Stereotypical conceptions of women’s roles in contemporary Kyrgyz society: a psychological analysis

Abstract

Introduction Women’s social roles in the Kyrgyz Republic are shaped by the coexistence of long-established family-centered expectations and expanding participation in education, employment, and public life. This study examined perceived media images of women, benevolent and hostile sexism, gender-role traditionalism, and cultural-value orientations, and identified the attitudinal, cultural, and demographic correlates of gender-role traditionalism. Methods A quantitative cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 242 adults residing in the Kyrgyz Republic, recruited through non-probability convenience and network-based sampling. Participants completed an author-designed questionnaire, the 12-item Ambivalent Sexism Inventory, the 10-item Gender Role Beliefs Scale, and L. G. Pochebut’s Cultural-Value Orientations Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using paired-samples t-tests, correlations, and hierarchical multiple regression. Results The most frequently perceived media image was the “mother and guardian of the hearth” (74.0%), followed by the obedient daughter and wife who follows tradition (48.8%). Benevolent sexism (M = 3.01, SD = 1.14) was endorsed more strongly than hostile sexism (M = 1.92, SD = 1.07), t (241) = 14.65, p < 0.001, d_z = 0.94. Across the five cultural-value items, responses corresponding to Pochebut’s modern-culture type were most frequent (48.2% of all selections), whereas traditional-culture and dynamically developing-culture responses were similar in frequency (25.9 and 26.0%, respectively). On the social-relations item, 39.3% selected Option B (the collectivist/collateral extended-family response), which was weakly associated with gender-role traditionalism (r = 0.16). In the primary hierarchical regression, hostile sexism (β = 0.30), benevolent sexism (β = 0.26), and the Option B social-relations response (β = 0.13) were significant predictors of traditionalism after adjustment for age, gender, education, and residence. However, a three-category robustness check showed that the social-relations item did not explain significant incremental variance beyond the demographic and sexism-related predictors. Education and urban or rural residence were not significantly associated with traditionalism in the full model. Discussion Benevolent and hostile sexism remained the most robust predictors of gender-role traditionalism across model specifications. The findings suggest that family-centered role representations remain salient in this non-probability sample and that traditional gender-role beliefs are systematically related to both protective-paternalistic and hostile attitudinal dimensions. The study contributes quantitative evidence on role expectations in a post-Soviet Central Asian context and supports the need for culturally grounded psychological research.