The Mongol Horde of Women

Yes, of course the BBC is pushing a feminist agenda in its website 'news resource' on Modern women in the land of Genghis Khan, but it's an interesting, informative piece and it introduced me to a gigantic statue of Genghis Khan which I never knew existed. 

One of the passages in the pieces where the hardships caused by the collapse of communist one-party rule in Mongolia were mentioned made me raised my eyebrows heavenwards though:

What that passage leaves out is that for that 'loss' something else of great importance was gained. Yes, Mongolia may have had more women MPs in the communist period than it has now but, in compensation for that, Mongolia's women MPs now sit in a democratic parliament and Mongolia itself is a dynamic democracy where votes turn out governments and usher in different parties. It's an Asian success story. These new women MPs aren't communist placewomen; they've earned their place in parliament through winning votes. That more surely is the real 'improvement' here (if you aren't viewing everything through a rigid feminist filter that is).