Around 30 million women will vote in the 14 May 2023 elections, and many experts say that women’s votes will be one of the most decisive factors in this election. Surprisingly, there are very few studies on the voting behaviour of women, who make up half of the electorate.
So, which parties are women expected to vote for? What do the available data and past preferences show? Dr Sevinç Bermek, a research assistant at the London School of Economics and Political Science, seeks answers to these questions in her research.
Around 30 million women will vote in the 14 May 2023 elections, and many experts say that women’s votes will be one of the most decisive factors in this election. Surprisingly, there are very few studies on the voting behaviour of women, who make up half of the electorate.
So, which parties are women expected to vote for? What do the available data and past preferences show? Dr Sevinç Bermek, a research assistant at the London School of Economics and Political Science, seeks answers to these questions in her research.
Voting behaviour of women in Turkey
According to Bermek, in the 1950s and 1970s, and even until the 1990s, female voters in Turkey voted for more right-wing parties than male voters.
“In the literature, this is called the ‘traditional gender gap’. After Chile, Turkey has the highest traditional gender gap in OECD countries. In this regard, women support right-wing parties at a higher rate than in developing countries such as Argentina, Romania, Taiwan, India and Mexico.
She says that although, a strong feminist movement started to take shape in Turkey especially after 1980 this movement remained limited to a few big cities and women’s voting behaviour did not change.
“This situation can be explained by the developmental theory of gender gap, which is used to explain gender issues in developing countries. According to this theory, in traditional societies, women’s preoccupation with household and child-related tasks, their lack of educational options and their lack of responsibility for the maintenance of the traditional family system, lead to women not being employed in ‘salaried’ jobs. Studies show that women are more involved in politics, diversify their electoral preferences and vote for left-wing parties as a result of having salaried jobs and participating in the labour force.”
So, what do unemployed women, who constitute the largest part of the female electorate, expect and demand from politics?
According to the survey conducted by the research company IPSOS after the 24 June 2018 elections, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan receives the most votes among housewives among different social segments.
Why?
But why do most women who do not work prefer to vote for conservative parties?
Bermek explains as such:
“In 2011 and 2012, during the interviews I conducted with the Justice and Development Party: Its rise to power in the 2002 elections and its establishment in Turkish society and politics, I realised the following during my interviews with the Women’s Branch of the Justice and Development Party and the Women’s Branch of the Republican People’s Party: Women want a safe home environment, a ‘nest’, and a system where they can take their children to health centres, where they can be vaccinated, and where their demands for basic education are met. For example the women’s branches of the AKP are very active in developing policies for women.”
How can women influence the 14 May elections?
Women, who constitute half of the electorate in Turkey, will undoubtedly be one of the most decisive factors in the 14 May 2023 elections.
For years, AKP has gained great support by supporting social policies and appealing to housewives, who constitute the largest segment of the electorate (32 per cent).
“An official from the CHP Women’s Branch, whom I interviewed during my research, said the following: “We cannot say that this cluster of women has completely surrendered to AKP; their demands may differ and they may prefer other parties accordingly.” For this reason, they have been trying to meet the needs of women who do not work as much as possible through the activities of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir Metropolitan Municipalities in the last 3 years. We will see whether these developments and changing socio-economic conditions have an impact on women’s voting preferences in the 2023 presidential and parliamentary elections” says Bermek.
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