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Since Central Asia is generally considered to be the 'forgetten world' of the former Soviet Union, Central Asian women constitute the 'lost voices' within those regions.  Corcoran-Nantes considers how the shift to Western capatalist ideals has affected gender relations in the region.  While the uneasy synthesis between socialism and Islam under the Soviet regime offered many women considerable status and personal freedom these gains have been rapidly eroded by 'democrazation.' 



Corcoran-Nantes shows that the main threat to the socio-political status of women in Central Asia is not Islamic fundamentalism, but the imopsitino of free market principles and Western 'liberal democratic' ideals. 



As a special consultant to UNESCAP, the author was one of the first researchers to undertake substantial research into the lives of women in the republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in the post independence period.  This book offers a unique insight into the dynamics of independence for these three republics at a time when few people had the access to the region.