SES Equality and Solidarity Association met with representatives of women’s organizations, activists and members of the press to express their demands for the political opposition parties in the wake of general elections in Turkey. The agenda of the meeting included expectations and demands regarding the women’s policies of the new government. “Spring can only come with equal representation.”
SES Equality and Solidarity Association met with representatives of women’s organizations, activists and members of the press to express their demands for the new President and political opposition parties. The agenda of the meeting included expectations and demands regarding the women’s policies of the new government.
Continuing its efforts to establish a society in which gender equality prevails, SES Equality and Solidarity Association held a press conference 39 days before the election to convey their demands to the new President and ruling parties, who will take office on May 15.
The press conference, attended by representatives of women’s organizations and activists working in the field of gender equality, was held on Wednesday, at Serenita Pera.
Academic and writer Serpil Sancar also made a speech at the press conference in which expectations regarding women’s policies and what needs to be done in the process of enhancing women’s rights.
“We have high expectations from the new government on women’s policies”
Making the opening speech of the meeting, SES Equality and Solidarity Association president Gülseren Onanç said, “We see that the emergence of the People’s Alliance as an alliance of reactionary, pro-sharia, despotic, masculine forces against women’s rights. We are at the last point of the authoritarian regime that is desired to be established. The parties that joined the People’s Alliance, together with HUDA PAR and New Welfare Party (Yeniden Refah), demonstrated their rejection of the Law No. 6284 in the alliance protocol. Predicting that more will come is not a prophecy. These segments, who have been reluctant to openly express their anti-women’s rights views on the political scene, have now found the courage to openly say that they are against Law No. 6284 and the Istanbul Convention. Onanç added: “A few deputies of these two parties will probably win the elections and gain the legitimacy of expressing these views openly in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.”
Expressing that they hoped that this regime would come to an end on May 15, Onanç emphasized that the Nation Alliance fell short in its election promises: “We could not find the answers we were looking for in the texts and statements made so far. Women’s policies were not included in the clarity and framework we wanted. This is actually one of the reasons for our meeting. We want to hear what the coming spring will bring to women.”
“Spring can only come with equal representation”
In this context, Onanç reminded that the opposition parties have been thinking about adopting women’s policies for the last two years and that they held three meetings with the wide participation of women’s movement representatives, and summarized the demands of women as follows.
“We have three big expectations: We demand the establishment of the Ministry of Women and Equality. Secondly, we want women’s non-governmental organizations in all decision-making and policy-making processes, and thirdly, we want equal representation of women in the election lists. Spring can only come with equal representation, with the presence of women in the decision mechanisms of men.”