Inspired by the unifying power of women’s solidarity, our SES Equality, Justice, Women’s Platform is now 6 years old!
Over the past six years, we have closely followed local and international women’s agendas, advocating for the possibility of ‘another world’ through women’s leadership. We have focused on women’s representation in politics and local governments, highlighted ‘role model’ women, examined the economy and business world from a gender perspective, spotlighted women leading the fight for the environment and climate, and reflected on gender stereotypes and sexist approaches.
We will continue to work on developing and expanding our gender-focused journalism!
As the digital publishing platform of the SES Equality and Solidarity Association, SES Equality, Justice, Women’s Platform has been working for six years to develop and expand gender-focused journalism. We bring together news on gender equality, women’s quest for rights and justice, women’s leadership in all areas, and women’s visibility in politics, business, and the arts, creating original content on these topics.
Filling a gap in gender-based journalism in Turkish media, the Platform embraces an independent publishing perspective that aligns with the Association’s mission and core principles (equality, justice, solidarity). We strive to use a constructive, inclusive, and equality-oriented language without succumbing to the polarizing climate in Turkey. We believe that gender equality and secularism are indispensable elements of democracy.
SES Equality, Justice, Women’s Platform captures and evaluates current events from a women’s perspective, offering translations, interviews, conversations, news, and compilations. Additionally, it provides an archive on the recent history of the women’s movement in Turkey and globally. Through its website, weekly Turkish and English newsletters, and active social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Spotify, and LinkedIn, the Platform reaches a local and global audience of thousands, including activists, politicians, academics, NGO representatives, journalists, international organizations, embassies, UN delegations, and EU institutions.
PEN Duygu Asena Award
In 2023, our founder Gülseren Onanç received the prestigious PEN Duygu Asena Award for her work with SES Equality, Justice, Women’s Platform. She was recognized for being the voice of women’s resistance and courage against patriarchal oppression, violence, and discrimination in Turkey and worldwide.
A new feminist perspective every week: SES Women’s Bulletin
By also publishing in English, SES Equality, Justice, Women’s Platform acts as a bridge and news channel among the global women’s movement and activists. With its timely news and special content, it has reached nearly 30 million people on Instagram and Twitter.
Having produced over 6,000 pieces of content and prepared more than 500 exclusive news stories in six years, the Platform launched Turkey’s first and only gender-focused weekly e-newsletter in 2020. It continues to deliver important headlines on women’s issues to nearly 10,000 subscribers in both Turkish and English each week.
‘Raise Your VOICE!’ Podcasts in 2023
In February 2023, SES Equality, Justice, Women’s Platform began podcasting to reach a wider audience digitally and to share its voice through audio content, not just written material. Supported by NewsLabTurkey’s EquaLab program, the “Raise Your SES!” podcast series is hosted by Duygu İslamoğlu, with technical management by Asmin Ayçe İdil Kaya and coordination by Ufuk Yeşil.
Each episode of “Raise Your SES!” podcast, lasting about 10 minutes, shares current news published on the platform and creates its own agenda by following women’s issues in Turkey and around the world. It also features the voices of experts.
SES Women of the Year Awards in 2021, 2022, and 2023
For the past three years (2021, 2022, and 2023), SES Equality, Justice, Women’s Platform has organized the SES Women of the Year Awards. We honor women featured on our platform throughout the year, recognizing those who have been pioneers in the struggle for women’s rights in Turkey and worldwide, who inspire women with their achievements, or who contribute to solidarity by resisting systemic oppression. We identify these women, put the candidates to a public vote. The results are then announced at an award ceremony held at the Pera Museum.
Over 500 guests, including representatives of the women’s movement, activists, politicians, artists, journalists, and businesspeople, have attended our three award ceremonies to date.
Raising Women’s Voices for Peace
In collaboration with Operation 1325 and the Swedish Institute, the SES Equality and Solidarity Association launched the “Women’s Voices for Peace” project in 2022. This initiative aims to address “peace” and “security” from women’s perspectives, traditionally dominated by political discourse, and to amplify voices for peace in civil society and the media.
Through written content, videos, and podcasts, this project seeks to strengthen women’s roles as peacebuilders. It addresses conflicts, such as the Kurdish issue in Turkey and global wars, from a women’s perspective and highlights peacebuilding efforts. As part of the project, journalists Ayşegül Doğan, film and documentary producer Ekin Çalışır, director Fatma Çelik, independent documentary filmmaker and feminist video activist Güliz Sağlam, and journalist Mehveş Evin produced five video documentaries.
You can read the news articles here.
You can watch the video documentaries here.
News Exists, Raise Your Voice!
In 2023, we launched the “News Exists, Raise Your Voice!: Women Journalists Solidarity Project” to support women journalists in producing written and visual content about regions affected by the earthquake in Turkey. We provided financial grants and one-on-one editorial/mentorship support to four women journalists from different provinces in the earthquake zone.
Journalists Medine Mamedoğlu, Marta Sömek, Jiyan Cin Erkılıç, and Burcu Özkaya contributed with their reports, while experienced journalists Nevin Sungur, Candan Yıldız, Banu Güven, and Mehveş Evin served as mentors.
You can access the articles produced by these journalists on our Platform.
Hope, Resistance, Solidarity
Gülseren Onanç, the Founding President of the SES Equality and Solidarity Association, commented on the Platform: “For six years, we have followed the inspiring stories of women who resist the patriarchal system in Turkey and worldwide, women politicians advocating for equality and peace, women civil society representatives building solidarity, and brave LGBTQ+ activists fighting against discrimination. Through its publications and projects since its inception, SES Equality and Solidarity Association and its publishing platform, SES Equality, Justice, Women’s Platform, have carved out a unique space in the women’s movement in Turkey and globally. With a new feminist perspective, we have tried to understand and interpret the world, spreading hope, supporting resistance and solidarity. We have aimed to amplify the voices of women worldwide to our homeland and vice versa.”
Eda Doğançay, the Platform’s chief editor, summarized the past six years: “As SES Equality, Justice, Women’s Platform, we have been working for gender equality and justice with content that avoids discriminatory traps and promotes peace. We highlighted developments and individuals that encourage hope, courage, and a positive outlook on the future. We maintained an inclusive, solution-oriented, and constructive publishing approach. We closely followed local and global women’s agendas, providing our followers with a holistic understanding by integrating local and global perspectives. We translated numerous articles and essays from international media and magazines into Turkish and closely followed international meetings, sharing our insights. We will continue working to develop and expand our gender-focused journalism. Though we have a long way to go, what we have achieved so far gives us hope.”