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...