Kairatkyzy, AigerimMamzhanova, NurgulZhunussova, Dayana2024-06-042024-06-042024-04-12Kairatkyzy, A. Mamzhanova, N. & Zhunussova D. (2024). Political Participation of Women in the Parliament of Kazakhstan. Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Public Policyhttp://nur.nu.edu.kz/handle/123456789/7736This research discusses the political participation of women in Kazakhstan and current gender policies that attempt to ensure equal opportunities for women in the legislative branch. Throughout decades, women were excluded from the political arena indicating a high level of gender inequality in the state. To promote gender equality, Kazakhstan in collaboration with international organizations has made progress, but not in all public spheres. Women’s political participation still seems to be low which makes them underrepresented. This paper focuses on the legislative branch of Kazakhstan as one of the public spheres having a low level of women’s participation. To establish gender equality, Kazakhstan has adopted various policies and regulations which have not yielded considerable results. This paper attempts to provide explanations for the ineffectiveness of the current policies and demonstrate the attitudes of people toward women politicians in Kazakhstan through mixed-method research. The data was collected via survey of the public and interviews with female deputies. The survey collected responses from 350 citizens across Kazakhstan showing the attitudes of citizens toward women in politics. Interviews were conducted with 6 current and former members of the Parliament (MPs) that provided detailed information on current and past experiences of women in the Parliament. The study reveals that the underrepresentation of women in Parliament stems from traditional beliefs and expectations about women’s role in society. However, there is a high level of public trust in female politicians indicating the potential for further advancement of women in the political arena.enAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesType of access: Open AccessWomen's political participationgender equalitypolitical representationParliament of KazakhstanMaster's thesis