Istanbul, Turkey – A nondescript apartment in Istanbul’s business district is at the heart of a push to get more women into Turkish politics.
But with some 60 million voters due to vote in presidential and parliamentary elections on Sunday, the mood in the office of Ben Secerim, or I Choose, is one of disappointment.
The NGO was established two years ago to boost female participation in politics, specifically to search for suitable candidates to run for parliament and recommend them as viable vote-winners to political parties.
Earlier this month, Ben Secerim announced 20 women who will run in four parties in the May 14 legislative elections. However, due to the nature of the electoral process (party votes are allocated to candidates according to their position on ranked party lists), only four have a real hope of entering Turkey’s Grand National Assembly.
“It’s very disappointing for us,” said Nilden Bayazit, president of Ben Secerim. “There is a wall for female candidates even in more liberal parties. It shows that there are still many blocks to women and they don’t want to change that.”
The wider picture is equally discouraging for those seeking greater female representation in a country where women make up 50.7 percent of the electorate and where national women’s suffrage was introduced in 1934.
Of its 600 candidates for parliament, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has nominated 113 women, while the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has selected 156, percentages of 18.8 and 26 percent, respectively. The Turkish Workers’ Party (TIP) has the highest proportion of female candidates at 40.5 percent.
Looking at the number of high-ranking women on party lists provides an even more bleak perspective on the role of women in mainstream politics. The CHP has women at the top of its list in only 11 of Turkey’s 87 constituencies, while the AKP has four.
An international problem
The underrepresentation of women in national legislatures is not a situation unique to Turkey. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, women make up half or more of lawmakers in only five countries. Turkey ranks 132nd in the world, with 17.4% of MPs elected in 2018 being women.
Some have pointed to patriarchal societies as the main barrier to women becoming involved in politics, but evidence in Turkey suggests that these attitudes have been significantly reduced.
In research conducted by Ben Secerim and polling firm KONDA last year, 62 percent of respondents said women politicians would help Turkey develop and become a better society. A similar number supported mandatory quotas for women in political parties. Almost three-quarters said they would support a woman in their family entering politics.
“The issue of political women is not just a matter of equal representation; A female politician is needed for a democratic society, for justice, to solve the climate problem, to end corruption, to transform educational policies and to regulate family policies”, said Bayazit.
Turkish women have long been at the forefront of campaigns on social issues. Every March 8, International Women’s Day, thousands of people flood the streets to demand equality and rights.
Turkey’s 2021 withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention on the Protection of Women from Violence added to the fears of civil activists.
A government statement at the time said: “The decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention in no way means that the State of the Republic of Türkiye “committed to protecting women”. Although Türkiye withdraws from the convention, it will never give up the fight against domestic violence.”
Translate activism into political participation
However, civil society activism has largely failed to translate into female participation in party politics.
“Political parties are completely male-dominated playgrounds,” said Gulseren Onanc, founder of the SES Equality and Solidarity Association. “It’s very difficult for a woman to make a place here… Women have dominated the civil opposition field in the strongest way, but this has not been reflected in politics for some reason.”
Lawyer Sibel Piskin is running for the opposition Iyi party in Kirklareli, one of 20 Turkish provinces that have never had a woman in parliament. He has come second on the party list, which is unlikely to win him a seat, despite research showing he is a well-respected figure in the North West region.
“I was not elected because I was in second place in the previous one [2018] elections and I’m back in second place,” she said. “Of course, there is a loss of motivation. Society is ready for women politicians and they think the country will go to a better place with women politicians.”
Bayazit, a former CHP politician, believes the male-dominated hierarchy of most political parties is a major obstacle for women.
“The party structure is so formal and still controlled by men who sometimes seem to want to promote other men,” he said. “For example, the CHP mayor in Kirklareli tried to block our way when we proposed a very well-known and capable woman.”
On the streets of Istanbul, women were equally forthright in their views on male political dominance and how to solve Turkey’s current economic problems.
“Men like to behave like those who have power and think they can manage things better,” Ayse Cinar said as she sold flowers in front of Kadikoy Pier. “But we are the ones who really know how the world works and how to do things. We need a woman leader to get us out of the mess we’re in.”
