Country Overview

This section provides background information about:

Where is Mongolia?

Mongolia is a fascinating, beautiful and rugged country that few Americans know much about. Landlocked and sandwiched between two powerful nations (Russia to the north and China to the south), Mongolia has a long history of either dominating or being dominated by its neighbors. Approximately one-fifth the size of the US (or slightly larger than Alaska), Mongolia has one of the lowest population densities in the world with only about 2.5 million people (roughly the population of Brooklyn, NY). Mongolia's wide open spaces include the arid Gobi Desert in the south, the vast wind-swept steppe grasslands that extend from the middle of the country to its eastern border, and mountains and forests in the north and west. In each of these regions the climate is severe - with temperatures in winter reaching minus 40 degrees F and rising to over 100 degrees F during the short, dry summer.

Probably the biggest single aspect that defines and influences Mongolian culture is the pastoral, semi-nomadic lifestyle. For thousands of years Mongolians have lived with and off of their herds of sheep, camel and horses - moving their round, felt tents called gers (yurts to most Westerners) at least several times a year to different seasonal pastures. Approximately one-third of Mongolians still follow this semi-nomadic lifestyle today. In the 13th century, Mongolia changed the face of the world when Chinggis Khan (also known as Ghengis Khan) united Mongolia and, with the help of skilled horsemen (and women), began Mongolia's rise to a world power, with an empire that eventually reached from the Pacific Ocean into Europe.

Dominated by China from the 1700s until approximately 1920, Mongolia won its independence in 1921 with help from Russia. Mongolia then spent approximately 70 years as a Soviet-influenced communist country. In 1990, the breakdown of the former Soviet Union triggered a sudden collapse of the political and economic system that had been the backbone of Mongolia's infrastructure. Almost overnight, Mongolia jumped into a democratic, free-market economy.

The transition affected all aspects of Mongolian's lives with harsh effects across society. Without Soviet subsidies, the formal state sector shrank dramatically. Employment was no longer guaranteed, pensions and welfare benefits decreased or disappeared, daycare, healthcare and social supports disappeared, and many industries were privatized or shut down. Despite the efforts of many international agencies and organizations who stepped in to try to provide assistance, the quality of life for most Mongolians in terms of secure employment, health care, education and other social services is still far from pre-1990 levels.

For more information on Mongolia, see the U.S. Department of State.

Mongolian Women's Rights

Historically, women in Mongolia (a predominantly Buddhist country) have enjoyed more rights and independence than women in other Asian countries. Nonetheless, until the communist years, Mongolian women were largely excluded from public life. On paper at least, Mongolian women began to experience equal rights with men in the early 1920s when Mongolia became a communist country and new laws were implemented that gave women more rights. However, like most cultures, despite favorable laws, Mongolian women have struggled to obtain true equality in employment, political representation and in some ways, in the home.

Since the collapse of communism in 1990, the main advocates for women's rights in Mongolia have been Mongolian women's non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Women's NGOs have also played an active and dynamic role in the democratization process in Mongolia by amending existing laws guaranteeing civil and political rights and drafting new laws where the existing laws were found to be inadequate. The effectiveness of Mongolian women's NGOs may be due in part to the fact that Mongolian women are highly educated.

One of the unique aspects of Mongolia is that there is a reverse gender gap in Mongolia's schools. Young women constitute between 70% to 80% of those holding secondary education diplomas and make up approximately 70% of the students in tertiary diploma studies. Although the reverse gender gap has yet to be reflected in the decision-making levels of the government and private sectors, it has provided a large pool of highly educated and motivated women.