[4] Rural inhabitants continue the traditional Siberian tribal practice of bride kidnapping (abducting women and girls for forced marriage).

Bride kidnapping, known as ala kachuu (to take and flee), girls as young as 12 years old are kidnapped for forced marriage, by being captured and carried away by groups of men or even relatives who, through violence or deception, take the girl to the abductor's family who forces and coerces the young woman to accept the illegal marriage.

Most of Kyrgyzstan was annexed to Russia in 1876, but the Kyrgyz staged a major Marxism influenced violent conflict with the Tsarist Empire in 1916.

[5] In modern times, especially in the first years of independence, women have played more prominent roles in Kyrgyzstan than elsewhere in Central Asia.

[6] In August 2007, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed into effect an action plan on achieving gender balance for 2007–2010.

[9] Although prohibited by law, rural inhabitants continue the traditional practice of bride kidnapping (abducting women and girls for forced marriage).

[21] It has been suggested that women in Kyrgyzstan join due to either family pressure from the husband or sometimes other relatives, which has been referred to as "zombification," or as a way to seek higher social status, financial prosperity, and sometimes the offer of marriage.

Article 16 reads: (2) [...] "No one may be subject to discrimination on the basis of sex, race, language, disability, ethnicity, belief, age, political and other convictions, education, background, proprietary and other status as well as other circumstances."

"[25] The Soviet rulers claimed to have abolished many harmful traditions deriving from discriminatory nomadic practices and customs, such as bride price and forced marriage, although it is debatable to what extent this was true - according to some sources "Traditional marriage practices in the rural regions [...] have been little affected by Soviet domination", while the bride price, although outlawed by the communist regime, continued under the guise of "gifts".

[6] Although no official statistics were available, Minister of Justice Marat Kaiypov stated that the ministry prosecutes two to three polygamy cases each year.