Women in Mongolia

Mongolian women have historically enjoyed a somewhat higher status than women from other East Asian cultures. Women in Mongolia played vital roles in the family and economic life. Some more elite women had more opportunities than poor women, yet the demanding lifestyle required all women to work. Each household member had responsibilities, yet those of women tended to be much greater loads.[2] In many cultures, women were expected to run the domestic duties in a household, yet women in Mongolia also managed out of the home work such as taking care of animals, manufacturing dairy products, shearing wool, and tanning hides.[2] Through their household work, women in elite ranks of society were able to further their roles in order to gain substantial amounts of power. Those less fortunate were unable to benefit from their domestic work. When the Mongol empire collapsed, poor women in society were unable to get any sort of proper health care or any opportunity for education and leisure.[2]

Nomadic women in Mongolia have typically been those responsible for collecting buckets of water, cooking meals for the family, keeping livestock healthy, collecting wood for fires, nursing and raising children, making clothing, and generally keeping all domestic affairs in order.[3]

History has proved that the perception of Mongolian women today has revealed many contradictions.[4] Many cultures that surround the Mongolian women are seen as subordinate to men; yet for Mongolian women today, they are dominated by noble womanhood.[4] It is said that Mongolian women have traditionally had a higher degree of social positions and autonomy than women in the Islamic societies of Asia, China and Korea.[3] For those women who were widowed or left because of husbands in the military, taking over their jobs was often a common compromise. Although this did take place in many Mongol societies, women were still considered subordinate to men. Women were also domestically restricted in what they were and were not allowed to take part in when their husbands were around. Firm actions of this subordination were taken place in daily activities such as women were only allowed to tend to sheep, yet men were responsible for horses- a lamb versus a stallion in generic historical terms.[3]

Mongolian People's Republic is the period of Mongolian history which existed between 1924 and 1992 as a unitary sovereign socialist state in East Asia. It was ruled by the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party and maintained close links with the Soviet Union throughout its history.[5]

During this period, women in Mongolia obtained de jure equal rights. They had universal participation in all levels of education. In 1985, 63% of students in higher educational establishments were women along with 58% of the students in secondary schools.[3] During the time frame, there were 51% women workers and 49% male.

Educated women began teaching and taking charge in the medicine department in 1979. These were both generally thought as the more female fields, and more than 60% of all doctors were female. Teaching was also predominantly a woman’s job with 67% of all teachers in general schools and 33% of teachers in higher educational schools.[3] Despite having formal legal equality, as in other socialist states, de facto women remained subordinated to men.

Mongolian woman with her child

Weddings in Mongolia are one of the most influential days of a man and woman's life together. Weddings are celebrated events that at times are even more important than births or deaths. In the past, history explains that Mongolian women were often married as young women of ages about 13 to 14.[6] Boys were often married a bit older than women. In modern day, those with less money normally marry in their earlier 20s, while those more urban marry later in their 20s and 30s.[6] Mongolians normally had arranged marriages and once a man is married he is not allowed to marry thereafter. Monogamy is practiced.[6] Dating is not as common for those with less money such as herders, yet sex prior to marriage is practiced. When a woman gets married, normally she is expected to go and live with the grooms family. However, today nuclear families are becoming more common. When a woman's husband passes away, it was not uncommon for her to marry her husband's brother.[6] This is an old Mongolian tradition that is rarely practiced today. Marriage for Mongolians is normally a contract; an arrangement to meet the requirements of both families rather than religious events.[6] Many marriages in Mongolia are between friends or coworkers, that way women were married into their own social status.[6]

Terms changed in 1921 when women were considered more of a value into economic growth for the population. A revolution began that year with determinations to bring women more into the public sphere.[3] This was the first step in the states effort to promote population growth; a strong emphasis on women’s reproductive capacities.[3] Women were pressured into having multiple children as part of their civic duties to the state.

Mongolian women and girls have been victims of sex trafficking in Mongolia.[7][8] They have been raped and physically and psychologically harmed in brothels, homes, businesses, and other locations throughout the country, notably at the China–Mongolia border.[9][10]

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Library of Congress Country Studies website http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/. (Data as of June 1989.)

• Avery, Martha (1996). Women of Mongolia. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN 9780937321058. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
• Guek-Cheng Pang (2009). Mongolia. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish. ISBN 9780761448495. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
• Veit, Veronika (2007). The Role of Women in the Altaic World: Permanent International Altaistic Conference, 44th Meeting, Walberberg, 26-31 August 2001. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 9783447055376. Retrieved 5 July 2015.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Women of Mongolia.

• Rossabi, Morris. "Women in Modern Mongolia". asiasociety.org. Manhattan: Asia Society. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
• Munkhbat, Naran; Paras, Robbie; Theunissen, Tirza (14 May 2014). "Advancing Women Business Leadership in Mongolia". asiafoundation.org. The Asia Foundation. Retrieved 5 July 2015.