Abstract
Women in Turkey received the right to vote and run for office in local elections in 1930 and in national elections in 1934. While Republican modernizing reforms improved the status of women, there was a 10-year gap between recognizing women’s rights to education and to divorce and extending women the right to vote. This chapter argues that the extension of political rights to women was a product of both national and international factors. The modernization/Westernization and nation-building projects of the Republican elites, which emphasized women’s emancipation, provided an opportunity structure for women to organize and push for their political rights. At the international level, Republican elites granted women their political rights to show Turkey’s commitment to the project of modernization and to women’s rights.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Bibliography
Adak, Hülya. 2007. Suffragets of the Empire, Daughters of the Republic: Women Auto/Biographers Narrate National History (1918–1935). New Perspectives on Turkey 36: 27–51.
Arat, Yeşim. 1998. Türkiye’de Kadın Milletvekillerinin Değişen Siyasal Rolleri, 1934–1980. In 75. Yılda Kadınlar ve Erkekler/Bilanço 98, ed. Ayşe Berktay Hacımirzaoğlu. İstanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yayınları.
Arat, Yeşim. 1999. Refah Partisi Hanım Komisyonları. In Bilanço 1923–1998, vol. 2. İstanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yayınları.
Ayata, Ayşe Güneş. 1990. Türkiye’de Kadının Siyasete Katılımı. In 1980’ler Türkiye’sinde Kadın Bakış Açısından Kadınlar, ed. Şirin Tekeli. İstanbul: İletişim.
Ayata, Ayşe Güneş, and Fatma Tütüncü. 2008. Party Politics of the AKP (2002–2007) and the Predicaments of Women at the Intersection of the Westernist, Islamist and Feminist Discourses in Turkey. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 35 (3): 363–384.
Berkes, Niyazi. 1964. The Development of Secularism in Turkey. Montreal: McGill University Press.
Bianet. 2015. 25 Erkek 2 Kadınlı Kabinede Kim Kimdir? bianet.org/bianet/siyaset/169514-kabine-belli-oldu-25-erkek-2-kadin. Accessed 26 Nov 2015.
Bodur, Marella. 2005. Modernity, Social Movements and Democracy: Feminist Movements in Post-1980 Turkey. Unpublished PhD thesis, Carleton University, Ottawa.
Braude, Benjamin, and Bernard Lewis (eds.). 1982. Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire: The Functioning of a Plural Society, vol. 1. New York: Holmes and Meier.
Çakır, Serpil. 1994. Osmanlı Kadın Hareketi. İstanbul: Metis.
Caporal, Bernard. 1982. Kemalizmde ve Kemalizm Sonrasında Türk Kadını (1919–1970), trans. Ercan Eyüboğlu. Ankara: Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları.
Caul, Miki. 1999. Women’s Representation in Parliament: The Role of Political Parties. Party Politics 5 (1): 79–98.
Davison, Roderic. 1963. Reform in the Ottoman Empire 1856–1876. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Demirdirek, Aynur. 1998. In Pursuit of the Ottoman Women’s Movement. In Deconstructing Images of “The Turkish Woman”, ed. Zehra F. Arat. New York: St. Martin’s.
Durakbaşa, Ayşe. 1987. The Formation of Kemalist Female Identity: A Historical-Cultural Perspective. Unpublished MA thesis, Boğaziçi University, İstanbul.
Durakbaşa, Ayşe. 2000. Halide Edip: Türk Modernleşmesi ve Feminizm. İstanbul: İletişim.
Ekmekçioğlu, Lerna, and Melissa Bilal. 2006. Bir Adalet Feryadı: Osmanlı’dan Türkiye’ye Beş Ermeni Yazar 1862–1933. İstanbul: Aras.
Eraslan, Sibel. 2000. Refahlı Kadın Tecrübesi. In Osmanlı’dan Cumhuriyet’e Kadının Dönüşümü, ed. Yıldız Ramazanoğlu. İstanbul: Pınar Yayınları.
GNAT (The Grand National Assembly of Turkey) (Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi). 2015. https://www.tbmm.gov.tr/develop/owa/milletvekillerimiz_sd.dagilim. Accessed 25 Nov 2015.
Gökalp, Ziya. 1959. Turkish Nationalism and Western Civilization. London: George Allen and Unwin.
Gökalp, Ziya. 1968. The Principles of Turkism. Leiden: E.J.Brill.
Göle, Nilüfer. 1996. The Forbidden Modern: Civilization and Veiling. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.
Göle, Nilüfer. 1997. The Gendered Nature of the Public Sphere. Public Culture 10 (1): 61–81.
Hanioğlu, Şükrü. 2002. Turkish Nationalism and the Young Turks, 1889–1908. In Social Constructions of Nationalism in the Middle East, ed. F.M. Göçek. Albany: State University of New York Press.
HDP. 2015. Halkların Demokratik Partisi [People’s Democratic Party]. http://www.hdp.org.tr/parti/parti-tuzugu/10. Accessed 9 Nov 2015.
IPS (Institute of Population Studies). 2014. Domestic Violence Against Women in Turkey, Hacettepe University. http://www.hips.hacettepe.edu.tr/ingilizceozetraporweb.pdf. Accessed 24 Nov 2015.
Jayawardena, Kumari. 1986. Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World. London: Zed.
KA-DER. 1997. Tüzük. İstanbul. Updated in 2017 and available from: http://ka-der.org.tr/tuzuk/. Accessed 3 June 2018.
KA-DER. 2015. http://www.ka-der.org.tr/tr-TR/Page/Show/400/istatistik.html. Accessed 10 Nov 2015.
Kandiyoti, Deniz. 1989. Women and the Turkish State: Political Actors or Symbolic Pawns? In Woman-Nation-State, ed. Nira Yuval-Davis and Floya Anthias. New York: St. Martin’s.
Kandiyoti, Deniz. 1990. Ataerkil Örüntüler: Türk Toplumunda Erkek Egemenliğinin Çözümlenmesine Yönelik Notlar. In 1980’ler Türkiye’sinde Kadın Bakış Açısından Kadınlar, ed. Şirin Tekeli. İstanbul: İletişim.
Kandiyoti, Deniz. 1991a. Identity and Its Discontents: Women and the Nation. Millennium 20 (3): 429–443.
Kandiyoti, Deniz. 1991b. End of Empire: Islam, Nationalism and Women in Turkey. In Women, Islam and the State, ed. D. Kandiyoti. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Köksal, Duygu. 1998. Yeni Adam ve Yeni Kadın: 1930’lar ve 40’larda Kadın, Cinsiyet ve Ulus. Tarih ve Toplum 51: 31–35.
KONDA. 2011. Siyasette Kadın Temsili Araştırması. http://kasaum.ankara.edu.tr/files/2013/11/2011_04_KONDA_Siyasette_Kadin_Temsili_Raporu.pdf. Accessed 11 Nov 2015.
Krook, Mona Lena, and Pippa Norris. 2014. Beyond Quotas: Startegies to Promote Gender Equality in Elected Office. Political Studies 62: 2–20.
Libal, Kathyrn. 2008. Staging Women’s Emancipation: Istanbul, 1935. Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies 4 (1): 31–52.
Mardin, Şerif. 1971. Ideology and Religion in the Turkish Revolution. International Journal of Middle East Studies 2: 197–211.
Pazartesi. 1995. En “Erkek Ana Tansu! no. 5.
Radikal. 2011. Gerçek demokrasi için 275 Kadın, March 3.
Resmi Gazete [The Official Gazette]. 2012. Ailenin Korunması ve Kadına Yönelik Şiddetin Önlenmesine dair Kanun. http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2012/03/20120320-16.htm. Accessed 4 Nov 2015.
Sancar, Serpil. 2014. Türk Modernleşmesinin Cinsiyeti - Erkekler Devlet, Kadınlar Aile Kurar. İstanbul: İletişim.
Sirman, Nükhet. 1989. Feminism in Turkey: A Short History. New Perspectives on Turkey 3 (1): 1–34.
Tekeli, Şirin. 1981. Women in Turkish Politics. In Women in Turkish Society, ed. Nermin Abadan-Unat. Leiden: E.J.Brill.
Tekeli, Şirin. 1982. Kadınlar ve Siyasal Toplumsal Hayat. İstanbul: Birikim.
Tekeli, Şirin. 1986. Emergence of the New Feminist Movement in Turkey. In The New Women’s Movement, ed. Drude Dahlerup. London: Sage.
Tekeli Şirin. 1998. Birinci ve İkinci Dalga Feminist Hareketlerin Karşılaştırmalı İncelemesi Üzerine Bir Deneme. In 75. Yılda Kadınlar ve Erkekler/Bilanço 98, ed. Ayşe Berktay Hacımirzaoğlu. İstanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yayınları.
Toprak, Zafer. 1988. Halk Fırkası’ndan Önce Kurulan Parti: Kadınlar Halk Fırkası. Tarih ve Toplum 51: 30–31.
World Economic Forum (WEF). 2016. Global Gender Gap Report. http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2016/economies/#economy=TUR. Accessed 12 Feb 2017.
Zihnioğlu, Yaprak. 2003. Kadınsız İnkilap: Nezihe Muhiddin; Kadınlar Halk Fırkası, Kadın Birliği. İstanbul: Metis.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bodur Ün, M. (2019). Turkey: From Symbols to Actors in the Struggle for Women’s Political Rights. In: Franceschet, S., Krook, M.L., Tan, N. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Women’s Political Rights. Gender and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59074-9_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59074-9_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-59073-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-59074-9
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)