The Trade of Girls and the Bride Price
A Struggle for ‘Women's Equality’ in Readers' Letters
Poster «(20) The Girl Worker of Oriental Russia. Freedom for Women». 1930/Duke University Libraries
From the second half of the nineteenth century, newspapers and magazines began to be published in the steppe and Turkestan regions, including some in Kazakh. Some of these publications served as the voice and transmitter of official government ideology, which was first tsarist and then Soviet.
However, this period was also marked by a great surge in intellectual zeal and activity from Kazakh thinkers, which contributed to the emergence of various socio-political, literary, and satirical publications. Qalam invites you to explore snippets from Kazakh publishing culture and history, offering a glimpse into the important issues of the past.
A systematic and all-encompassing critique of pre-revolutionary traditions became a cornerstone of Soviet propaganda, frequently spurred by political or legislative initiatives of the Soviet authorities. Such critiques often found their way into readers’ letters, although the authenticity of these letters was at times subject to skepticism.
In July 1921, the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic introduced a decree banning polygamy and the payment of qalyn (bride price), with violations carrying criminal penalties. Around the same time, newspapers across Central Asia began publishing letters from readers condemning qalyn and polygamy.
The newspaper Qazaq tili (Kazakh Language), the official organ of the Party Committee of the Semipalatinsk Province and the Provincial Executive Committee, was no exception. In issue No. 159, dated December 24, 1921, the following letter by a reader, Saifulla Khaibullin, appeared, denouncing these outdated practices:
Women’s Equality: When Will Bride Price End?
Rakhymjan, son of Nogas, a Kazakh from Aul No. 3 of Akkelin Volost, Pavlodar Uezd, became the chairman of the executive committee in 1920. We regarded him as an educated man, a promising representative of our youth. Yet recently, he sold his younger sister for 37 head of cattle to Korabay Berdi, a Kazakh from Aul No. 4. Now, having made his purchase, he feasts and celebrates.
Each aul has its observers among the people's biys (judges). We had just begun to hope that the practice of qalyn would finally cease, but instead, it has intensified. Without sparing women, their unfortunate parents, or their relatives, the people remain silent, as if oxen with their mouths sewn shut, while women are sold like livestock. What measures can be taken to put an end to this?
Saifulla Khaibullin.
Here is another letter, this time penned on behalf of ‘the youth from the city of Alash’, which exposed none other than the aul chairman himself:
The Trade of Girls in the City of Alash
Mukhamedkhan, son of the wealthy Seilkul from the city of Alash, is selling his 14-year-old daughter to Koken Temirkhoja, son of Khankhoja, the chairman of a neighboring aul, for 100 horses and 100 sheep. The mere fact of marrying off a 14-year-old girl to a 40-year-old man is already repugnant, but to sell her as though she were livestock is beyond reprehensible.
We urge the investigators in the city of Alash to take up this matter and bring justice to the girl and her family.
The Youth of the City of Alash
Qazaq tili (Kazakh Language) was a newspaper serving as the official organ of the Party Committee of the Semipalatinsk Province and the Provincial Executive Committee. Its first issue was published on December 4, 1919, as a weekly edition. Later, the newspaper began to be issued three times a week. The publication played a significant role in mobilizing the working masses to defend revolutionary ideals and advance the cause of the Soviet state.
