GENDER QUOTAS AND COMPARATİVE POLİTİCS

Year 2016, Volume: 3 Issue: 5, 109 - 130, 02.08.2016

Meltem İnce Yenilmez

Abstract

The research aims to investigate the relationship between gender quotas and political institutions. It is evident that gender inequality demands the establishment of gender quotas to help women participate in politics and economic development. Young people in Turkey desire a politically and economically stable country. This could be obtained through the empowerment of women so that they can participate freely in national politics. Moreover, they could contribute to the economic development of Turkey by working in both the private and public sectors. The enhancement of gender equality is a fundamental driver of the economic development of a country. Turkey is ranked among the countries that have widespread gender inequality. Religious and political leaders have largely contributed to gender inequality in Turkey. In the early years, around 80 years ago, women were empowered and significantly contributed to the modernization of Turkey. Turkey has made progress in improving gender equality, for instance, through the abolition of gender violence and the empowerment of women in the family. Despite these tremendous efforts, women’s representation in politics is still very low and serious actions must be taken. Initially, Turkey had allowed women to participate in the country’s development. The gender quotas established in the parliament remained unofficial. The subsequent government could not implement them since the law did not establish them. For instance, the 4.5% gender quota in place from 1935 to 1950 remained unofficial. After that, different parties made efforts to increase women’s representation by establishing gender quotas. Currently, there has been a subsequent increase in demand for the empowerment of women and gender quotas. In the future, there is hope that Turkey will boost gender equality. Otherwise, gender quotas would be established due to the increasing pressure from women and civil society. However, women and civil society must be devoted to their goal due to the hindrance created by cultural beliefs and the oppression of women in Turkish society.

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