Neoliberal authoritarianism and the partial decriminalization of sex work in Kazakhstan

This paper addresses the issue of gender authoritarian policymaking by attempting to explain why the government of Kazakhstan partially decriminalized sex work in 2001. Scholars have argued that authoritarian states adopt gender-related policies to gain legitimacy, either internal or external or, in the specific case of Central Asia, that policymaking is deeply connected to regional authoritarian diffusion, heavily influenced by Russia. I show that this decision was not made for legitimacy purposes, as sex work decriminalization is contentious both locally and globally. Kazakhstan is one of only two Central Asian countries to have partially decriminalized sex work, challenging assumptions about legal harmonization across the region. Instead, I explain this decision by the pervasive neoliberal character of the state toward private matters and gendered hierarchies embedded within state structures. Based on interviews with activists and archival research, I demonstrate that partial decriminalization: (1) allows the state to disengage from this morally sensitive matter that does not threaten the political order; (2) marginalizes sex workers by putting the moral responsibility and legal liability on them while customers remain unaffected. In that sense, the partial decriminalization of sex work is a policy that displays an evident gender bias.