The Issue of Gender Inequality in Mongolia

There are comparative gender roles in recent American culture which are like those in Mongolian culture. Mongolia, a nation that was previously the world’s biggest land empire, has come a long way from its preliminary nomadic ways. However, regardless of how much change has come to Mongols, there are still inevitable factors from their culture hundreds of years ago that they still utilize. For example, many women in Mongolia currently face the challenge of choosing between following the traditional pathway their culture prefers or seeking out what the rest of the world has to offer, which usually contradicts the traditional Mongolian ways.

For example, in BBC’s interview of Nominjin Amarkhu, a 27-year old Mongolian lady, one discovers the hardships within Mongolia; due to the lack of access to internet, medical resources, and overall, an applicable and effective education, many young girls are going through pregnancies, and growing up without ever completing their dreams (Amidi & Kasmambetova, 2017). However, Nominjin shows to her readers that times are changing, and with increasing access to internet and education, girls are starting to make better decisions. Nominjin herself doesn’t plan on creating a family until she feels ready, unlike most of the other girls within Mongolia (Amidi & Kasmambetova, 2017). Compared to the United States, American girls seem to have more of an independency within their nation, but just like Mongolian girls, they experience gender discrimination in the means of unequal pay, and in some cases, traditional family views, among others.

Gender equality seems to be getting better with time in Mongolia. In the various interviews BBC completed with a variety of Mongolian girls of different ages, one comes to the realization that women had much less rights before in Mongolia. Michidma Gombosuren, who loves riding horses, is a fitting example of this. Horses are symbolic within Mongolia, because they are the source of income and resource for everything; they provide milk, transportation, meat, and many more. In the Naadam Festival, no matter how modernized Mongolians have become since their beginnings, they practice their old nomadic traditions, such as horse riding and archery (Amidi & Kasmambetova, 2017). It was only until recently that little, stoked girls were allowed to ride horses and compete within the festival, when little boys had always been allowed. This is only one example of how excluded women can be within the Mongolian culture.

However, as Bouya Mandarkh’s interview proves, who is a successful Mongolian business woman, there are now more opportunities for girls and women to succeed within Mongolia (Amidi & Kasmambetova, 2017). Moreover, according to Bouya, women are critical factors of economic development within Mongolia, and the lack of their involvement within the economy could have a substantially negative impact; even now almost 40% of all Mongolian business are run and owned by women! (Amidi & Kasmambetova, 2017) If that 40% was ignored or rejected, the nation could pave its own pathway to disaster.