In the 1990s the Soviet welfare system disintegrated, placing a bigger burden on Central Asia’s women and youth. As Yvonne Corcoran-Nantes points out in her book Lost Voices-Central Asian Women Confronting Transition (2005), after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Central Asian women were pushed out of the political and economic process because of the cancellation of the Soviet government and parliament quota systems for gender representation. Increased traditionalism in society and a worsened economic situation disempowered Central Asian women.

There is, however, a trend among the Central Asian women to actively engage in the non-governmental sector. Today, numerous women NGOs across the region deal with a wide array of gender issues. Central Asian women NGOs are well-supported by various international funds.

Yet only few NGOs focus on the problems of child labor, abuse, and crime. On a family level, the eldest family members make decisions on most aspects of children’s lives: from education and the choice of profession, to marriage, the number of grandchildren, the names of the grandchildren, and so on.

Traditional values increased social pressure on young males. Sons are expected to create their own family at a young age, and fully support parents coming of age. This elevated the importance of male inheritance. Sons receive more attention than daughters. Daughters or divorced women, on the other hand, are likely to obtain only kalym – a type of payment by the husband’s family before marriage.

Younger members of a traditional family and community are not allowed to challenge elder people’s decisions, either verbally or physically. This rule of absolute respect for the elders is expected to be exercised not only towards parents or grandparents, but also toward any older member in a given community. Physical punishment of children is also a widespread and socially accepted phenomenon. Punishment can be exercised by any older family member, not only by parents. Punishment and other forms of age discrimination are common in kindergartens and schools.

State-enforced institutes such as makhalla and courts of elderly encourage inter-generational gaps. Young people are discriminated from taking decisions despite their professional qualities.

During the communist regime, public kindergartens and schooling system looked after children from the youngest age. Likewise, state support of the elderly removed the burden from the working age population, especially women.

Today, Central Asian children have become a vital, and sometimes the only, source of family income. Children are expected to be a helping force starting from pre-school age. Labor engagement among children at home includes taking care of younger and older family members, cooking, cleaning, pasturing, carrying water and food products and other physically challenging tasks. Children are also engaged in cotton fields, processing tobacco, street cleaning, food markets, cleaning shoes, and selling newspapers. Under-age children cannot be detained by the law-enforcement agencies and therefore are also used in illegal economic activities such as smuggling, collecting hemp, prostitution, and street begging.

Child labor has turned into an important drive in the cotton industries of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan – major sectors in these countries’ economies. Tens of thousands of children are forced to cotton fields in late fall to collect the “white gold”. Children’s health is undermined and reports of deaths do occur. A somewhat similar situation is present in northern Tajikistan. Rates of drug addiction among youth, homeless and abandoned children are increasing by the year, while education and literacy levels deteriorate in each Central Asian state. Criminality among young people and engagement in illegal businesses are new mass phenomena in the region’s urban and rural areas.

Discrimination along age differences and gender is manifested in Central Asia in virtually all life situations and on a daily basis: in families, schools, and public structures. Conformist behavior of young people and especially girls is highly encouraged by traditions and approved by conservative religious leaders as a good feature of ethnic and religious identity.