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Turkish Women's Predicament Women’s Studies International Forum, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 303–315, 1999 Copyright © 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd Pergamon Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 0277-5395/99 $–see front matter PII S0277-5395(99)00029-1 TURKISH WOMEN’S PREDICAMENT Meltem Müftüler-Bac Department of Political Science, Bilkent University, Ankara 06533, Turkey Synopsis — To the foreign observer, Turkish women constitute an anomaly amongst Muslim societies. Since the creation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, Turkey has engaged in a project of modernization and secularization. As part and parcel of this process of modernization, Turkish women have been granted social, political, and legal rights. Despite Kemalist reforms of the 1920s, the basics of male dom- ination stayed intact. It is this paradoxical character of Kemalist reforms that this article emphasises. The legal equality granted to Turkish women did not succeed in their emancipation. The image of Tur- key as the only modern, secular, democratic country in the Islamic Middle East has been an effective distortion, concealing many truths about Turkey. The author proposes that the Mediterranean culture, the Islamist traditions, and the Kemalist ideology act together in perpetuating the oppression of women in Turkey and keep patriarchy intact. © 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. To many students of Turkish society and poli- gaining acceptance as a European state in its tics, the status of Turkish women is a puzzle. own right (Berkes, 1964; Müftüler-Bac, 1997), Turkey is said to be the only modern, demo- one of the stumbling blocks on the way to cratic, Islamic country, which makes it some- modernization was the oppression of women what an anomaly among the Islamic world, in Turkey. As part and parcel of Turkey’s and the status of Turkish women visibly marks modernization process embarked in 1923, this difference. The aim of this article is not so Turkish women were emancipated and Turkey much to focus on the struggle going on over became the only Islamic country that granted women in Turkey, but rather to look at the un- social, legal, and political rights to women derlying social dynamics of this struggle and early in the 20th century. A few lucky women emphasise the paradoxical character of women’s who came from the highest socioeconomic emancipation in Turkey. Since the creation of backgrounds in Turkey were chosen as the the modern Turkish Republic (October 29, leading “army.” This small, privileged group 1923), the ultimate aim for the modernisers was able to receive the same education as men has been to gain acceptance for Turkey among and compete with them under the same condi- the European system of states (Berkes, 1964; tions for jobs. Paradoxically, the presence of Lewis, 1961; Mardin, 1991). This objective is an emancipated small group of women does best summarized by the Turkish Republic’s more harm to women in Turkey because it cre- founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, as “our aim ates the illusion that Turkish women are not is to elevate Turkey to the ranks of contempo- subject to oppression as in other Islamic coun- rary civilizations” (Berkes, 1964). Turkish society tries. In addition, the recognition of social and perceives the process of modernization as a political rights in Turkey well ahead of many process of Europeanization, the adoption of Western countries, “perhaps preempted the European norms, attitudes, and standards of emergence of a women’s movement” (Arat, living (Mardin, 1991), and, therefore, Turkish 1989, p. 33). people reject traditional (i.e., non-European) Despite many rights Turkish women ac- elements. It is within this context of modern- quired at least on paper, there still exist serious ization and Europeanization that Turkish women obstacles to Turkish women’s liberation, and a were granted certain rights, atypical for an Is- vast majority of Turkish women lack the op- lamic country. portunities to enjoy their rights as granted by When in 1923, Turkey made its bid towards the Turkish legal system. A number of scholars 303 304 Meltem Müftüler-Bac claim that Turkish women are emancipated the Turkish aspiration to be accepted as a Eu- but unliberated (Arat, 1989, 1994; Kandiyoti, ropean country, and the way that the status of 1987; Tekeli, 1995). Therefore, it seems con- Turkish women is used towards that end. tradictory that despite modernization efforts Thus, an illusion that Turkish women are and legal changes, Turkish women are still op- emancipated is essential to fulfil that aspira- pressed by the patriarchal system. tion, and the projection of that image is found On the surface, there seems to be a dichot- to be more important than their actual emanci- omy between two types of women in Turkish pation. society: the open, Western, emancipated woman, The status of women has been an issue of and the closed, traditional, “unliberated” much controversy in the process of Turkish woman. A favorite sight for foreigners is the modernization. Whether to veil women or not, Turkish girl in a miniskirt walking side by side and under what conditions to integrate them with her veiled sister. Whether the liberal, into the public sphere, is one major axis Western-oriented woman or her traditional, around which modernization efforts have re- pious sister represents the majority of Turkish volved. When in the 19th century, moderniza- women is the question in many minds. This ar- tion efforts began in the Ottoman Empire, the ticle claims that the divide among Turkish predecessor of the Turkish Republic, two op- women is a reflection of the identity crisis or posing camps emerged in Turkish society; the the cultural dilemma that Turkish society has modernizing, secularizing, Western-oriented been facing since the 19th century. This article elite and the traditional, Islamist, and reaction- proposes that the perception that Turkey is the ary conservatives. Their struggle still continues only Islamic state where women are emanci- in modern Turkey, impacting political and so- pated is an illusion. There is a small, elite cial developments (Arat, 1989; Arsel, 1987; group of educated, professional, Western-ori- Müftüler-Bac, 1997). The most visible line of ented women in Turkey, the existence of demarcation between these two opposing which contributes to the fallacy that Turkish camps is Turkish women. Interestingly, the women are not chained by discriminatory status of women became one important crite- practices as in other Islamic countries, and that rion determining the extent and success of they are in a much better position than their modernization and Westernization efforts. The Middle Eastern sisters. However, the seem- emancipation of women became the barome- ingly bright picture—that Turkey as the most ter of Turkish modernization, to the extent modern, democratic, secular Muslim state that that the reactionary groups of the anti-West- also secures woman’s rights—is misleading in ern social strata have fought the war against many ways. In fact, I propose that this percep- Westernization on women’s bodies and dress. tion is more harmful than outright oppression Turkish women have suffered mostly from be- because it shakes the ground for women’s ing “the focal point of intense debate among rights movements by suggesting that they are groups with conflicting political interests,” but unnecessary. what most groups agreed on was “the neces- Women are oppressed in all countries from sary continuation of the patriarchal domina- the most modern to the most traditional, but to tion of men over women” (Tekeli, 1995, p. 10). varying degrees and in varying intensities. As part of the reform package enacted They suffer from political, social, economic, upon the establishment of the Turkish Repub- and legal inequalities as well as equality of op- lic, women were granted social and political portunities. This article does not claim that the rights, an analysis of which is provided in the problems Turkish women face are no longer next section. Turkish women’s rights were an issue in the West, on the contrary, despite granted and promoted by the Kemalist elite, religious and cultural differences, Turkish mostly men; it was not achieved as a result of women share with women at large similar pat- women’s movements since, at the time, they terns of oppression. In northwestern Europe, were nearly nonexistent. Women’s liberation women seem to be doing comparatively better movements gained momentum in the 1980s as than Turkish women, however, many of the is- educated, professional women began pushing sues raised in this article are still very much at for modifications in the legal system and domi- the core of women’s liberation movements in nant social norms. Thus, one explanation for the West. What sets the Turkish case apart is the relative weakness of women’s rights move- Turkish Women’s Predicament 305 ments in modern Turkey is that under Kemal- comprise patriarchy in Turkey would include: ism, a number of changes were made. At first the Mediterranean culture, Islam, and Kemal- glance, Turkish legislation concerning gender ism—the official state ideology. roles seems egalitarian, especially for an Is- lamic country. In reality, Turkish legislation reflects conventional gender ideology where The Mediterranean culture gender roles are constructed around “male breadwinner-female homemaker” roles (Dun- The Mediterranean culture is the machismo can, 1996, p. 419). The utmost duty for Turkish tradition that one can come across to varying women is to be good wives and mothers, basi- degrees in all Eastern Mediterranean societies. cally because “the woman” is viewed as the In the Mediterranean region, it is claimed that mechanism for protecting the cultural bound- women are subject to oppression and exploita- aries that set the community apart from other tion by all religious groups (Beck & Keddie, societies (Bouhdiba, 1985; Moghadam, 1994). 1978; Delaney, 1987; Mernissi, 1975; Tillion, The fact that Turkey is a Muslim society in- 1966), and there seems to be a set of family creases the symbolic value of women as the laws common to the region that crosscuts na- differentiating element between West and tional boundaries, with the possible exception non-West.
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