Hujum

Common card · No. 438226

In the Soviet Union, the hujum was a campaign by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to remove all manifestations of gender inequality throughout the Union Republics of Central Asia. Beginning in the Stalinist era, it targeted practices that were widespread among Soviet Muslims, such as female seclusion from society, female veiling practices, and the inheritance of women as property after the death of their husbands. The hujum was symbolized by publicly burning Muslim women's veils on a voluntary basis, though the government sponsored gangs to assault women, "tearing the veil from their faces in the streets". The Communist Party began re-emphasizing their message of women's liberation within class consciousness. By abolishing Central Asian societal norms and heralding in women's liberation, they believed that they could clear the way for the construction of socialism. The campaign's purpose was to rapidly change the lives of women in Muslim societies so that they would be able to actively...

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