As SES Equality, Justice, Women Platform, we held the mirror to ourselves this time, and as the editorial team, we reflected on 2021 and our coverage. In a year when it was easy to fall into despair, we saw how we were inspired every day by the unifying power of women’s solidarity.
We argued that ‘another world is possible with women’s leadership
We dream of a future where women are at every table where decisions are being made. We have raised our voices to ensure that women are included in the decision-making processes in this direction. We compiled ways to support women’s leadership in different fields, and we shared success stories of women leaders.
We closely followed local and international women’s agendas
We traced the struggle of the women’s movement in Turkey against the 5th Judicial Package. Women mobilized against the package that seriously threatens women and children’s rights, especially the advocacy of the Istanbul Convention. We also covered how women put pressure on political parties for equal representation and violence against women. We included news about litigation, campaigns, equality and the struggle for rights.
We have reported on the local agenda, the practices and policies of local governments on violence against women, good global practices, and the gender-sensitive policies of their countries during the pandemic process.
We focused on the #MeTooPolitics campaign launched by women in France, the anti-abortion movement in the USA and the struggle against it, the women’s movement in Iran, and the rising anti-gender movements globally.
Women workers
We monitored the labour movement in Turkey and around the world closely. When we covered the experiences of women workers, we saw that the problems they experience simply because of being a woman and labourer were intertwined. We promoted the voice of resisting workers and focused on the representation of women workers.
In the weeks of May 1, March 8 and November 25, we have brought both local and global demands for women workers to our pages.
We focused on women’s representation in politics and local governments
We have compiled the portraits of women mukhtars and mayors who make a difference in Turkey, women mayors leading different world capitals, and examples of cities with gender equality in Europe that open up space for women’s voices, demands and abilities.
We evaluated the obstacles to women’s participation in politics, the countries that appointed equality in representation, and the elections held this year from many countries with a gendered perspective.
We produced portraits of women who are “role models”
One of the symbols of İzmir, Turkey’s first female orthodontist Ayşe Mayda, Elif Vatanoğlu Lutz, the first woman from Turkey to receive the Gusi Peace Prize, which is known as the Nobel of Asia. We featured the extraordinary stories of Hatice Aydınlı, who makes a living as a bicycle mechanic, Annie “Londonderry” Kopchovsky, the first woman to tour the world with her bicycle, and many more.
We looked at the economy and business world from a gender perspective
We focused on alternative economic approaches based on gender equality, the effects of the flexible working model, especially on working mothers, practices aimed at ensuring gender equality in business life in different countries, and the representation of women in company management.
We closely watched the resistance of Afghan women against the Taliban
The Taliban takeover of the country in August 2021 has irrevocably changed the lives of millions of Afghans, especially women.
As the Equality, Justice, Women Platform, we have discussed the situation of women and LGBTI+s from multiple perspectives during the occupation process, starting with the Taliban’s advance to Afghanistan’s capital Kabul and other regions that were not under their control.
We have carried on our writing about the brave struggle of Afghan women on their quest to equal education and the right to take part in the government.
We translated many articles from the international press and foreign-based magazines into Turkish, watched international meetings closely, interviewed Sima Sama and Hosna Jalil, two Afghan women who managed to survive the horrors of war.
We put the lens on women who are pioneers in the fight against the climate change
Local women were at the forefront this year in the struggle for the right to the environment against the ever-increasing destruction of nature in our country and the world. We have brought to our pages the resistance of the people against a stone quarry in Rize İkizdere and the coal mine in Muğla İkizköy.
In our eco-feminism file, we discussed climate change from a gender perspective. We closely followed the international climate agenda with the translations we made. By following COP26, which lasted for two weeks in November, we shed light on what awaits the world after the climate summit.
During the COP26 process, we discussed the role of women’s leadership in managing the climate crisis. We highlighted the relationship between climate change and patriarchy and the importance of female leadership in rebuilding our planet.
Local women were at the forefront this year in the struggle for the right to the environment against the ever-increasing destruction of nature in our country and the world. We have brought to our pages the resistance of the people of the region against the stone quarry in Rize İkizdere and the coal mine in Muğla İkizköy, which marked this year in particular of these struggles.
We discussed gender stereotypes and sexist approaches
We discussed critical masculinity studies, reflections of toxic masculinity, and the forms of struggle against sexist approaches.
While discussing sexism and how sexism affects our lives, we highlighted the diversity within feminism.
Culture and art from a women’s perspective
We followed the culture-art agenda closely with our perspective that supports feminist art and highlights female artists. In this context, we have compiled the movies that focus on Afghan women as a “window to the Afghan society” during the days of the Taliban invasion of Afghanistan. Again, during Pride Week, we wanted to take a closer look at LGBTI+ themed films.
We shared articles that critically read popular movies and TV series from a gender perspective.
We undertook the mission of introducing the award-winning female artists to the public more closely, and sometimes we kept a close eye on our neighbours’ culture and arts agenda.
We followed the LGBTI+ rights struggle and its achievements
With the translation of news and articles, we brought the LGBTI+ agenda in the world to the readers in Turkey. We shared and wrote about the activities of LGBTI+ and human rights organizations in Turkey.
We showed the power of women in sports
We shared the stories of women who do not hesitate to determine their own conditions in the sexist and brutal conditions of the sports world. These women oppose sexist and outdated dress regulations, who make a brand new cultural dialogue possible by prioritizing mental health over the expectations of the established order, and who have inspired many women with their successes.