in the Central Asian region, with the objectives of the workshop to raise awareness and promote gender mainstreaming in adaptation planning, achieve a greater understanding of gender issues in water management, and lay the foundation for further cooperation for successful gender-sensitive water management.

https://www.gwp.org/en/CACENA/News/turkmenistan-is-taking-steps-to-improve-gender-aspects-of-water-resources-management/ 

• Turkmenistan has significant vulnerability to climate change. According to the recent IMF report, the Middle East and Central Asia (ME&CA) region is on the frontline to experience human, economic, and physical consequences of the climate change.

https://progres.online/society/environment/impact-of-climate-change-on-agriculture-in-turkmenistan/  

• According to Hydro-meteorological Center of Uzbekistan, the Amudarya river runoff – the main source of Turkmenistan’s surface waters - will reduce by 10-15% by 2050. Small rivers (Murgab, Tedjen and Etrek) runoff will reduce by 5-8% by 2030. In short, the most pressing issue is that the runoff of local rivers during the vegetation period may reduce by 30%. According to the findings of Intergovernmental Climate Change Expert Group, expected climate change will cause intensification of daily and monthly air temperature, pressure and humidity fluctuations; intensification of frequency and strength of natural weather phenomena on regional and local scale – droughts, flash flows and mud flows, sand storms, etc. Climate change in Turkmenistan will manifest itself in the increase in number of flash runoffs and mud flows (10% annually), heavy rains (5% annually) and intense heat periods (1.6% annually).

https://policy.asiapacificenergy.org/sites/default/files/National%20Climate%20Change%20Strategy%20of%20Turkmenistan%20%28EN%29.pdf 

• Malnutrition among girls due to food shortages and poverty: over 50% of female respondents or their family members suffer from low hemoglobin, affecting reproductive health.
• Droughts, lack of utilities (e.g., gas, electricity) reported in rural areas like Mary velayat, exacerbate hardship for women-headed households.

3. Water Resources and Border Disputes: The Taliban’s Qosh Tepa Canal and Regional Instability

Water scarcity is a transboundary issue in Central Asia. The Taliban-led initiative to construct the Qosh Tepa Canal in northern Afghanistan poses a serious threat to Turkmenistan’s access to the Amu Darya River, its primary surface water source.

Risks:

• Geopolitical tension: Unilateral water extraction by Afghanistan could reduce Turkmenistan's river access, deepening local water stress and food insecurity.
• Women bear the brunt: Reduced water access affects agriculture, sanitation, and domestic responsibilities, disproportionately impacting women and girls.

Lack of diplomatic response: Despite the risks, Turkmenistan's neutrality policy has led to passive regional engagement, leaving the water security issue unaddressed at both policy and humanitarian levels. 

Water security is a critical issue for Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Uzbekistan is grappling with severe water shortages due to climate change, with diminishing river levels and reduced precipitation. Water usage per capita has halved between 2008 and 2022. Turkmenistan, classified as an “extremely high” water-stressed country, relies heavily on water from transboundary rivers.

The Amu Darya River is a vital source of water for Afghanistan and its northern neighbours. Before the Taliban’s rise, countries such as Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan were less concerned about projects like the Qosh Tepa canal, which had been delayed due to attacks by Taliban insurgents. 

https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/water-tensions-under-taliban 

4. Taliban Influence on Gender Norms and Local Policies

• Turkmen policy borrowings reflect a broader gender-conservative shift in Central Asia, rooted in Islamic traditionalism restored post-Soviet era .
• The similarity between Turkmen and Taliban norms—especially around controlling women’s appearance, mobility, and roles—echoes patterns labeled “Taliban-style” both in news and social media . 
• Patriarchal enforcement, religious conservatism, and limitations on women’s freedom bear cultural similarities to Taliban-controlled norms.
• Example: Women being barred from cosmetic procedures, required to wear traditional clothing, or being subjected to virginity tests in schools.
• Moral lectures (instead of sexual education) target only girls.

Marriage control and gender policing mirror regressive norms, although not explicitly attributed to Taliban influence.While not officially aligned, Turkmenistan increasingly mirrors the gender regressive framework seen under Taliban rule, influenced by post-Soviet Islamic conservatism and internalized patriarchal control.

Parallels with Taliban Practices:

• Mandatory traditional dress and bans on cosmetic procedures for women.
• Virginity testing in schools, framed as “moral hygiene,” and gender-segregated lectures targeting only girls.
• Restricted mobility: Dozens of female students and wives of foreigners have been banned from international travel, unless accompanied by male relatives.
• Suppression of bodily autonomy: Legal abortion is now limited to five weeks, following a secretly enforced law since 2015.
• Institutional complicity: Government ministries, consular offices, and police routinely ignore gender-based complaints, often siding with abusers, even when they are high-ranking officials.

The Taliban’s regional resurgence appears to have emboldened Turkmenistan’s conservative forces, leading to greater restrictions on women’s public behavior and private rights.

5. Conclusion and Assessment of Current Gender Conditions in Turkmenistan

The state of girls’ and women’s rights in Turkmenistan is one of deep systemic neglect and regression, characterized by:

• Absence of legal safeguards: No specific laws criminalizing gender-based violence.
• Normalization of abuse: Cultural norms that encourage women to “remain silent” and tolerate harassment.
• Climate crisis without gender response: Environmental hardship magnifies gender inequality, yet no gender-responsive adaptation policies exist.
• Authoritarian control over bodies and mobility: From virginity checks to forced dress codes, female autonomy is institutionally suppressed.
• Influence of regional extremism: The rise of the Taliban has reinforced local conservatism and emboldened misogynistic norms in both law and practice.

Recommendations

1. Develop a legal framework addressing all forms of gender-based violence, including economic and institutional abuse.
2. Integrate gender analysis into all climate adaptation and disaster response strategies.
3. Strengthen independent monitoring mechanisms, with international cooperation, to ensure accountability and transparency.
4. Reject cultural practices influenced by regional fundamentalism, particularly those mimicking Taliban-style restrictions.
5. Support women’s access to water, energy, and land, particularly in rural and drought-prone areas.
6. Reinstate and expand rights to travel, study, and migrate, removing discriminatory exit bans.

3. Opinions from international community based on the 79^th UN meeting:

https://docs.un.org/en/S/PV.9726 

EU Representatives / International Experts

• UN & OSCE bodies have voiced:
• Strong concern over:
• Suppression of women’s rights
• Lack of access to legal recourse
• Censorship of women’s bodies and dress
• Discriminatory travel bans for female students and wives of foreigners
• Example: UN experts (2024–2025) condemned:
• Bans on cosmetic procedures.
• Mandatory traditional dress codes.
• Decrease of legal abortion window to 5 weeks without consultation.

Specialists in the Field / NGOs

• Turkmen Helsinki Foundation (THF) and HRW:
• Documented abuse, harassment, denial of legal documents, internet censorship.
• Published multiple testimonies from victims of gender violence, discrimination in hospitals, police, and consular services.
• Criticize government "statistical whitewashing" of abuse rates.
• UNFPA:
• Noted bias against women with disabilities regarding reproductive rights and employment.
• International Federation for Family Planning:
• Decried the hidden rollback of abortion rights—five-week limit now in effect (secretly implemented law from 2015).

Following its review of Turkmenistan’s third periodic report, the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) issued recommendations to the government, many of which reflected concerns raised in a joint parallel report by Progres Foundation. The Committee condemned widespread torture, impunity, and human rights abuses, including gender-based violence and restrictions on reproductive rights. 

https://progres.online/society/un-condemns-torture-and-violence-against-women-in-turkmenistan/ 

Turkmen Society’s Views/Actions regarding Women/Girls

• The report reveals:
• A deep normalization of gender violence and harassment, often justified by societal expectations ("терпи", "не выноси сор").
• Families rarely support daughters facing abuse; blame and shame are common.
• Cultural and religious pressures enforce submission, with even high-ranking officials acting with impunity (e.g., diplomats abusing wives and daughters).
• Women avoid reporting violence for fear of retaliation or disbelief.
• Silent endorsement of harmful customs by institutions such as elder councils or the Women’s Union.

Turkmen Women’s Discrimination in Turkey as Work Migrants  

There are serious concerns that Turkmen citizens in Türkiye who have publicly criticized the Turkmen government and its policies, or who have engaged, however modestly, in civic activism critical of Turkmenistan’s government may be detained, interrogated, prosecuted, and even tortured if returned to Turkmenistan.

Turkmen authorities’ refusal to renew passports in diplomatic missions abroad puts many Turkmen citizens and migrant workers, including many women, living in Türkiye and other countries at risk of being unable to exercise their rights, as their legal residency status in host countries is inextricably tied to their having a valid Turkmen passport. Without a valid passport, they live in the shadows. They cannot apply to obtain or renew a residence permit.

https://www.hrw.org/report/2024/11/11/its-i-live-cage/turkmen-authorities-denial-passports-turkmen-citizens-turkiy 

The treatment of Turkmen women married to foreigners is the latest example of how far it seems Ashgabat will go to keep citizens grounded in their home country.

Last year, Turkmen.News, a Europe-based dissident-run outlet covering Turkmenistan, reported that authorities were "removing passengers from flights en masse," in an apparent response to Turkey relaxing some of its migration rules.

According to data released by Turkey's Migration Service in December 2024, there are 205,369 Turkmen citizens officially residing in Turkey, although the real number may be higher.

Yilmaz, who spoke to RFE/RL's Turkmen Service, is one of nearly 60 members of a WhatsApp group consisting of Turkish men with Turkmen spouses who have been effectively trapped after making visits to the Central Asian country.

https://www.rferl.org/a/turkmenistan-travel-bans-husbands-wives-separated-turkey/33280266.html 

Report prepared by: Daria Gerasimova, Bir Duino – Kyrgyzstan intern

The document edited and discussed with: Tolekan Ismailova, Director of the Bir Duino – Kyrgyzstan organization

Date: June 27 2025