Women's group in Turkey looking east
Friday, 9 November 2007
Mehru Jaffer
WHILE visiting her daughter in the US, Derya Keskin Demirer's mother chided her for leaving the dishes her the husband to wash. Luckily Derya's husband does not mind helping in the kitchen. "They both work to earn and share the household charges for which Derya said she could not understand why her mother made such a fuss. Now that Derya, 37, has returned home from the US to live and to work in Turkey, she faces numerous other contradictions inherent in a society, modern in many ways, though discriminatory practices persists.
According to the European Commission for Employment and Social Affairs, Turkey has made huge progress in the legal area but lacks a change of mentality regarding its attitude to women. Honour killings remain the gravest of social ills.
Today Turkey's working women constituency 24 per cent of the total workforce contracts with the EU average of 57 per cent. Recent statistics show that only 18 per cent of Turkish women between 18 and 24 are getting education while the EU average is 61 per cent.
"I know that there are gender problems here but I need skills to recognise them before I can help," Derya said at a gender training workshop on feminist policies in Izmit, a two-hour drive from Istanbul to the east. Derya was one of 10 social activists from different parts of Turkey to participate in a 15-day workshop organised by Women's Solidarity Foundation (WSF) in partnership with Jagori and Sangat, two of South Asia's most active feminist organisations involved in rural development and the education of women. The primary goal of the workshop was to bridge the gap between feminist theory and practice.
"It is very important for Turkish women to understand gender problems in a scientific way and be able to weave feminist theory into every day life," explains Zelal Ayman, Programme Director of WSFs New Step Women's Training and Cultural Centre. One of the main follow-up activities of the workshop was to raise a Turkish-speaking group of trainers who are already involved in nationwide campaigns to improve women's economic situation and human rights. The objective is to empower women locally, so that they empower other women to lead secure, independent lives, free from violence and intimidation.
Women's movement in Turkey has deep historical roots that can be traced back to the early 1900s. The introduction of legal rights and westernisation of society benefited only a small minority of urban, middle class women who remained oblivious to the problems faced by the majority of Turkish women living in patriarchal, pastoral communities. The attitude of the privileged, urbane woman was that if she was all right then life must be fine for other Turkish women too.
Throughout the second half of the last century the women's movement in Turkey was urban and inspired by western feminists. But in 1987, a judge dismissed a case against a husband who beat his wife, saying: "Kids and smacks are what every woman needs regularly." The callous attitude towards domestic violence united women like never before. The incident brought together women from diverse backgrounds and allowed the over 1,000 protestors to interact. Few women were found who had not experienced their share of beating. It was also discovered that the majority of Turkish women continue to live under constant threat of violence, illiteracy and limited job opportunities. Once exposed as a crime violence became an issue public debate in the 1990s.
A decade later, Hulya Gulbahar, feminist lawyer and a founder of WSF, travelled to countries east of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and India. Driving in a bus through the countryside she noticed the similarities in the lifestyles, especially of rural women in all these countries. A common experience noticed was women were fed up with continuing vestiges of feudalism and rude chauvanistic policing. She studied the working of India's Nari Adalat or Women's Court. And how the poverty-stricken and unlettered rural women tackled a host of issues from dowry to child custody with an alternative legal system that put women's interest first. As a lawyer, Hulya had long believed that the inherited legal system did not favour the majority of the population, especially rural women.
She discovered that the social, political and cultural biases, by including almost no access to criminal justice and debate, experienced by women was similar to the situation of Indian women. "We have learnt a lot from feminists in the West, especially about the legal issues. But only recently did we realise that culturally and socially we have much more in common with traditional societies like India," Hulya says. She feels that raising the legal consciousness of women is not enough to effect cultural change.
WSF chose Jagori and Sangat as its local partners. Jagori had invited 14 Turkish NGOs who travelled across India in 2003 to take a look at women's co-operatives and other capacity building activities.
Jagori and Sangat designed courses for similar workshops providing conceptual clarity, dialogue and shared understanding on issues related to gender, peace, sustainable development and human rights, on the importance of increasing self-awareness and self-confidence.
......................
NewsNetwork
WHILE visiting her daughter in the US, Derya Keskin Demirer's mother chided her for leaving the dishes her the husband to wash. Luckily Derya's husband does not mind helping in the kitchen. "They both work to earn and share the household charges for which Derya said she could not understand why her mother made such a fuss. Now that Derya, 37, has returned home from the US to live and to work in Turkey, she faces numerous other contradictions inherent in a society, modern in many ways, though discriminatory practices persists.
According to the European Commission for Employment and Social Affairs, Turkey has made huge progress in the legal area but lacks a change of mentality regarding its attitude to women. Honour killings remain the gravest of social ills.
Today Turkey's working women constituency 24 per cent of the total workforce contracts with the EU average of 57 per cent. Recent statistics show that only 18 per cent of Turkish women between 18 and 24 are getting education while the EU average is 61 per cent.
"I know that there are gender problems here but I need skills to recognise them before I can help," Derya said at a gender training workshop on feminist policies in Izmit, a two-hour drive from Istanbul to the east. Derya was one of 10 social activists from different parts of Turkey to participate in a 15-day workshop organised by Women's Solidarity Foundation (WSF) in partnership with Jagori and Sangat, two of South Asia's most active feminist organisations involved in rural development and the education of women. The primary goal of the workshop was to bridge the gap between feminist theory and practice.
"It is very important for Turkish women to understand gender problems in a scientific way and be able to weave feminist theory into every day life," explains Zelal Ayman, Programme Director of WSFs New Step Women's Training and Cultural Centre. One of the main follow-up activities of the workshop was to raise a Turkish-speaking group of trainers who are already involved in nationwide campaigns to improve women's economic situation and human rights. The objective is to empower women locally, so that they empower other women to lead secure, independent lives, free from violence and intimidation.
Women's movement in Turkey has deep historical roots that can be traced back to the early 1900s. The introduction of legal rights and westernisation of society benefited only a small minority of urban, middle class women who remained oblivious to the problems faced by the majority of Turkish women living in patriarchal, pastoral communities. The attitude of the privileged, urbane woman was that if she was all right then life must be fine for other Turkish women too.
Throughout the second half of the last century the women's movement in Turkey was urban and inspired by western feminists. But in 1987, a judge dismissed a case against a husband who beat his wife, saying: "Kids and smacks are what every woman needs regularly." The callous attitude towards domestic violence united women like never before. The incident brought together women from diverse backgrounds and allowed the over 1,000 protestors to interact. Few women were found who had not experienced their share of beating. It was also discovered that the majority of Turkish women continue to live under constant threat of violence, illiteracy and limited job opportunities. Once exposed as a crime violence became an issue public debate in the 1990s.
A decade later, Hulya Gulbahar, feminist lawyer and a founder of WSF, travelled to countries east of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and India. Driving in a bus through the countryside she noticed the similarities in the lifestyles, especially of rural women in all these countries. A common experience noticed was women were fed up with continuing vestiges of feudalism and rude chauvanistic policing. She studied the working of India's Nari Adalat or Women's Court. And how the poverty-stricken and unlettered rural women tackled a host of issues from dowry to child custody with an alternative legal system that put women's interest first. As a lawyer, Hulya had long believed that the inherited legal system did not favour the majority of the population, especially rural women.
She discovered that the social, political and cultural biases, by including almost no access to criminal justice and debate, experienced by women was similar to the situation of Indian women. "We have learnt a lot from feminists in the West, especially about the legal issues. But only recently did we realise that culturally and socially we have much more in common with traditional societies like India," Hulya says. She feels that raising the legal consciousness of women is not enough to effect cultural change.
WSF chose Jagori and Sangat as its local partners. Jagori had invited 14 Turkish NGOs who travelled across India in 2003 to take a look at women's co-operatives and other capacity building activities.
Jagori and Sangat designed courses for similar workshops providing conceptual clarity, dialogue and shared understanding on issues related to gender, peace, sustainable development and human rights, on the importance of increasing self-awareness and self-confidence.
......................
NewsNetwork