ABSTRACT
In the Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev years, Party officials and social scientists in Moscow and in the various Central Asian republics publicly heralded the demise of Islam and the creation of a modern socialist society in Central Asia. But the reality of the situation is almost exactly the opposite of what official Soviet rhetoric long maintained. As Islam is honored if the ways of the ancestors are kept alive, women are expected to make their contribution by tending to the nurturing of the next generation. Most of the social problems relating to women derive from this expectation. The career opportunities of women are sharply restricted by their family obligations, and this in turn has further retarded the economic development of Central Asia. Alcoholism, drug addiction, and juvenile delinquency are all epidemic in the region. However, they are only insignificant problems among the indigenous female population of Central Asia, because most women seem to philosophically accept their fate.
