Klara Zhumabek kyzy

Klara Zhumabek kyzy (born 1972) is a community organizer in the Autonomous Tribal Regions (ATR) who founded and leads a network of women's felt-making cooperatives. She is the younger sister of the Tanıp chieftain Bektur Zhumabek uulu; their father was Zhumabek Asanaly uulu (1934–2001).^[1]

She grew up in the upper Kara-Suu valley. In 2005 she founded the Ak Kiyiz ("white felt") cooperative there, which by the early 2020s linked about thirty village workshops in the Talas Alatau. Its members make shyrdak carpets and other felt goods, which traders carry across the Qara-Chik Demarcation Line for sale in Talas and to fair-trade importers in Europe and North America. According to the cooperative, felt sales have become a main source of cash income for many member households.^[1][2] She has also spoken publicly in favor of women's participation in clan assemblies.^[2]

References

1. ^ Talas State University Press (2020). Wool and Women's Work in the Autonomous Tribal Regions, pp. 40–66.
2. ^ Talas Herald (2022). 'Felt across the line: the Kara-Suu cooperatives.' Talas.