page_title: Hujum
section_title: Traditional culture
hierarchical_section_title: Hujum / Traditional culture
caption_attribution_description: Original Description: Sart woman. Samarkand. Woman in purdah, standing near wooden door. The garment worn "appears to be" a paranja.[1]
context_page_description: Hujum was a series of policies and actions taken by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, initiated by Joseph Stalin, to remove all manifestations of gender inequality, especially on the archaic systems of female veiling and seclusion practiced in Central Asia. The era was often symbolized by the burning of the face-veil that women in the Muslim majority areas of the Soviet Union wore, but removal of the veil was not the sole goal of the campaign. The party recast their message of class revolution into the novel lexicon of women's liberation. By abolishing the means of oppression apparent in Uzbekistan and heralding in women's liberation, the Soviets believed they could clear the way for the construction of socialism. The campaign's purpose was to rapidly change the lives of Uzbek women so that they may participate in public life, paid work, education, and ultimately membership in the Communist Party. It was originally conceived to enforce laws that gave women in patriarchal societies equality by creating literacy programs and bringing women into the labor force.
context_section_description: Pre-Soviet Central Asian culture and religion promoted female seclusion. Cultural mores strongly condemned unveiling as it was thought to lead to premarital or adulterous sex, a deep threat to Central Asian conceptions of family honor. Many mullahs also considered the full body veil Islamic, and strongly protested any attempts to alter it. Female seclusion in homes was encouraged for the same reasons although home seclusion was far more oppressive. Female quarters and male quarters existed separately, and women were not allowed in the presence of male non-relatives. Women from rich families were the most isolated as the family could afford to build numerous rooms and hire servants, removing the need for leaving the home. The traditional settled society encouraged seclusion as a way to protect family honor, as religiously necessary, and as a way of asserting male superiority over women.
caption: Sart woman wearing a paranja (Samarkand, between 1905 and 1915)
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