Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
100. Yılında Cumhuriyet’in Kadınları / Kadınların Cumhuriyeti (1923-2023) Uluslararası Sempozyumu, İstanbul, Türkiye, 27 - 29 Ekim 2023, cilt.1, ss.125-128
In Turkey, women have always tried to influence and change society
and the political agenda by raising objections to the conditions and laws
of patriarchal social structure and politics that limit and discriminate wo-
men, although not always with the same emphasis and scope. If we can
use the word feminism frequent today and, discuss the possibilities of fe-
minist politics, it is because of the Ottoman feminists of the pre-Repub-
lican period who flourished in a traditional/religious social structure, the
Kemalist feminists of the Republican generation who gave voice in the
painful process of transition from empire to nation-state, the Progressive
Women’s Association- İlerici Kadınlar Derneği (İKD) who mobilised the
problems of working and poor women in the leftist organisations of the
70s by bringing them to the political agenda, and the feminist women who
were able to gain independence from the prior ideological ties and stand
up against the patriarchal state after the 80s. Moreover, the impact of the
post-2000 women’s struggle, which took over the legacy of the struggle
of all women who call themselves feminists or not, based on the further
multiplied number of feminist organisations of the 90s, should be marked.
Feminist politics has been shaped in the context of various structu-
ral and ideological problems. From the first campaign organised by the
first feminist organisation, Osmanlı Müdafaa-i Hukuk-u Nisvan Cemi-
yeti (Ottoman Society for Women’s Rights) in 1913 for women to par-
ticipate in working life, to the campaigns organised against the Istanbul
Convention, to which Turkey was the first signatory in 2011 to prevent
violence against women, to the campaigns organised against its termina-126
tion by presidential decree in March 2021, women in Turkey have organi-
sed hundreds of campaigns to change and transform the various forms of
patriarchy that oppress women, related to such topics as working life, do-
mestic labour, violence, education, reproduction, civil and physical rights,
some examples of which are given below: “Women’s Solidarity Campaign
against Beating” (1987); “Turkish Penal Code 438” (1988), which had the
theme “there is no justified rape”; “No to Sexual Harassment Campaign”
(Purple Needle Campaign) in 1989; “We Want the Streets, We Want the
Nights” (1989); ”No to Virginity Checks - Our Body is Ours (1990), whi-
ch was organised against the practice of virginity checks in dormitories,
schools and state offices; “No women candidates, No Votes” (1999); (Po-
litics without Moustache (2007); “No Headscarved Canditates, No Votes”
(2011) campaigns that emphasised increasing women’s representation in
politics; “We Claim Back From Men” (2010); “My Body, My Decision”
(2021); “Abortion cannot be Outlawed” (2013); “Do not touch my right to
Alimony” (2019); “Turkish Penal Code 103 Put an end to the attempts to
forgive the perpetrators of child abuse” (2020).
In my paper, I will talk about why campaigns are important in the for-
mation and transformation of feminist politics in Turkey, I will give the
history of campaigns in Turkey together with the organisations/instituti-
ons that organised these campaigns and I will touch upon the dynamics
in this process. In this narrative overview, the press, especially women’s
magazines, internet sites and publications will be my main sources.
Keywords: Women’s history, feminist politics, patriarchy, women’s pe-
riodicals, women’s movement, campaigns, digital feminist movement