Between Empowerment and Control: Honor-Based Violence and Familialist Policy in Turkey
SOCIAL POLITICS, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1093/sp/jxag042
- Dergi Adı: SOCIAL POLITICS
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, IBZ Online, Periodicals Index Online, American History and Life, Educational research abstracts (ERA), Gender Studies Database, Historical Abstracts, Index Islamicus, Political Science Complete, Public Affairs Index, Political Science Abstract (IPSA), Sociology Source Ultimate (EBSCO)
- İstanbul Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
This study argues that women's empowerment and honor-based violence (HBV) are not inherently aligned. Based on qualitative interviews with professionals working on violence against women in Turkey, it explores how empowerment, honor, and protection are interpreted in everyday institutional and policy practices. Findings indicate that policies limited to education or economic participation are insufficient unless they also challenge patriarchal norms that legitimize control over women's lives and bodies in both private and public spheres. Within Turkey's family-centered policy framework, initiatives such as the "Year of the Family" may restrict women's agency by linking empowerment to motherhood, sacrifice, and care. The study also reveals a key paradox: although legal mechanisms such as Law No. 6284 formally ensure protection, their implementation can reproduce control through bureaucratic procedures and moral surveillance. Thus, empowerment should be conceptualized not as a technical objective but as a political process grounded in autonomy, rights, and defamilialization processes.