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Women Take the Reins in Kyrgyz Villages

December 15, 2018

Airkairenza Kushtarbek and her four children live in rural Kyrgyzstan. But her husband works in Russia - some 3,000 kilometers away, like many men from Kyrgyzstan who are fleeing poverty in their own country.

https://p.dw.com/p/3AAzv

The men only rarely return from Russia to visit their families in Kyrgyzstan, and their children effectively grow up fatherless. Their women are left to fend for themselves, which often makes them more self-reliant than their husbands would like. It's having an impact on Kyrgyz society, where tradition still plays an important role. The 800,000 men from Kyrgyzstan working in Russia transfer the equivalent of more than two billion euros to their families annually. Airkairenza Kushtarbek also depends on those remittances from her husband. She's is already looking forward to the New Year, when he plans to visit for a few days. A Report by Miodrag Soric.