International Obligations and Internal Tensions: Individual Religious Autonomy and Gender Equality in Russia and Central Asia

There are strong geographic patterns in how people view religion, national identity, minorities, and key social issues across different regions. These patterns also exhibit themselves in the ways that freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) and gender equality are viewed. This article focuses on gender equality in Central Asia and Russia and analyzes the international human rights treaty monitoring cycles within the United Nations. It also reflects on selected cases in the treaty committees. This article combines legal, human rights perspectives with current social research to identify deficiencies in states’ fulfillment of their positive duties under international law to address the intersections between gender-based discrimination and religion. It employs the concept of intersectional discrimination to analyze these connections. The connection between FoRB and gender equality from the perspective of intersectional discrimination has not been sufficiently researched in relation to Central Asia and Russia. The treaty monitoring documents are a good starting point for this research and give a comprehensive picture of existing legal issues and underlying social problems.