Questioning the effects of dynamics that influence social awareness of the status of women

Abstract

Turkey has accomplished important progress with regard to gender equality legislation. However, the situation of women in Turkey remains a source of concern in three interrelated areas: violence against women, low participation in the labor market, and access to education. Sections of society that are sensitive to the subject of women’s rights will confirm that efforts to find a solution in these three problem areas need to be examined based on how efficient they have been. For this reason, it will useful to evaluate each one separately. It is certain that the three topics that we have dealt with here concerning women’s empowerment in Turkey are important. Concrete steps are being taken to develop educational opportunities for women and it can be seen from the statistics that these steps have yielded positive results over the years. However, the statistics show that positive results have not been obtained in women’s employment and work is on-going. On the other hand, the prime minister has often given speeches asking families to have large numbers of children, and initiatives that will be implemented to encourage women to have many children appear in the press. As part of this policy, regulations that will enable women to retire two years earlier for each child that they have are being planned. These regulations, rather than supporting working mothers, are aimed at distancing women from working life and convincing them only to be mothers. It is possible to foresee that these approaches will make the gap between men and women in working life even wider. As for violence against women, the third subject that we dealt with here, it is the problem that requires the most urgent solution. It is a life-threatening obstacle standing in the way of women’s empowerment. When it comes to women and honour, even writers, intellectuals and university graduates have been conditioned in ways that they are not necessarily conscious of. We have to accept that women are victims and we have to want them to be able to live in society with the same level of security as men. However, these good intentions are definitely not enough. The steps and initiatives that are taken need to be analysed to identify which goal they really serve. For progress to be made in women’s rights, in parallel with the concrete steps that are taken, society must also analyse itself.