Istanbul Political Political Research Institute has published a report titled “Women’s Political Participation in Turkey: Obstacles and Experiences.” The report focuses on the obstacles women politicians face in their political careers, their struggle and suggestions for change.
The report, which investigates the obstacles faced by women politicians who have served or are working at different levels of political parties in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, and their experiences, is based on in-depth interviews with 13 women politicians.
In the research, the participants were asked about the obstacles they faced in their political careers, their experiences of struggle and suggestions for change. The obstacles grouped under three headings: structural, institutional and cultural.
- The research draws attentions to a structural barrier that is the effect of the family institution on women’s political career. In particular, the fact that women have the burden of domestic labor is the most challenging factor for women to enter and move ahead in politics. While describing this burden, it is stated that married participants especially emphasise child care, while single participants underline their care obligations towards their own parents. In fact, it is presented as a sign of success that women continue to work by balancing their “duties” at home and their duties in politics.
The experiences of the participants show that the marital status of women in politics is also an important obstacle that determines women’s participation in politics and their ability to continue their political activities. Accordingly, unmarried women politicians are not seen as ‘acceptable politicians’.
Gender inequality creates injustice in the distribution of socioeconomic resources, and this is felt more by women. Freedom to engage in politics for women is only possible at a certain level of education and career.
- According to the research, there are also institutional barriers to women’s participation in politics. Women who want to pursue a political career in Turkey face an obstacle in leader-oriented political parties, even if they overcome socioeconomic barriers. The participants point out that the decision-making mechanisms in political parties are mostly controlled by men, and this control is acutely manifested in the party’s candidate list policies.
- As a cultural barrier, the participants pointed to the male-dominated perspective that dominates the society and that the political field is shaped by this perspective. Since politics is seen as “men’s business”, women are thought to be unsuitable for politics, so women have to make more efforts to survive in this field.
While the participants, who are involved in local politics, explain the male-dominated political culture through the nepotism, they emphasize that it is more difficult for women to make room for themselves in politics.
- The participants, who carry out their political activities locally, also state that women can be isolated from the main decision-making mechanisms, and that women’s branches are rendered dysfunctional due to budget constraints. However, participants state that being involved in local politics also gives women an advantage in terms of recognition and visibility.
- The participants state that they had to be “stubborn”, “insistent” and “warrior” in order to fight against the obstacles they faced. They suggest that the candidate lists should not be left to the party administrators and that women should be nominated in the front lines of the candidate lists.
- The participants, who thought that qualitative representation should be implemented instead of focusing on quantitative representation, also emphasized the importance of education in order to encourage women to engage in politics in political parties, to empower women, and to raise awareness of gender equality among men.