Women’s Economic Empowerment in Kazakhstan: Institutional Trust, Economic Participation, and Sociocultural Barriers
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Abstract
The paper explores institutional trust, women's participation in the economy and politics in both urban and rural areas of Kazakhstan, considering regional differences between these areas. The research is quantitative in its approach that combines both Latent Class Analysis (LCA), which explains latent attitudinal categories, with Change-Point Analysis to determine key turning points in Gender Inequality Index (GII) over a 16-year time series from 2008 to 2023. The study finds a high level of gender perspective disparity between urban and rural areas in Kazakhstan, in addition to essential changes in gender inequality levels. The results show that institutional trust plays a vital role in shaping women's participation in the economic sphere, with a lower level of trust correlated with a decrease in labor force involvement and career growth. In addition, two key turning points in gender development have also been identified in 2019 and 2022, which are linked with government reform as well as socioeconomic alterations.
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References
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[35] Setyorini, S., Rahayu, D. S., & Septiana, N. Z. (2024). Defying the odds: Can women truly thrive in a patriarchal world? Journal of Public Health, 46(4), e711–e712. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdae238
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[37] Sugiyanto, E.K., Suharnomo, S., & Perdhana, M.S. (2024). Women's Empowerment in The Framework of Developing Innovative Behavior for Women's Entrepreneurial Success. Journal of Women's Entrepreneurship and Education, 3/4, 50-72. https://doi.org/10.28934/jwee24.34.pp50-72
[38] Tangut, P. (2024). Effects of women's access to business credit on gender relations in rural households: A case of Uasin Gishu county, Kenya. Kenyatta University Institutional Repository. Available at: https://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/items/fd9c4519-62e8-427f-ac7d-35a054d8e66c
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[2] Badamas O., & Idris-Iyekolo, O. (2025). Stakeholders Perceived Causes, Consequences and Solutions to Female Low Participation in Politics in Boripe Local Government, Osun State. International Journal of Advanced Humanities Research, 5(1), 17-28. https://doi.org/10.21608/ijahr.2024.320067.1044
[3] Bhandari, P., Sigdel, B., Hye, A. M., Bhandari, S., & Bhattarai, A. (2024). Fostering women entrepreneurs: Psychological capital, psychological empowerment and entrepreneurial spirit. Journal of Women's Entrepreneurship & Education, (1-2), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.28934/jwee24.12.pp1-18
[4] Barker, D. K. (2005). Beyond Women and Economics: Rereading “Women’s Work”. Signs, 30(4), 2189–2209. https://doi.org/10.1086/429261
[5] Bureau of National Statistics. (2023a). Gender pays gap by economic sectors in Kazakhstan. Available at: https://stat.gov.kz
[6] Bureau of National Statistics. (2023b). Share of individual entrepreneurs by gender. Available at: https://stat.gov.kz
[7] Bureau of National Statistics. (2023c). Female labor force participation by region. Available at: https://stat.gov.kz
[8] Central Communications Service under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. (2025). Available at: https://ortcom.kz/ru/novosti/1741258721
[9] Chinedu-Eze, V. C. A., Emerole, G. A., & Osuala, A. E. (2024). Inclusive employment and employees' engagement of senior staff in selected federal universities in South-East, Nigeria. International Journal of Social Sciences and Management Research, 10(8), 439-449.
[10] Chopra, A. (2024). Gender budgeting and electoral politics in India: From welfare to empowerment. Social Policy Research Forum. Retrieved from https://sprf.in/gender-budgeting-and-electoral-politics-in-india-from-welfare-to-empowerment/
[11] Davletbayeva, Z., & Semidotskikh, Y. (2024). Female leadership as a tool for strengthening political and civil institutions in Kazakhstan. Adam Elemi, 102(4), 85–94. https://doi.org/10.48010/aa.v102i4.664
[12] Deininger, K., & Goyal, A. (2024). Land Policies for Resilient and Equitable Growth in Africa. World Bank Publications. Retrieved from http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099552207242432653
[13] Di Ruggiero, E. (2025). Competing Conceptualizations of Decent Work: Measurement and Policy Coherence Challenges. In Pathways to Decent Work and the Sustainable Development Goals, Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035300907.00010
[14] Đuričin, S. & Beraha, I. (2024). Promoting Economic Inclusivity in Serbia Recommendations for Enhancing National and Local Policies in Women's Entrepreneurship. Journal of Women's Entrepreneurship and Education, 3/4, 138-159. https://doi.org/10.28934/jwee24.34.pp138-159
[15] Gjylbegaj, V., & Radwan, A. F. (2025). Portrayal of Gender Roles in Emirati Television Dramas: A Content Analysis. Frontiers in Sociology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2025.1506875
[16] Inglehart, R., & Norris, P. (2003). Rising tide: Gender equality and cultural change around the world. New York: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511550362
[17] Iqbal A., Hassan Sh., Mahmood H., Tanveer M. (2022). Gender equality, education, economic growth and religious tensions nexus in developing countries: A spatial analysis approach. Heliyon, 8(11), e11394. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e11394
[18] Karhina, K., Eriksson, M., Ghazinour, M., & Ng, N. (2019). What determines gender inequalities in social capital in Ukraine? SSM - Population Health, 8, 100383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100383
[19] Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies (KazISS). (2025). Public trust in government institutions: Results of a national sociological survey. https://kisi.kz/ru/73-kazahstanchev-schitajut-chto-strana-razvivaetsya-v-pravilnom-napravlenii-sochopros/
[20] Kenzheali, Y., Kenzhegulova, G.K., Kireyeva, A.A., & Ainakul, N. (2024). Assessing gender differences in managerial roles, wages, education, and soft skills in Kazakhstan. Problems and Perspectives in Management, 22(3), 341-357. https://doi.org/10.21511/ppm.22%283%29.2024.27
[21] Khoudja Y., Fleischmann F. (2015). Ethnic Differences in Female Labour Force Participation in the Netherlands: Adding Gender Role Attitudes and Religiosity to the Explanation. European Sociological Review, 31(1), 91–102, https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcu084
[22] Kireyeva, A. A., Nurbatsin, A. S. & Kenzhegulova, G. K. (2024). Assessment of women’s access to resources in rural areas of Kazakhstan. R-Economy, 10(2), 123–136. https://doi.org/10.15826/ recon.2024.10.2.008
[23] Koehler, G. (2025). Universal versus employment-based social protection? In Pathways to Decent Work and the Sustainable Development Goals, 290-312. Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035300907. 00060
[24] Kurtege Sefer, B. (2020). A gender- and class-sensitive explanatory model for rural women entrepreneurship in Turkey. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 12(2), 191-210. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJGE-07-2019-0113
[25] Kuzhabekova, A., & Almukhambetova, A. (2019). Women’s progression through the leadership pipeline in the universities of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 51(1), 99–117. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2019.1599820
[26] Lawson, M., Martin, A. E., Huda, I., & Matz, S. (2022). Hiring women into senior leadership positions is associated with a reduction in gender stereotypes in organizational language. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(37), e2026443119, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2026443119
[27] Lekha, N. B., & Kumar, P. (2024). Routledge Handbook of Gender, Culture, and Development in India. Routledge.https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003474913
[28] Liani, M.L., Nyamongo, I.K., Pulford, J., & Tolhurst, R. (2021). Institutional-level drivers of gender-inequitable scientific career progression in sub-Saharan Africa. Health Research Policy and Systems, 19, 117. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-021-00767-1
[29] Meenakshi, M., Singh, K., & Kumar, S. (2024). Intersectional Barriers in Women’s Entrepreneurial Aspirations: A Study of Kurukshetra District in Haryana. ShodhKosh: Journal of Visual and Performing Arts, 5(1), 789–796. https://doi.org/10.29121/shodhkosh.v5.i1.2024.3737
[30] Mengesha, Z.B., Perz, J., Dune, T.M., & Ussher, J.M. (2017). Refugee and migrant women's engagement with sexual and reproductive health care in Australia: A socio-ecological analysis of health care professional perspectives. PLoS ONE, 12, e0181421. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0181421
[31] Mensah, M.S., & Derera, E. (2023). Feminist Critique of Ghana’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Policies. Journal of Women's Entrepreneurship and Education,1-2, 1-31. https://doi.org/10.28934/jwee23.12.pp1-31
[32] Mohammed, AL., Yakubu, I.N., Bunyaminu, A. (2025). The Interplay Between Financial Inclusion and the Sustainable Development Goals Index in ASEAN-5 Countries. In: Yakubu, I.N. (Eds.) Strategic Approaches to Banking Business and Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-80744-2_8
[33] Nair, S. R. (2023). The Impact of Digitalization on Women’s Entrepreneurship: A Perspective from Emerging Markets. In Nelson, W. D. (Eds.) Advances in Business and Management. Volume 21, 69-98. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
[34] Rowley, S., Hossain, F., & Barry, P. (2010). Leadership Through A Gender Lens: How Cultural Environments and Theoretical Perspectives Interact with Gender. International Journal of Public Administration, 33(2), 81–87. https://doi.org/10.1080/01900690903241757
[35] Setyorini, S., Rahayu, D. S., & Septiana, N. Z. (2024). Defying the odds: Can women truly thrive in a patriarchal world? Journal of Public Health, 46(4), e711–e712. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdae238
[36] Świecka, B., Kowalczyk-Rólczyńska, P., Pieńkowska-Kamieniecka, S., Śledziowski, J., & Terefenko, P. (2025). The Influence of Factors in Consumer Sustainable Auto-Enrolment Pensions. Sustainability, 17(3), 1340. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17031340
[37] Sugiyanto, E.K., Suharnomo, S., & Perdhana, M.S. (2024). Women's Empowerment in The Framework of Developing Innovative Behavior for Women's Entrepreneurial Success. Journal of Women's Entrepreneurship and Education, 3/4, 50-72. https://doi.org/10.28934/jwee24.34.pp50-72
[38] Tangut, P. (2024). Effects of women's access to business credit on gender relations in rural households: A case of Uasin Gishu county, Kenya. Kenyatta University Institutional Repository. Available at: https://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/items/fd9c4519-62e8-427f-ac7d-35a054d8e66c
[39] UNDP. (2023). Gender Social Norms Index 2023: Kazakhstan country brief. Available at: https://www.undp.org/kazakhstan
[40] Weil, F.D., & Putnam, R.D. (1994). Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Contemporary Sociology, 23(3), 373-374.
[41] Yoganandham, G. (2024). Status, survival and current dilemma of informal sector domestic women workers in Tamil Nadu with reference to social protection and economic empowerment – an assessment. Science, Technology and Development.
[42] Yousafzai, S., Aljanova, N. & Omran, W. (2024). Masquerade of power: women entrepreneurs reshaping gender norms in Kazakhstan's male-dominated sectors. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJGE-02-2024-0028