DUSHANBE, September 25, Asia-Plus -- A three-day regional conference formally titled “Modern Women’s Movement: Ideology, Practice and Prospects,” concluded in the Kyrgyz capital city of Bishkek on September 20. 

Nargis Babakhanova, the Tajikistan-Internews NGO training program coordinator, who participated in the conference, told Asia-Plus that the conference brought together 60 representatives of NGOs and other public associations from Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Representatives from the Kyrgyz government and international organizations active in Kyrgyzstan also took part in the conference. 

”The goal of the conference was to seek efficient approaches to the development of women’s movements and to raising the role of women in the political life of former Soviet countries through inter-regional discussions and expanding women’s access to leadership opportunities,” she said.

A parallel photo exhibition, “Women’s Issues in Kyrgyzstan: Pathos and Manipulations, was held along with a mini-festival of documentaries from the collection of Gender Montage at Bishkek University. 

”The conference also focused on the participation of women’s groups in so-called “color” or “flower” revolutions, a series of movements that developed in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan,” Babakhanova said.