PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS AND ORIENTATION TOWARDS WOMEN’S RIGHTS PROMOTION BY THE EUROPEAN UNION THE CASE OF CENTRAL ASIA

Abstract

The EU’s implementation of the Strategy on Central Asia in 2019 has paved a way for increased cooperation around women’s rights promotion between the EU and Central Asia. Women’s rights are highlighted in this study as it concerns several issue areas, including democratisation, human rights, and social policy, and there have been concerns on the status of women from international organisations. However, a link between women’s rights promotion in Central Asia and the role of the EU’s strategies in promoting norms and values around is yet to be explored. This study investigates the public perceptions of women’s rights promotion within the five Central Asian countries, based on social media comments using an abductive approach by Thompson (2022). Public perceptions are analysed through theories of norm-diffusion and postcolonial feminism. We find cross-national variation in the extent to which the five countries are oriented towards women’s rights promotion, and further variation in the considerations that individuals have when expressing their opinion. The main results are mixed and are not optimistic for EU’s chances for success in promoting women’s rights in Central Asia. However, the results reinstate the importance of understanding the local complexities and how they contribute to the construction of public orientation to norms and values.