This study analyzes the construction of gender role perceptions among young people in the Kazakhstani context. The second hypothesis was partially confirmed because there is a discrepancy between the dominant narrative and the gender role model.
Introduction: Why Study Gender Roles in the Modern Kazakhstani
One of the possible main explanations for this modern change in the perception of gender roles and gender equality is modernization theory. The theoretical framework I use to study young adults' perceptions of gender roles is Inglehart's modernization theory.
Literature Review: The Construction of Gender Roles Perceptions
Concepts and Definitions
According to Inglehart's theory, there was and is in many countries a change in people's values from 'survival to 'self-expression' (Inglehart & Welzel. Therefore, the two main blocks or dimensions of values in Inglehart's theory are: 'survival vs. self-expression' (I value set) and 'traditional vs secular-rational' (II value set) dimension (WVS 2017).
Modernization Theory Literature
Focusing more specifically on the construction of gender roles, Inglehart's theory will be used as the main exemplar work for my construction theory of gender role perception. However, if we evaluate Inglehart's theory in more detail, it is strongly related to the economic development of the country.
Gender Roles Perceptions
When comparing the opinions of conservatives and liberals, conservatives argued that a man is superior, while liberals claimed that men and women are equal (Khalid &Frieze 2004, 29). It has also been argued that there is a gender gap between men and women in their political attitudes and social dominance orientation (Pratto & Stallworth 1997).
Theoretical Framework: Applying and Adapting Inglehart’s Modernization
Inglehart's Modernization Theory in the Kazakhstani Context: Traditional, Modern and
He suggested the creation of a government institution for the preservation of family values and the introduction of a new class called "Spiritual foundations of family life" in the school curriculum to increase the role of the family in the education of children (Lugovskaya, 2017). Kazakhstan's "Modernization 3.0" program demonstrates that one of the main goals that Kazakhstan must achieve is economic development (kazakhstan2050.com). President Nazarbayev declared "Modernization 3.0" as a strategy to achieve development and become one of the 30 most developed countries in the world.
This narrative is also the result of the top-down approach because this strategy is developed from the state's efforts to directly influence and improve the quality of life of citizens. He suggested the creation of a government institution to preserve family values and the introduction of a new class called "Spiritual Foundations of Family Life" in the school curriculum to increase the role of the family in the education of children (Lugovskaya, 2017). One of the underlying assumptions is that the construction of perceptions of gender roles is influenced by three main narratives, or values held by society.
Kazakhstani Narratives and Gender Roles Models
In this model, a woman's or man's responsibilities and behavior are not determined by one's gender (Blackstone 2003, 338). If participants argue that a man and a woman should share household labor 50/50, that both partners should be in paid employment, and should be equally involved in housework and childcare (if they have any), then the postmodern story is strongest in constructing the perception of gender roles in young adults. The model also allows a woman to be the breadwinner, while a man will raise children and take on household duties.
It includes all main concepts included in the theoretical framework necessary to explain the construction of the gender role perception process: Inglehart's modernization theory, two value domains. It is thus possible to observe how Inglehart's modernization theory is applied in the Kazakh context and how it contributes to the process of the construction of gender role perceptions among young adults in Kazakhstan.
Research Design: Qualitative Research Methodology
Conducting Focus Groups to Study the Construction of Gender Roles Perceptions
Regarding the number of focus groups and the number of participants, the study conducted six focus groups with five participants in each focus group. It is argued that the number of focus groups is determined by either data saturation point and/or theoretical saturation (Onwuegbuzie et al 2009, 4). Three to six focus groups allow reaching data saturation and/or theoretical saturation point when groups meet one to several times (Krueger 1994, Morgan (1997).
In order to ensure that data and theoretical saturation points are achieved, six focus groups were conducted. The number of participants in focus groups depends on the purpose of the study, but usually the focus group should “encourage diversity in information provided and make participants feel comfortable sharing. It is even suggested that the use of "mini-focus groups", where the number of participants is three or four, makes it possible to ensure that all participants will be available on a certain day and time (Onwuegbuzie et al 2009, 3) .
Sampling Procedures and Recruitment of the Participants
So that each person could express their opinion in 1 hour and gain a deeper understanding of the process of gender role construction, I reduced the number of participants in each focus group to five individuals per group. Because the study focuses on young adults, participants were between 18 and 28 years old. Two participants refused to participate in the research at the last minute, and I had to invite random strangers to participate.
There were no instances where a participant decided to stop participating during the course of this study. If that were the case, all data collected about him/her would have been excluded from the analysis and immediately destroyed.
Conducting Focus Groups: Procedures
Before starting this part of the focus group, I warned the participants that I would start recording them now. The first part of the discussion aimed to identify which narrative is the strongest in the group: traditional, modern or postmodern. The second part of the discussion aimed to identify which model of gender role perceptions the young people wanted most: "woman = mother, man = breadwinner" (based on the traditional narrative), "woman = mother, breadwinner , man = breadwinner". ” (based on the modern narrative),.
During the second part of the discussion, students were asked questions to understand the process of constructing their perception of gender roles. In the first part, it was necessary to identify which story the students are most influenced by, in order to understand whether the model of gender role perceptions would fit into the theoretical framework of Kazakhstani modernization theory. The results of the focus groups and interpretation of the data are provided in the next chapter.
Data Interpretation: 7 Tools to Evaluate the Data
Open Coding, Axial Coding and Selective Coding
After familiarizing myself with the data, I applied constant comparison analysis to evaluate the data itself. Constant comparison analysis is mainly used when there are multiple focus groups dealing with the same study topic (Onwuegbuzie et al 2009, 6). The three main phases were open coding, axial coding and selective coding (Onwuegbuzie et al 2009, 5).
During the open coding stage, a code was assigned to each sentence in the transcribed data from each focus group. During the selective coding stage, 5 key themes were created that express the content of each of the categories. Accordingly, each of the themes included 3 to 7 of the key categories, which in turn each included 2 to 7 of the key codes.
Frequency, Extensiveness, Total Importance of Code (TIC) and Big picture
Finally, Total Code Importance was an indicator designed so that this study could capture both extent and frequency at the same time. See Table 7 and specifically the Frequency (%) column to observe the percentages of each of the main codes contributing to the discussion. For example, one of the reasons for a significant level of freedom of speech at Nazarbayev University was the international professors.
Thus, if a viewpoint (code) was discussed in only one group, the extent values of that code are 1/6 since I use the measure relative to the maximum extent values. When Extent and Frequency are combined together, it allows to capture how important the code is in both dimensions and identifies the Total Code Importance (TIC). The full table of frequency, extent and total importance of codes (TIC) can be found in table 7 in the appendix.
Analysis of the Key Findings: Understanding the Narratives and Gender
To calculate the representativeness of each of the three gender role models, the TIC of each model was divided by the total TIC for gender role perceptions (34.61%). Moving on to the discussion of gender role perceptions, it is possible to argue that. How can the discrepancy between narratives and models of preferred gender roles be explained.
It is possible that the rate of change of values related to narratives is faster than the rate of change of gender role perceptions. The change in narratives will thus precede the change in the preferred gender role model. One of the possible strongest influences on gender role perceptions in the private sphere is family.
Conclusion: Implication of the Results, Importance of the Study and Its
This happens because the rate of change in gender role ideas is slower than in narratives. One of the women claimed the following: “We think there are still many women's issues in Kazakhstan. Second, this research extends the original framework of Inglehart's modernization theory and explains how the construction of gender roles works in the unique case of Kazakh society.
The original theoretical framework has been expanded to account for the speed with which gender role narratives and models are changing. It is argued that one of the key explanations for nationalization policies in Central Asian countries would be the effect of the Soviet past (Burhanov & Sharipova 2015, Khazanov 2006). This may result in the emergence of three competing narratives (traditional, modern and postmodern) and three competing models of gender roles.
Otherwise, it is difficult to conclude that this is the single and most influential explanation for the discrepancy between the stories and the perception of gender roles. I told the study participants that I was the only person who could document the process.
