Women's Movement in Turkey at a Crossroads: From Women's Rights Advocacy to Feminism
2008; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 13; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/13608740802346585
ISSN1743-9612
Autores Tópico(s)Historical Gender and Feminism Studies
ResumoAbstract The article analyses the current state of the women's movement in Turkey with recourse to its potential to offer an alternative political vision. The article is built on semi-structured interviews with the representatives of six women's rights organizations. The interviews addressed the conceptualization of politics, democracy, civil society and the state in the movement. We argue that the movement is currently at a crossroads. The article aims at deciphering the pros and cons of the achievements of the women's movement, so far, for the development of a shared feminist political understanding within the movement. Keywords: Women's MovementFeminismTurkish PoliticsWomen's Rights Acknowledgements We would like to thank Metin Yeğenoğlu for his comments on the earlier version of this article. We are grateful to the interviewees who generously shared their thoughts and experiences with us. We are also grateful to the two anonymous referees for their invaluable suggestions. Our thanks go also to Susannah Verney for her considerate and insightful contributions at almost all the stages of the publication process. We take full responsibility for the article. Notes [1] On centrist politics and centre-right political parties see Özman and Coşar (Citation2007). [2] The ratio of women MPs in AKP is the lowest among the three parties currently represented in Parliament. The DTP ranks first (40 per cent), and CHP follows with 10.2 per cent. [3] Women gained the vote earlier in Spain (1931) but later in Greece (1952). Women's right to vote in Spain was suspended in 1939–77. [4] Sirman (Citation1989, p. 29) opposes a similar argument on the grounds that 'feminists have had to steer carefully around the already tight riot control regulations'. [5] For a concise account see Bora and Günal (Citation2002). [6] After we completed the field research, EKB's internal organization changed. Our interviewees were members of the Ankara branch. In January 2006, the Ankara branch changed its status into an association and took the name of Ankara Emekçi Kadınlar Derneği (Ankara Association of Women Workers, ANKEKD). We are told that all local branches will be united as a federation in the future. In this article we continue to use the former name and acronym EKB. BKP also acquired the status of association. [7] Among the most prominent works in the field are Bora and Günal (Citation2002), Y. Arat (Citation1994; Citation1998; Citation2000), Kardam and Ertürk (Citation1999), Tekeli (Citation1986; Citation1995), Sirman (Citation1989) and Erol (Citation1992). [8] Here, by the term 'state' the representative refers to the institutions of the state other than the AKP government, i.e. the bureaucracy, the military and the presidency—headed by Ahmet Necdet Sezer—in 2004. In this instance, it should be noted that for CKD the state is and should be identified with Kemalist ideology. [9] In a later newspaper interview, BKP's representative Şefkatli-Tuksal (Citation2005) declared that she is 'a pious feminist'. [10] At times this identification is accompanied by a critical approach to middle-class values, reminiscent of the protest by women of colour against white feminism in the United States, deemed 'historically racist and exclusionary [in] nature' (DasGupta Citation1994). [11] Y. Arat (Citation1998, pp. 117–131) has pointed to such a capacity in her comparative analysis of 'feminist and Islamist activists'. [12] Here, we use the term 'white woman dominance' allegorically, to refer to the fact that like women's movements in other contexts there are instances of hierarchical configuration in women's movement in Turkey, especially in terms of the divide between the saviour (middle-class or upper-middle-class women, living in urban locations, with higher education) and the saved (lower-class women, living in rural locations or in the slums, with little or no education, and supposedly more prone to suffering violence). The same divide is also in currency in the self-perception of Kemalist feminists when they take a position against the headscarf issue.
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