A Warm Welcome to Women’s Empowerment in Turkey
DR. ZEENATH KAUSAR analyses the condition of women in Turkey under AKP rule.
Turkey is a transcontinental country, straddling mostly on Anatolia in Western Asia and on East Thrace in South-eastern Europe. Turkey was once the centre of the Ottoman Empire, which had been at the centre of interactions between the Eastern and the Western worlds for over six centuries. Islam was the official religion of this Empire. When the Empire was defeated in World War I, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who was a Turkish military officer in the Ottoman military, led the Turkish war of independence and the Turkey emerged as a secular democratic republic on October 29, 1923 and Mustafa Kemal was named first President of Turkey. (Patrick Belfour Baron Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire, Morrow Quill, 1977).
Ataturk then embarked upon a programme of transforming the Islamic identity of the Ottoman Empire (whatever Islamicity remained till then) into modern secular and democratic nation-state. Although he brought a revolutionary change in Turkey, dismantling the remnants of Islamic foundation of the Ottoman Empire and paving the way for domination of secular elites, he could not totally demolish the Islamic aspirations of a good section of people in Turkey.
Later, when parliamentary government and a multi-party system took roots in Turkey despite periods of instability and brief intervals of military rule, the differences and tensions between secular and Islamic parties became much more visible than before. (Sonar Cagaptay, Islam, Secularism and Nationalism in Modern Turkey, Taylor &Francis, 2005).
Presently, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), is the 25th Prime Minister of Turkey. Abdullah Gul is the 11th and the current President of Turkey since 2007. The present government transformed the country from an inflation-ridden and coup-prone country into a practical model of a Muslim democratic state with economic stability to a great extent.
However, those who like to promote West-oriented modernisation and secularisation in the country try to spearhead the drive for westernisation. They perceive AKP as conservative and religious which aims at bringing Islamic culture in Turkey, which according to them is backward and out-dated and would be an obstacle for the process of modernisation and liberalisation in Turkey in general and for the emancipation and empowerment of women in particular. (William Hale, Ergun Ozbudun, Islamism, Democracy and Liberalism in Turkey: The Case of AKP, Routledge, 2009).
However, contrary to such a negative perception about Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party by some sections of people, a good number of people observe that Erdogan and his party are making all efforts for maintaining economic and political stability in the country in general, as well as for the educational attainment and socio-political participation of women. Since a big number of Islam-conscious women were unable to pursue education in universities and also a good number of Islam-conscious and educated women were unable to participate in many socio-political structures in the country, Erdogan was successful in lifting the ban on headscarf and trousers for women so that these women should not be discriminated against due to their Islamic dress and should be given equal access to education and job opportunities like other women in the country.
The prohibition on headscarf at universities was lifted in 2010. (Quiet End to Turkey’s College Headscarf Ban, BBC News, Istanbul. www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11880622). This stance of the government is welcomed by many people as a mark of greater religious freedom for people, because the ban on headscarf was in fact considered a religious discrimination against observant Muslim women. Later, in 2013, the government lifted the ban on headscarf for the female workers in state offices. (Sebnem Arsu and Dan Bilefsky, New York Times, Oct. 8, 2013.www.nytimes.com/2013/10/09/world/europe/turkey-lifts-ban-on-head-scarves-in-state-offices.).
These decisions helped women pursue higher education on one side and on the other also encouraged them to work in various offices observing headscarves. Furthermore, in 2013, the parliament has also lifted ban on women lawmakers wearing trousers in the assembly. (Reuters, Turkey lifts ban on trousers for women MPs in parliament, Nov.14, 2013. Uk.reuters.com/article/2013/11/14/uk-turkey-parliament-trousers). Until recently women parliamentarians were allowed to wear skirt-suites only. These landmark government decisions have liberated women from a series of old discriminatory bans and gave them freedom and empowered them with education and other opportunities to serve the country based on their merits and achievements which were denied to them earlier. (Merve Kavakci, Islam, Headscarf Politics in Turkey, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2010).
In contemporary times, when women’s empowerment implies empowering women to stand strongly against religious obligations on women, to liberate women from decent and gracefully covered dresses, to decorate women with unrestricted sexual and reproductive rights, to make women pass a fatal veto against the institution of family, to de-womanise women creating hatred in them for womanhood, Turkey has opened a new chapter in history by honouring women by restoring them their right to don beautiful and modest dresses, headscarves and trousers! To me it is a re-definition of women’s empowerment from Islamic perspective in practical terms, which should be welcomed by the Muslim Ummah with all the warmth of the heart and with all the praises to Allah the Exalted! Allah the Exalted says in the Qur’ān:
“And say to the believing women that they cast down their looks and guard their private parts and not display their ornaments except what appears thereof, and let them wear their head-coverings over their bosoms and not display their ornaments except to their husbands or ….” (24:30-31).
All the Muslim women in Turkey, who wanted to pursue their higher education and to contribute their services to the society based on their qualifications and skills while following the above commandments of Allah on Islamic etiquette of dress and social interactions, were discriminated against by the biased bans on headscarves and trousers for decades in Turkey. It was a question of justice to lift these discriminatory bans and empower women with rights of observing religious instructions on dress and social interactions and also to enjoy the rights of attaining higher education and participation in social structures in accordance with their achievements and interests.
Despite these constructive measures of the government for the development of women, few secularists and mainstream feminists condemn these efforts of the government as a shadow war against the secular foundation of the republic of Turkey. They look at headscarf as a symbol of disgrace for women and as acceptance of male domination over female. Similarly, they also condemned the proposed anti-abortion plans of the government and protested against it as a misogynist attitude of the government against women. They asserted that their rights for sexuality, rights for safe abortion and rights for safe reproductive health are human rights of women and the government should not meddle with these rights, rather it should protect these rights. Slogans like ‘my body my choice’ and ‘state, take your hands off my body’ went viral during their sit-down protests against the proposed anti-abortion plan of the government. (Al Jazeera, Turkey drops anti-abortion legislation. www.aljazeera.com/news/ europe/2012/06/2012622811474159.html.)
Turkey has come up with many forward-looking legal and constitutional steps to improve the conditions of women for their development. Article 10 of the constitution of Turkey bans any discrimination, state or private on the ground of sex. Article 41 of the constitution is revised to read that the family is based on equality between spouses. Furthermore, in the Fifth Five-Year Plan (1985-1990) of the government, a national level body, the General Directorate for the Status and Problems of Women was established in 1990.
As for the successful attempts of the present government for empowerment of women, there is a visible increase in the percentage of women working in the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. According to a recent report of 2013 released by the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey, TEPAV, while some 3.4 million women worked in non-agricultural sector in June 2009, this number increased to around 4.9 million in the first half of 2013, increasing by 44 per cent in the four years. As for the participation of women in political field, there is an increase in the percentage of women in the parliament. In 1975, the percentage was 10.9 only. Whereas in the General Election of 2011, the number of women in the Turkish parliament has increased to 14.3 per cent. (Women in Turkey, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/women_in_ Turkey). Today Turkish women are medical doctors, lawyers, judges, bank managers, journalists, police officers, military officers, parliamentarians, mayors and even Prime Minister. (Turkish Odyssey, People of Turkey. www. Turkish odyssey.com/turkey/culture/ people.htm).
However, despite the progress made in the involvement of women in the areas of non-agricultural sectors and in the political participation in the last few decades, when compared to the past, much remains to be done yet. Female illiteracy is one of the important issues in Turkey, with 1 out of 5 women not able to read and write. According to Hurriyet, the Daily News, 2010, half of the girls aged between 15-19 are neither in the education system nor in the workforce. According to a report in New York Times, 2012, the participation rate of Turkish women in the workforce is 28%, which is less than half of the European Union average. Besides, the problems like sexual abuse, domestic violence, honour killings are still rampant in Turkey. According to a governmental report, 2009, 42% of the surveyed women by some researchers in Turkey were physically or sexually abused either by their husbands or their partners. (Women in Turkey, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/women_in_ Turkey).
These and some other problems of women in Turkey reveal that government and non-governmental organisations have to play a dynamic role in containing these problems of women and in giving women a safe and secured place both in family and in society. It is important for the government to make, enact or reinforce penal, civil, labour and administrative sanctions in domestic legislation to punish and redress the harm and injustices done to women, whether at home or in the workplace.
At the same time it is also important for the government to look seriously into the issue of the underrepresentation of women in the parliament and in the ministerial and other legislative and executive bodies at various levels in the country. Underrepresentation of women in legislative and executive bodies prevent women from sharing their knowledge, wisdom and talents in shaping and designing public policies in general and for designing policies for women in particular on crucial issues of women. Along with the government, women NGOs can also play an important role in removing discriminations against women and in eliminating violence against women and empowering them through education and through their economic and political participation at various levels in the country while keeping the Islamic teachings on women into consideration.
It is good to note that along with the mainstream feminists, there are few Muslim women NGOs which are also working to safeguard the rights of women in Turkey and for the development and empowerment of women in various socio-political structures and institutions in Turkey. Mention should be made here of at least three women organisations – 1. Association for Women’s Rights against Discrimination; 2. Capital City Women’s Platform; and 3. Rainbow Women’s Association. A good number of women scholars and activists of these women organisations believe that there is a dire need to open more avenues for women to increase the literacy rate of women, to improve educational attainment of women, to remove discrimination against women, to eliminate violence against women, to empower women through opening access to them for economic and political participation in the country while keeping Islamic values intact.