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THE FIRST WOMEN JOURNALISTS IN THE
HISTORY OF THE UZBEK PRESS
Dilshoda KHAMZAKHANOVA
Student of Uzbek state university of world languages
Annotation:
This article is devoted to the study and research of the life and
creative work of the first Uzbek journalists. The article examines various sources
that contain biographical data of the first Uzbek journalists.
Key words:
Uzbek press, female journalism, pioneering, journalistic activity.
The history of the formation of women's journalism in the territory of the
Republic of Uzbekistan begins its countdown from the beginning of the last century.
The women's press, as many characterize it in Europe, was born on the territory of
modern Uzbekistan thanks to the names of several outstanding and fearless women
of the Uzbek people, among whom we can list the names of Nozimahonim, Sobir
Kholdarova, Nelya Attaulaeva. The courage and fearlessness shown by the above-
mentioned daughters and a number of other women journalists laid the foundation
for the spread of interest in journalism among the female masses of Uzbekistan.
Nozimahonim (1870 - Tashkent - 1924) is a poetess. She is the first journalist-
publicist among Uzbek women, who studied Tatar, Arabic and Persian languages.
She followed on regular basis the press that appeared in Orenburg and Kazan.
Familiar with European literature and culture, enjoyed the ideas of nobility. He read
Uzbek and Persian classical literature, especially the works of Saadi and Hafiz.
Her poems and articles had been published in the press since 1900. At the age
of 20, the poetess became known as "Nozimakhanim of Beshyagoch". Her poems
and verses promoting progress, enlightenment and culture, her works exposing
ignorance, heresy and superstition, her sharp comic poems expressing the sharp
protest against social inequality and the growing national tyranny of that time are
regularly published in newspapers such as "Shuhrat", "Sadoyi Turkistan", "Taraqqi".
The poetess supported the national liberation movement of the working people,
composed works about the role and place of women in society, and demanded the
national and human rights of the Uzbek woman who violated ignorance and
oppression.
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“She was by nature merciless towards injustice”. This is how researcher
Markhamat Alimova described the character of Nozimahonim in her book “The
History of Women in the Press of Uzbekistan”. [1]
Nozimahonim was born on Beshagach and later became the first female
publicist. She grew up in an atmosphere of learning. Her father, Mulla Said Ahmad,
being a representative of the intelligentsia, educated his daughter first in an old-
method school (Islamic - ed.), and then in a Russian-native school for girls. She
learned Arabic, Persian, Tatar and Russian.
Historian Begali Kosimov wrote that Nozimahon left a big mark on the desire
of women in Uzbekistan to liberalize their role in society [2]. The poetess's poems
and articles are written in a high, lyrical style. In them, she defended the right of
women to education and participation in the public life of Turkestan, and also
questioned inequality in family relationships.
“How nice it is that the night of tyranny is over” she expressed hope in the poem
“Afsus” (“Remorse” - from Uzbek), which was published in the Tarakkiy newspaper.
In 1915, Nozimahonim came out with a response to the poem “On keeping girls
and women in burqas,” in which girls without burqas were equated with women of
easy virtue. During her creative work, Nozimahonim was published in several Jadid
publications. However, a little more than 20 poems have pulled through, wrote Begali
Kosimov.
In addition to her journalistic activities, Nozimahonim was an otin (the so-
called teachers, reciters of the Koran, who taught girls - ed.). The poet and publicist
lived only 54 years.
Unlike Nozimahonim, Sobira Holdarova received a professional journalistic
education. Most of the Jadids who laid the foundation of the Uzbek national press
did not have in-depth knowledge of journalism, which cannot be said about their
students, including Holdarova.
A native of the city of Chust, she was sent to an orphanage at the age of 13 and
completed a literacy course in six months. A year later, Sobira, dressed in a burqa,
began teaching in the mahallas of Kokand. From 1923 to 1925, she took pedagogical
courses at the “Xotin-qizlar Bilim Yurti” institution. Sobira Holdarova was only 17
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years old when she became one of the editors of the Soviet newspaper “Yangi Yo’l”
(New Path in Uzbek).
On November 3, 1924, a women’s rally against inequality was held in the old
city of Tashkent. That day, Sobira Holdarova defiantly took off her burqa and became
a member of the Communist Party. That day was born in mind not only for the publ
ic protest, but also for the wedding. Sobira married the intellectual of her time,
Saidakhmad Nazarov. The wedding was held in the spirit of internationalism.From
that moment on, Sobira Holdarova's career took off. The girl worked in a publication
during the day and taught in the evenings. For the Yangi Yul newspaper, published
in the spirit of socialism, Holdarova wrote about the education of girls and young
women, giving up the burqa, going to work, and the fight against conservative views.
In 1926, Sobira felt the need to study and gain experience in journalism. The fact that
the Central Committee and the Communist Party of Uzbekistan were considering
sending a delegation of young people over the age of 23 to study in Moscow played
into their hands. Sobira was only 20. In addition, she had a two-year-old son. The
Communist Party made an exception and sent Holdarova to study in Moscow at the
State Institute of Journalism. She left her son with her mother-in-law, and her
husband went with her.
Sobira Holdarova became the first woman from the UzSSR to receive an
education in journalism. The late 1920s and early 1930s marked Holdarova's career
growth. After returning to Uzbekistan, she became the editor-in-chief of Yangi Yul
and actively participated in the public life of Uzbekistan. In 1930, she was appointed
deputy chairman of the Central Committee for Public Agitation and chairman of the
sector for work with women and girls.
The attitude towards Sobira Holdarova, along with other representatives of the
Uzbek intelligentsia, changed in 1936. A year later, Sobira, her mother and her two
children - a 12-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter — packed the essentials in
two hours, left their home and moved into a small apartment. A few days later, the
“Black Funnel” appeared at the door of their apartment and took Sobira and her
children away. The journalist was accused of “losing class consciousness and
connection with the intellectual revolutionary movement,” wrote Markhamat
Alimova. Sobira spent the following years in prison and exile in Siberia, where she
raised her daughter. What happened to her son is unknown.
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Sobira Kholdarova was acquitted in the 1950s. Upon returning home, she was
given a two-room apartment. Later she returned to work in press.
As it can be inferred from the aforementioned the history of first two pioneers
of Uzbek female journalism, Uzbek women contributed substantially to formation
of current national press. Nozimahonim, alongside with Sobira Holdarova, boasted
such traits as courageousness, decent attitude to literacy and eagerness for study,
whereby assisted them mostly later on their life path. Their lives a source of
inspiration and motivation for journalists of both genders in modern Uzbek press.
References
1.
https://uzbekbibliography.library.illinois.edu/Content/PDFs/3.1985.pdf.oc
r_letopispechati.pdf
2.
O‘zME. Birinchi jild. -Toshkent, 2000-yil.
3.
Бакиева, Г. Х., and Д. М. Тешабаева. "Оммавий ахборот воситалари
тили." Журналистлар учун ўқув қўлланма (2019).
4.
Teshaboeva, D. M. "Ommavij ahborot vositalari tilining nutk madanijati
aspektida tadkiki (ЎzR OAV misolida): Filol. fan. dok.. dis. avtoref." (2012).
5.
Teshabaeva, Dilfuza. "ELEKTRON GAZETA TILINING AKSIOLOGIK-
MENTAL TADQIQI." Namangan davlat universiteti Ilmiy axborotnomasi 8 (2023):
368-373.
