Journal of Women and Society

Journal of Women and Society is an international, peer-reviewed academic journal publishing research in the fields of women’s studies and gender research. Published twice a year, in June and December, the journal accepts manuscripts in Turkish and English.

The journal features studies that explore women’s experiences in social, cultural, economic, political, and legal spheres from a gender perspective, welcoming interdisciplinary and critical approaches. It encourages research, as well as theoretical and methodological contributions, from diverse fields such as sociology, anthropology, history, law, political science, communication, psychology, literature, cultural studies, education, health, and related disciplines.

The journal encompasses theoretical and applied studies produced from the perspective of feminist epistemology and methodology. In this context, it includes not only scholarly research but also fieldwork notes, subjective and political narratives, interviews, critical book and film reviews, and evaluations of academic events. In addition, feminist artistic productions, memory studies, and narrative-based research are incorporated into the journal’s academic review process.

All submissions are evaluated through a double-blind peer review process. By fostering interdisciplinary dialogue, the journal seeks to advance feminist scholarship, contribute to the production of critical gender knowledge, and enhance the accessibility of academic work in this field.

Editorial: Introducing the Second Issue

In this issue, we are pleased to present seven original contributions that explore gender studies through the lenses of history, health, media studies, political sociology, and digitalization. The study examining media representations of the murders of migrant women in Türkiye. From the everyday experiences of women in the Ottoman Empire to Nüshu, the unique writing system developed by Chinese women, the articles open new interdisciplinary discussions on both historical and contemporary forms of women's resistance and agency. Women's access to healthcare systems and the reproduction of patriarchal gender roles on digital platforms are also among the central themes addressed in this issue.

The articles in this issue demonstrate that gender inequalities are not confined to individual experiences but are continually reproduced through structural domains such as media discourse, nation-building processes, health policies, digital technologies, and historical narratives. At the same time, they highlight the diverse forms of solidarity, resistance, and agency that women develop in response to these inequalities.

The second issue of the Journal of Women and Society (JWAS) opens with Elvira Akaev's research article, "Media Representation of the Murders of Migrant Women in Türkiye: The Case of Durdona Khakimova." As widely reported, the dismembered body of Durdona Khakimova, an Uzbek national, was discovered in a rubbish container in the Şişli district of Istanbul on 24 January 2026 after a waste collector alerted the police. The murder received widespread attention in both the national media and on social media, prompting demonstrations in several major cities where women marched under the slogan "Migrant Women Are Not Alone." Using the Khakimova case as its point of departure, the article examines how the murders of migrant women are represented within media discourse in Türkiye. She argues that media representations do more than report events; they function as discursive mechanisms that both expose and reproduce relations of inequality and hierarchy. Using critical discourse analysis, the study examines twenty-five news reports published on the digital platforms of three national newspapers between 24 and 31 January 2026. Akaev contends that the media should not be understood merely as a passive channel that reflects reality, but as an ideological institution that shapes which lives are rendered visible, whose suffering is recognized, and whose lives are considered worthy of protection. An important contribution of the study is its demonstration that migrant women employed in precarious and low-paid sectors of the global labour market are exposed not only to economic exploitation but also to multiple forms of gender-based violence.

"Examples of the Problems Experienced by Women Between 1558 and 1576 According to the Mühimme Registers," historian Filiz Tapan offers a more nuanced understanding of women's position in Ottoman society. Drawing on the Mühimme Registers, the official records of decisions taken by the Imperial Council (Divan-ı Hümâyûn), Tapan examines the everyday problems, grievances, and petitions of Ottoman women. Using a case study approach, Tapan systematically analyzes decrees involving women recorded in the Mühimme Registers between 1558 and 1576. The study explores a wide range of issues, including public order, murder, theft, the abduction of women, measures to ensure women's safety, paternity disputes, and cases documenting women's own complaints and demands. These records provide valuable insights into the social lives and legal experiences of women in the Ottoman Empire. One of the study's key findings challenges the widespread stereotype of Ottoman women as passive, uneducated housewives confined to the private sphere and dependent upon men. Instead, the evidence demonstrates that women actively participated in public life, were aware of their legal rights, and sought justice by bringing their grievances before the authorities. At the same time, Tapan points out that Ottoman women should not be viewed solely as victims; historical records also reveal their involvement as perpetrators in organised crimes such as murder and fraud. By uncovering these diverse experiences, the article offers an original contribution that challenges conventional assumptions about women's lives in the Ottoman Empire and enriches our understanding of gender in Ottoman history.

Another contribution from the fields of history and philology examines Nüshu, the world's only known writing system created and used exclusively by women. Believed to date back at least one thousand years, Nüshu was developed by women living in the rural Jiangyong County of Hunan Province in southern China. It is widely recognized as a unique linguistic expression of solidarity and sisterhood through which Chinese women preserved and communicated their shared cultural experiences. In her article, Nüshu (女书): Chinese Women's Script as a Means of Identity Construction and Liberation," Tuğba Aktürk explores this remarkable writing system, which emerged centuries before the rise of modern feminism in the West. Developed through women's everyday experiences, mutual support, and collective knowledge in a rural region of southern China, Nüshu represents an extraordinary example of female cultural creativity and resilience. The study is primarily based on The Chinese Nüshu Collection: A Comprehensive Archive of a Unique Women's Script, a compilation published by Tsinghua University in 1992. Through a thematic analysis of original Nüshu texts, Aktürk demonstrates that the script emerged directly from women's everyday lives, emotions, and literary practices. She interprets Nüshu as a "silent" form of resistance that women developed within, and in response to, patriarchal social relations and the gendered positions assigned to them. The article argues that Nüshu illustrates how women, even under highly restrictive social conditions, were able to create their own cultural space, develop their own voice, and strengthen one another through solidarity. From this perspective, the historical study of women's practices of sisterhood and collective resistance offers important insights for contemporary feminist movements and ongoing debates on gender equality.

Two articles in this issue examine women's access to healthcare from a gender perspective. The first, "Gender Differences in the Utilization of Healthcare Services: An Analysis of Türkiye (2008-2022)" by Serinay Altundağ, investigates gender disparities in healthcare services by using secondary data published by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). The study focuses on the use of general practitioner (family physicians), specialist physician, and dental healthcare services and adopts a mixed-methods approach that combines quantitative descriptive analysis with qualitative document analysis. Examining trends in healthcare utilization through a gender lens, the study finds that women consistently make greater use of all types of healthcare services than men. However, Altundağ argues that this quantitative difference should not be interpreted as an indicator of better health. Rather, women's higher rates of healthcare utilization reflect the disproportionate health burden associated with gender roles, unpaid care work, and reproductive responsibilities. In other words, women's more frequent use of healthcare services does not necessarily mean that they enjoy better health outcomes. Conversely, men's comparatively lower utilization of healthcare services is linked to hegemonic norms of masculinity that discourage preventive healthcare-seeking behaviours. The study further demonstrates that, despite the overall increase in healthcare utilization in Türkiye, significant inequalities persist. Financial barriers continue to restrict access to healthcare, particularly for women with lower levels of income and education. Moreover, the growing marketization of healthcare services has further limited disadvantaged groups' access to high-quality and preventive healthcare. Altundağ concludes by emphasizing the need for comprehensive, gender-sensitive health policies capable of addressing the structural inequalities that shape access to healthcare.

Another contribution, "Reflections on the Workshop on Gender-Based Barriers to Women's Access to Reproductive Health Services and Treatment" by Tuğba Kaygısız and Büşra Öztürk, represents one of the first outputs of an ongoing long-term research project. The article reflects on the key discussions and findings of a TÜBİTAK 3005-funded interdisciplinary workshop held on 8 May 2026 at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Düzce University. The workshop examined the structural, institutional, and socio-cultural barriers that women encounter in accessing sexual and reproductive healthcare, with particular attention to HPV prevention, cervical cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment. Discussions highlighted that women frequently associate gynaecological examinations with feelings of shame, fear, stigma, violations of privacy, and experiences of symbolic violence, all of which discourage timely access to healthcare services. The workshop also emphasized that HPV continues to be framed largely as a "women's issue" in public discourse, placing the primary responsibility for prevention, screening, and treatment on women while rendering men's roles largely invisible. One of the workshop's key conclusions was the need to rethink women's health policies through the principles of gender equality, ethical communication, psychosocial support, and care-centred approaches. In this context, Kaygısız and Öztürk note that participants strongly advocated for making the HPV vaccine free of charge and universally accessible, alongside strengthening gender-sensitive healthcare services. The article argues that reducing gender inequalities in sexual and reproductive healthcare requires not only medical interventions but also comprehensive policy reforms that address the social, cultural, and institutional dimensions of healthcare access.

Another contribution, situated at the intersection of gender studies and history, comes from the field of political sociology. In her article, "The Gender Dimension of Nation-Building," Zeynep Aktaş examines the social positioning of women and men within nation-building processes through a gender perspective. Drawing on influential feminist scholarship from both Türkiye and the wider international literature, the article explores how nation-states reproduce gender norms while constructing ideals of the "national woman" and the "national man." Within this framework, Aktaş analyses the decisive role of patriarchal structures and gender roles in the formation of nation-states, offering a critique of the inherently masculine character of the classical concept of citizenship. She argues that women's participation in nation-building has historically been defined through patriarchal roles such as "mother," "wife," and "sister," while emphasizing that women subsequently challenged these prescribed identities through struggles for equal citizenship rights. Building on existing scholarship, Aktaş further demonstrates that masculinity has traditionally been represented within nation-building narratives as protective, heroic, militarized, and the primary subject of the public sphere, whereas femininity has been largely associated with the private sphere, the family, and social reproduction. Drawing on examples from Türkiye, the article highlights the significance of gender in understanding nation-building processes and discusses the intersections between nationalism, militarism, and the gendered construction of citizenship.

Selin Barışcan's review article, “Digital Transformation in Education: Changes and Resistance Mechanisms in Gender Role Attitudes,” examines the relationship between digital transformation in education and attitudes towards gender roles. Drawing on Social Learning Theory, Social Role Theory, Feminist Artificial Intelligence, and the concept of Algorithmic Resistance, the article explores whether technologies integrated into learning environments reproduce or challenge traditional gender norms. Through a critical review of the existing literature, Barışcan addresses an increasingly important debate at the intersection of gender, education, and digital technologies. Focusing on virtual learning environments, artificial intelligence applications, and virtual reality (VR) technologies, the article investigates how these digital tools shape gendered beliefs, attitudes, and socialization processes. The findings suggest that digital transformation in education has the potential to both reinforce and challenge existing social inequalities. In particular, the study highlights the capacity of inclusive VR applications to promote more egalitarian attitudes, while demonstrating that algorithmic bias and gendered digital interfaces may simultaneously reproduce gender stereotypes and discriminatory practices. The article further examines examples of feminist activism advocating for algorithmic justice and argues that the power relations embedded in digital design processes must be critically interrogated and deconstructed. Barışcan concludes that the impact of digital transformation in education depends not on technology itself, but on how technologies are designed, whose interests they serve, and the extent to which they are implemented in equitable, inclusive, and critically reflective ways.

We hope that the second issue of the Journal of Women and Society (JWAS) will make a meaningful interdisciplinary contribution to contemporary debates in gender studies and inspire new avenues of research across the social sciences and related fields.

Correction Note:

The article entitled "From Visibility to Exploitation: Rethinking Hashtag Feminism through Digital Labour," published in the previous issue of the Journal of Women and Society (JWAS), is a substantially revised and expanded version of the conference paper "Digital Labour and Hashtag Feminism," presented at the III Symposium on Gender Debates in the Social Sciences: 8 March Women's Labour, Contemporary Debates, held at Düzce University in 2025. Compared with the original conference paper, the published article has been significantly expanded in both its theoretical framework and engagement with the relevant literature. In addition, the discussion section has been substantially revised and further developed to provide a more comprehensive analysis of the subject. In accordance with the principles of academic transparency, we provide this explanatory note to inform our readers about the article's scholarly development and its relationship to the earlier conference presentation.

 Sibel Küçükkülahlı, Emel Coşkun, Pınar Pınarcıklı