* Kyrgyzstan’s youngest female MP says battles to be heard
* Need more women in parliament to bring about change
* Quota system seen as essential to get women into politics
By Valeria Cardi
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, Oct 25 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Aida Kasymalieva, Kyrgyzstan’s youngest female member of parliament, was stunned when her male colleagues walked out as she spoke at a session on women’s issues in a nation rife with domestic violence, child marriage and bride kidnappings.
Kasymalieva knew these issues weren’t a priority in the Kyrgyz parliament having reported as a journalist for over 10 years on women migrants, child marriage and the often brutal abduction of young women who are then forced into marriage.
But Kasymalieva, 33, was surprised by the total disregard for issues impacting women in the majority Muslim country in central Asia bordering China that is home to about six million people.
“We were discussing assignments, grants, roads, and all men were sitting in the hall then the parliamentary hour (on gender issues) started … and all men in the hall just stood up and went,” Kasymalieva said during an interview in her apartment in Bishkek, where she lives with her 11-year-old daughter.
“Men will never think about domestic violence, kidnapping.”
