Gender equality in Turkey.
Date: 2014-04-30
Institutions: Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union
Subjects: Türkiye, anti-discriminatory measure, domestic violence, equal treatment, gender equality, sexual discrimination

 
DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES 

POLICY DEPARTMENT C: CITIZENS' RIGHTS AND 

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS 


GENDER EQUALITY 

GENDER EQUALITY IN TURKEY 


NOTE 

Abstract 
This note reviews gender equality in Turkey with a focus on the existing 
legislation  and  programs.  The  issue  of  gender  equality  in  Turkey  is 
particularly important for Turkey’s adoption of EU norms and acquis. The 
main  challenges  in  this  respect  are  violence  against  women,  equal 
opportunities at the work place, paid and unpaid labour, hidden forms of 
discrimination 
and 
representation. 

decision-making 

political 

access 

and 

to 

PE 462.428 

EN 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
This document was requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Gender Equality. 

AUTHOR 
Prof. Dr. Meltem MÜFTÜLER-BAÇ 
Jean Monnet chair ad personam 
Sabancı University 
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences 
Orhanlı Tuzla 
Istanbul 34956 Turkey 
E-mail: Muftuler@sabanciuniv.edu 
Url: http://myweb.sabanciuniv.edu/muftuler 

RESPONSIBLE ADMINISTRATOR 
Mrs Claire GENTA 
Policy Department C - Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs 
European Parliament 
B-1047 Brussels 
E-mail: claire.genta@europarl.europa.eu 

LINGUISTIC VERSIONS 
Original: EN 

ABOUT THE EDITOR 
To contact the Policy Department or to subscribe to its newsletter please write to: 
poldep-citizens@europarl.europa.eu 

Manuscript completed in January 2012. 
Brussels, © European Parliament, 2012. 

This document is available on the Internet at: 
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/studies 

DISCLAIMER 
The opinions expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the author and do 
not necessarily represent the official position of the European Parliament. 

Reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes are authorized, provided the 
source is acknowledged and the publisher is given prior notice and sent a copy. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
CONTENTS 

CONTENTS 

Gender Equality in Turkey 

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BACKGROUND: THE TURKISH POLICY MAKING CONTEXT AND TURKEY AS A 

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SUI GENERIS POLITY 

1.  GENERAL DISPOSITIONS 

1.1.  Key legislation 

1.2.  Key institutional background 

1.3.  Key government-level policy documents 

2.  THEMATIC DISPOSITIONS 

2.1.  Gender Equality in Family 

2.2.  The eradication of gender based violence 

2.2.1.  Domestic Violence 

2.2.2.  Honour Killings 

2.3.  Access to decision making and political representation 

2.4.  Access to Employment 

3.  CONCLUSION 

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Policy Department C: Citizens' rights and Constitutional Affairs 

BACKGROUND:  THE  TURKISH  POLICY  MAKING  CONTEXT 
AND TURKEY AS A SUI GENERIS POLITY 

Turkey  is  located  in  a  unique  position  between  the  European  and  Asian  landmasses  in 
South Eastern Europe. It is a secular democracy with a predominantly Muslim population of 
about 75 million people.  Its predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, has straddled the Balkans, 
the Middle East, North Africa as well as central parts of Central Europe in its heyday.  This 
unique  historical  legacy  also  accounts  for  the  many  complexities  in  Turkish  political  and 
social  life.  The  modern  Turkish  Republic  was  established  in  1923  out  of  the  ashes  of  the 
Ottoman Empire.  The new Turkish Republic adopted a series of reforms, ranging from the 
separation  of  State  and  religion  to  women’s  rights.  In  1946,  Turkey  experienced  a 
transition to multi-party rule and since then, it is a functioning democracy with free and fair 
elections.    The  last  national  elections  were  held  on  June  12,  2011  with  the  ruling  party 
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) receiving 49.9% of the votes. 

Turkey  became  a  member  of  the  Council  of  Europe  in  1948.    It  signed  an  Association 
Agreement  with  the  then  European  Community  in  1963,  applied  for  full  membership  in 
1987 and was accepted by the European Union as an official candidate for accession in the 
Helsinki Council in 1999. 

On October 3, 2005, Turkey and the EU began accession negotiations.  Since 2005, Turkey 
and  the  European  Union  were  able  to  open  13  chapters  out  of  35  for  negotiations,  and 
provisionally  closed  the  chapter  on  Science  and  Research.    Turkey’s  adoption  of  the  EU 
accession criteria has been underway since 1999 with an increased pace in political reforms 
especially in 2004 and 2005.  Turkey’s gender equality policies could be seen as motivated 
partly  by  Turkey’s  preparations  for  EU  accession.  It  is  within  this  unique  background  that 
the  challenges  with  respect  to  gender  equality  in  Turkey  need  to  be  discussed.   This  
becomes critical as Turkey was ranked 129th out of 134 countries in the Gender Inequality 
Index in 2009.1 

The  issue  of  gender  equality  in  Turkey,  both  in  terms  of  legal  changes  and  societal 
awareness, goes way back to the early days of the Turkish Republic.  In 1925, a women’s 
movement for political participation was organised under the leadership of Nezihe Muhittin2 
(Zihnioğlu,  2003),  who  also  established  a  political party  for  women’s  rights,  Kadinlar  Halk 
Firkasi  (Women’s  People  Party).  In  1930,  Turkish  women  were  granted  to  vote  in  the 
municipal  elections  and  in  1934,  to  vote  in  national  elections  and  to  be  elected  to  office. 
This also meant that the Turkish women were able to exercise political rights-to vote and to 
be elected for public office many years before some European countries.  

In  1985,  Turkey  signed  and  ratified  the  Convention  on  the  Elimination  of  All  Forms  of 
Discrimination  against  Women  (CEDAW),  and  in  2000,  it  signed  the  Additional  Protocol  to 
CEDAW.    Turkey  initially  had  reservations  against  CEDAW’s  Articles  15  and  163,  but  lifted 
them  in  1999.  In  2002,  Turkey  signed  the  Optional  Protocol  (of  CEDAW)  that  allowed  the 
right  of  individual  petition  to  the  Convention’s  Committee  on  the  Elimination  of 

1  Global Gender Report, World Economic Forum, 2009: 

https://members.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/rankings2009.pdf. 

2  Nezihe Muhittin was a leading feminist at the beginning of the 20th century in Turkey. 
3  Art. 15.1: "States Parties shall accord to women equality with men before the law"; Art. 
16.1"States  Parties  shall  take  all  appropriate  measures  to  eliminate  discrimination 
against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations". 

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Gender Equality in Turkey 

Discrimination  against  Women.  In  2008,  Turkey  submitted  its  6th  Periodic  Report4  on 
eliminating  gender  based  discrimination  and  defended  the  report  in  front  of  the  CEDAW 
Committee  in  2010.      In  addition,  in  1995,  the  Turkish  government  signed  the  Beijing 
Declaration  of  the  Fourth  World  Conference  on  Women,  and  committed  itself  to  its  Action 
Plan.  

The  Turkish  adoption  of  the  EU  acquis  and  norms  enabled  significant  progress  on  policies 
on  gender  equality  (Müftüler-Bac  and  Fisher  Onar  2011).  The  main  issues,  over  which 
gender  equality  policy  in  Turkey  is  debated,  are  legal  changes  within  the  key  auspices  of 
the Constitution, the Civil Code, and the Penal Code. Directly related to these concerns are 
violence  against  women  and  women’s  employment.  In  addition,  gender  equality  debates 
and  policies  are  impacted  from  concerns  over  the  ban  on  Islamic  headscarf  in  public 
institutions,  the  criminalization  of  adultery,  and  women’s  representation  in  political 
decision-making. 

1.  GENERAL DISPOSITIONS 

1.1. 

Key legislation 

In Turkey, the Constitution is the fundamental document regulating and guiding all  issues 
relating  to  gender  equality.  In  addition  to  the  Constitution,  the  main  legal  documents 
regulating gender policy are: the Turkish Civil Code, Labour Law and the Penal Code. In the 
last ten years, the Turkish Civil Code and the Penal Code were completely changed and a 
number of amendments were made in the other legal documents. 

Article  10  of  the  Turkish  Constitution  envisages  ‘equality  before  law’;  this  Article  is 
amended  by  the  Turkish  Grand  National  Assembly  on  May  7,  2004  as  “Men  and  women 
have equal rights and the State is responsible for the measures to implement those rights”. 
The Turkish Grand National Assembly adopted amendments to the Constitution on October 
3, 2001 in Articles 41 and 66 for gender equality within the family, these changes became 
operational on October 17, 2001.  

In terms of legal changes on gender equality, one might list the measures that include civil 
code  reforms  and  constitutional  amendments  (Articles  10,  41,  and  66)  to  ensure  gender 
equality  inside  the  family  and  before  the  law.    Furthermore,  the  Amendment  adopted  for 
Article  90  of  the  Constitution  in  2004  ensures  that  CEDAW  has  precedent  in  case  of  a 
conflict  with  national  law,  thus  making  CEDAW  superior  to  national  law  in  gender  policy. 
The  Constitutional  Amendments  to  Articles  10  and  90  voted  in  2004,  and  finally  those  to 
Article 10 decided in 2010 were all made to ensure gender equality in legislation.  In 2010, 
women’s  organizations  pressed  for  the  inclusion  of  positive  discrimination  measures  into 
Article 10 but were not successful. 

The  2005  Turkish  Penal  Code  (Articles  5  and  122)  states  clearly  that  “no  discrimination 
shall  be  made  between  persons  with  respect  of  sex” among  others  to  ensure  gender 
equality  and  the  2001  Turkish  Civil  Code  adopted  the  legal  measures  to  ensure  gender 
equality in family. 

4 

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/docs/co/CEDAW-C-TUR-CO-6.pdf. 

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Policy Department C: Citizens' rights and Constitutional Affairs 

in  March  2009, 

In  February  2009,  the  Law  for  the  Equal  Opportunities  Commission  for  Women  and  Men, 
adopted.  Consequently, 
Law  no  5840,  was 
an  Equal 
Opportunities Commission 
in  the  Turkish  Grand  National  Assembly,  composed  of 
parliamentarians  from  different  political  parties,  was  established.  This  was  a  critical 
development  for  gender  equality  in  Turkey  because  having  a  Commission  at  this  level 
means  that  legal  proposals  and  amendments  prepared  by  the  government  and/or 
parliamentary  commissions  are  analyzed  by  the  Commission  from  a  gender  equality 
perspective.  The  Commission  works  towards  the  adoption  of  tools  that  would  eliminate 
gender based discrimination at all levels of public life. It also accepts individual applications 
and  complaints  on  gender  based  discrimination  from  all  segments  of  the  Turkish  society. 
The  Commission  also  ensures  the  compatibility  of  Turkish  legislation  with  Turkey’s 
international commitments such as CEDAW. 

These series of changes in legislation were specifically aimed to harmonize the Turkish laws 
on women’s rights the EU acquis communataire. 

1.2. 

Key institutional background  

In  1987,  a  separate  unit  ‘Advisory  Board  for  policies  with  regards  to  Women’,  to  increase 
gender awareness in public policies was established within the State Planning Organization 
with  the  participation  of  representatives  from  public  agencies,  non-governmental 
organizations and universities. This is the first time that a separate unit for gender equality 
was created in the public sector. Upon the ratification of the CEDAW, in order to realize the 
goals  of  eliminating  all  forms  of  discrimination  against  women,  a  Directorate  for  women’s 
rights  and  gender  equality  was  established  in  1990:  the  General  Directorate  of  Women’s 
Status,  (Kadının  Statüsü  Genel  Müdürlüğü,  KSGM).    The  KSGM  was  initially  tied  to  the 
Ministry of Labour and Social Security, but in 1991, it was transferred to the Office of the 
Prime Minister. It coordinates the Women’s Status Units which are established in different 
provinces  in  Turkey.  Its  main  mission  is  to  promote  gender  equality  in  Turkey  by 
developing programs and policies to reduce all forms of gender based discrimination. KSGM 
puts  together  the  reports  on  gender  policy  including  the  periodic  reports  for  CEDAW,  the 
national  action  plans  for  gender  equality,  and  runs  the  training  programs  for  public 
institutions.  It  also  works  jointly  with  Ministries  on  gender  related  issues  such  as  violence 
against women.  

A  Ministry  of  State  position  for  Women  and  Family  Affairs  was  initially  established  also  to 
deal  with  gender  policy.  However,  when  this  was  transformed  into  a  separate  Ministry  in  
2011, the Ministry for Family and Social Policies, with Decree no 663, it was broadened into 
a  ministry  in  charge  of  dealing  with  all  matters  under  social  policy.    On  8  June  2011,  the 
KSGM  was  restructured  as  one  of  the  main  units  under  the  Ministry for  Family  and  Social 
Policies. The Ministry specifically addresses gender policy related issues; however, the term 
‘women’  was  omitted  from  its  name.  This,  in  turn,  frustrated  women’s  organizations  in 
Turkey who wanted to see a Ministry for Women’s Status, rather than a ministry for family. 
According  to  Nazan  Moroğlu,  the  Coordinator  for  Istanbul  Women’s  Associations,  "gender 
equality is the main criterion for democracy in a country. The closure of the State Ministry 
for  Women  and  Family  Affairs  and  its  replacement  with  a  Ministry  of  Family  and  Social 
Policies are steps back regarding the goal of gender equality."5 

5 

http://bianet.org/bianet/kadin/130042-moroglu-aile-ve-sosyal-politikalar-degil-kadin­

bakanligi-istiyoruz. 

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Gender Equality in Turkey 

In addition to the KSGM and the Ministry for Family and Social Policies, there are a number 
of  platforms  composed  of  governmental  units,  civil  society  actors  and  stake  holders  that 
are working in the field of gender equality policy. In 2005, an Advisory Board on the Status 
of Women headed by the Minister of Women and Family Affairs, later the Family and Social 
Policies,  was  established  with  the  participation  of  representatives  from  the  ministries, 
academic  institutions  and  NGOs.    In  addition,  women’s  associations  are  very  active.  For 
example, 126 women organizations participated in the Medeni Kanun Kadın Platformu [The 
Civil Code Women Platform] as well as in the Women’s Penal Code Platform. In addition, a 
women’s  platform  composed  of  220  women  organizations,  Şiddete  Son  Platformu, 
participates in the movement to stop all kinds of gender based violence. Since 2011, there 
is also a Women Platform for the Constitution, formed by women’s associations which lobby 
for  their  demands  on  gender  policy  in  the  Constitution  Platform  and  Constitution 
Reconciliation  Platform.6  The  Women  Platform  actively  presents  its  own  views  by  sending 
its proposals to all the main policy makers (Anayasa Kadın Platformu 2007). 

The  Equal  Opportunities  Commission,  established  in  2009,  brings  all  of  these  proposals 
together  and  acts  as  the  main  communications  channel.  For  example,  as  of  2012,  the 
Commission  investigates  the  legal  amendment  proposals  for  Civil  Code  that  would  allow 
divorced  women  to  remarry  within  one  year  and  for  the  Law  on  the  Protection  of  the 
Family, extending protection against domestic violence to non-married women as well. 

1.3. 

Key government-level policy documents 

In 2007, the KSGM prepared the National Action Plan for Societal Gender Equality for 2008­
2013  which  focuses  on  the  elimination  of  gender  based  inequality  in  education,  health, 
poverty, and access to decision making processes. The Action plan focuses on the possible 
avenues  of  action  to  eliminate  inequality  and  impact  Turkey’s  gender  policy  and  was 
prepared  in  line  with  the  EU’s  Twinning  Project  in  2008,  “Promoting  Gender  Equality, 
Strengthening Institutional Capacity”,  7 and is implemented by the General Directorate on 
the  Status  of  Women.  The  National  Action  plan  identifies  seven  related  areas- education, 
economy, poverty, power and decision-making, health, media, and environment- which are 
in need of special programs to address gender equality in Turkey. These areas are also the 
priority  areas  of  the  Beijing  Action  Platform.    The  Action  Plan  is  in  line  with  the  EU  
accession  criteria  and  is  co-funded  by  the  Turkish  government  and  the  European  Union. 
This document reflects the priorities under the EU accession process for gender policy. 

The  Turkish  government’s  9th  Development  Plan  for  the  period  of  2007-2013  also  aims  to 
improve Turkey’s gender based inequality by increasing women’s participation labour force. 
The goals in the National Action plan for gender equality and the 9th Development Plan are 
mutually  reinforcing.  In  addition  to  these  plans,  there  are  also  series  of  reports  published 
by  the  Parliamentary  Committee  on  Equal  Opportunities  ranging  from  early  and  forced 
marriages,  violence,  bullying  at  the  workplace.  The  Action  plans  and  the  reports  increase 
the public visibility of gender related issues and also demonstrate the Turkish governments’ 
resolve to eradicate the basis of gender inequality. 

6	  When the Constitutional Reform process was launched in 2011, the Turkish government 
formed  a  Constitution  Reconciliation  Commission  in  which  different  political  parties 
present  their  views  on  the  reform  process  as  well  as  a  Constitution  platform  in  which 
civil society organizations participate. 

7 

http://www.undp.org.tr/publicationsDocuments/National%20Action%20Plan%20on%20 
Gender%20Equality.pdf. 

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Policy Department C: Citizens' rights and Constitutional Affairs 

2.  THEMATIC DISPOSITIONS 


2.1. 

Gender Equality in Family 

Gender  policy  in  family  is  an  important  measure  of  equality.  The  legal  basis  of  gender 
policy  in  family  matters  is  the  Civil  Code.    The  previous  Civil  Code  in  Turkey  which  dated 
back  to  1926  was  not  strong  in  gender  equality.    The  Turkish  Grand  National  Assembly 
adopted  a  new  Civil  Code  on  November  22,  2001,  largely  motivated  by  the  Turkish 
harmonization process to the EU acquis. (Kıvılcım-Forsman 2004)  The Civil Code, Law no 
4721,  became  operational  on  January  1,  2002.    Some  scholars  argue  that  the  women’s 
organizations  demands  were  strengthened  by  EU  pressure,  (Arat  1999;  Cindoğlu  and 
Zencirci 2008) as a result of which Turkey had overhauled its civil code in keeping with the 
principle  of  non-discrimination.  The  New  Civil  Code  adopted  measures  that  would 
complement the changes in the Constitution by strengthening women’s place in the family 
and  social  order.    For  example,  the  Civil  Code  increased  the  legal  marriage  age  to  18  for 
both  sexes-which  was  17  for  men,  and  15  for  women  previously.    In  addition,  the  Civil 
Code  introduced  the  legal  basis  for  the  sharing  of  marital  assets  in  case  of  divorce  and 
granted the same heredity rights to children born out of wedlock with children of legitimate 
birth. 

On  January  9,  2003,  Family  Courts  were  established  in  all  districts  with  population  higher 
than  100.000  in  order  to  enforce  the  civil  code  and  ensure  gender  equality.  The  Family 
courts  have  jurisdiction  for  gender  policy  in  family  as  well  as  for  the  legislation  on  the 
protection of the family. 

Directly  related  to  gender  equality  in  family  is  the  issue  of  married  women’s  surnames. 
Especially contentious issue in gender equality in Turkey is with respect to women’s ability 
to carry their own surname after marriage.  On May 22, 1997, an amendment on the Civil 
Code’s  then  Article  153  allowed  women  to  carry  their  own  surnames  along  with  their 
husbands. However, married women’s right to carry their own surname is still problematic. 
Even with this legal right that allows women to carry their own surnames albeit along with 
their  spouses,  when  it  comes  to  practice,  a  women’s  legal  right  is  ignored.    Thus,  even 
though the legal right to carry both surnames is there, when it comes to practice, there is 
almost  always  a  blatant  disregard  for  women’s  legal  right.    This  is  a  very  important  point 
regarding almost every gender related law in Turkey, i.e., the right that exists on paper is 
protected  by  law  but  its  implementation  is  problematic.  Furthermore,  women’s  rights 
groups  advocate  the  position  that  married  women  should  be  able  to  carry  only  their  own  
surnames, not their spouses’ along with theirs, linking their arguments to gender equality 
and to individual rights for women. This inability to carry one’s own surname only is argued 
to  be  specifically  in  violation  of  Article  17  of  the  Constitution.    As  a  result,  a  group  of 
Turkish  women  opened  a  case  in  the  family  courts  to  use  only  their  own  surnames. 
However, in 2011, the Constitutional Court ruled that “The Article in the Turkish Civil code 
that  states  when  a  women  marries,  she  should  carry  her  husband’s  surname  or  her  own 
surname along with her husband’s, is not unconstitutional”,8 albeit, effectively ending this 
debate on the right of married women to carry their surnames only. 

8  ‘Yargı Kadını Kocasının Soyadına Mahkum etti’, Radikal , 20 October 2011, 

http://www.radikal.com.tr/Radikal.aspx?aType=RadikalDetayV3&Date=&ArticleID=1067 
077&CategoryID=77. 

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Gender Equality in Turkey 

2.2. 

The eradication of gender based violence 

Domestic  violence  and  gender  based  violence  in  Turkey  takes  different  forms,  on  the  one 
hand, women are the victims of domestic violence by their husbands and boyfriends and 
on the other hand, a specific type of violence against women exist under ‘honour killings’. 
Even  though  both  are  gender  based  violence,  different  forms  of  laws  apply  to  these.  On 
May 17 2004, the Directorate for Women’s Status (KSGM) which was granted by the Article 
90  of  the  Constitution  to  establish  “Committee  for  the  prevention  of  Violence  Against 
Women”,  put  together  a  Committee  composed  of  all  the  public  institutions  and 
representatives of the civil society organizations.  

Domestic  violence  is  widespread  in  certain  parts  of  Turkey  and  is  an  ongoing  problem 
impacting  gender  policy  in  Turkey.  According  to  Ministry  of  Justice  reports,  there  is  a 
substantial  increase  in  women  slayings  from  2002  to  2009  (TBMM  Tutanak  Dergisi  2010), 
In 2002, 66 women, in 2003 83 women, in 2004 164 women, in 2005 317 women, in 2006 
663  women,  in  2007  1011  women,  in  2008  806  women  and  in  the  first  seven  months  of 
2009,  953  women  were  murdered,  these  include  all  the  slayings  of  women  in  Turkey. 
Gender based violence has been on the public agenda in Turkey both with increased media 
coverage  and  the  state  officials’  emphasis  on  this  issue.    Specifically,  the  changes  in  the 
2005 Penal Code introduced substantive measures against gender based violence.  

The Penal Code brought a breakthrough development in terms of gender policy, for the first 
time, crimes committed against women were classified as ‘crimes against individual’, rather 
than  crimes  against  family  or  social  order.  This  indicated  a  paradigmatic  shift  in  Turkish 
legislation in terms of gender policy.  

2.2.1. 

Domestic Violence 

On June 9, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights of the Council of Europe ruled that 
Turkey was in violation of its obligations to protect women from domestic violence, in the 
Opuz  vs.  Turkey  case9  (ECHR  33401/02).  The  ruling  was  based  on  an  application  by  a 
Turkish  woman  who  argued  that  the  Turkish  government  failed  to  protect  her  and  her 
mother  against  her  mother’s  husband  who  abused  them  repeatedly  and  murdered  the 
mother.  This  ruling  was  a  first  time  acknowledgement  that  violence  against  women 
constitutes  a  form  of  discrimination  according  to  the  European  Convention  on  Human 
Rights. 

Turkey  already  began  to  take  measures  to  combat  domestic  violence  back  in  1990s.  On 
January  17,  1998,  Article  4320,  ‘The  Law  on  Protection  of  the  Family’,  was  adopted  to 
combat  domestic  violence  against  women  and  children.    The  law  gave  the  victims  of 
domestic abuse, both women and children, the right to petition an individual complaint or 
from  a  prosecutor’s  office  for  an  order  from  the  family  courts  which  were  established  in 
2003.  The  Prosecutor’s  Office  is  expected  to  protect  the  victims  and  specify  possible 
punishments in case the victims are not protected.  Article 4320 was extended in 2007 to 
include all members of extended family.  The implementation procedures of the law along 
with its amendments were put into force in 2008. However, there are still limitations in the 
implementation  of  the  law.    An  important  point  here  is  that  the  law  addresses  domestic 
violence within the family and not against ‘women’ as an individual. Equally important, the 
law  does  not  grant  sufficient  protection  for  the  non-married  women  who  might  also  be 

9 

http://www.hrlc.org.au/year/2009/opuz-v-turkey-2009-echr-3340102-9-june-2009/. 

9 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
  
 
 
Policy Department C: Citizens' rights and Constitutional Affairs 

victims  of  domestic  violence,  precisely  because  the  law  provides  a  protective  barrier  for 
members of family. Those victims of domestic violence who are not legal spouses of their 
abusers are not currently covered by the provisions of the law on protection of the family. 

An important measure to help victims of domestic violence is to provide them with shelters. 
The  2004  Municipality  Law  No.5393  requires  municipalities  with  a  population  larger  than 
50,000  to  provide  women  and  children’s  shelters.  The  first  shelter  for  women  was 
established in 1990 in Istanbul by Bakırkoy municipality. In addition, in 1995, a non-profit 
based  NGO  Mor  Çatı  Kadın  Sığınağı  Vakfi  began  its  operations  by  opening  women’s 
shelters.  Nonetheless,  the  number  of  shelters  in  Turkey  is  insufficient  and  the 
implementation of the Law 5393 is not yet complete. What is more, there are also reports 
from  the  victims  of  violence  that  the  personnel  at  the  shelters  try  to  reconcile  them  with 
their  abusers  and  sometimes  even  let  them  in.    This  particularly  sheds  light  onto  the 
inability  of  the  state  to  protect  victims  of  domestic  violence  as  police  and  social  workers 
sometimes  are  reported  to  convince  victims  of  domestic  violence  to  reconcile  with  their 
abusers.  This  also  indicates  that  legal  changes  need  to  be  accompanied  with  normative 
changes and social transformation in order to be effective. 

In  2008,  the  National  Research  on  Domestic  Violence  against  Women  in  Turkey10  was 
launched by the General Directorate of Women’s affairs and the EU Delegation with the aim 
to  gather  information  on  domestic  violence  against  women.    The  research  found  out  that 
between 26 % to 57% of married women, depending on the regions within which they live, 
have been subject to domestic violence at least once in their life. Since 2011, the Ministry 
on Family and Social Policies is working on “The Draft Law on the Protection of Women and 
Family  Members  from  Violence”  in  order  to  respond  effectively  to  domestic  violence.  The 
possible amendments to the Law on the Protection of the Family are particularly important 
as the Human Rights Watch report ‘He Loves You, He Beats You’11 of May 2011 found out 
that women subject to violence in Turkey are not adequately protected, echoing the ECHR’s 
Opuz decision of 2009.   

2.2.2. 

Honour Killings 

Honour killings in Turkey emerge as one of the most important problems in terms of gender 
policy.  The  honour  killings  are  an  ongoing  social  problem  and  their  elimination  does  not 
seem  possible  only  with  legal  changes,  social  transformation  is  needed  to  address  this 
issue.  In  terms  of  legal  basis,  the  Turkish  Penal  Code  is  the  main  legal  document  dealing 
with  honour  killings.  On  15  June  2003,  the  Turkish  Grand  National  Assembly  adopted  the 
Sixth  Harmonization  Package  to  the  EU  criteria,  and  as  part  of  this  package,  Articles  462 
and  453  of  the  Penal  Code  were  changed  to  increase  the  sentences  for  honour  killings  to 
the  perpetuators  and  they  eliminated  the  clauses  which  allow  reduction  in  sentences  for 
honour killings. This was an important step for combating honour killings, which was then 
broadened with the Penal Code of 2004. Previously, reductions in sentences were possible 
in honour killings if the perpetuator was under age or if the judge ruled that the crime was 
committed under undue provocation by the victim.   

10 Turkish Republic Prime Ministry General Directorate on the Status of Women, Hacettepe 
University  Institute  of  Population  Studies,  ICON-Institut  Public  Sector  GmbH  and  BNB 
Consulting  (2009)  National  Research  on  Domestic  Violence  against  Women  in  Turkey 
2008. http://kadininstatusu.gov.tr/upload/mce/eski_site/tdvaw/default.htm. 

11  http://www.hrw.org/node/98418. 

10
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
 
 
  
 
 
Gender Equality in Turkey 

On  September  26,  2004,  a  new  Penal  Code  was  adopted  which  enabled  Turkey  to 
harmonize its penal law to the EU norms and criteria. The Code was put into force on June 
1,  2005.  Article  3  the  Penal  Code  states  that  “no  discrimination  shall  be  made  between 
persons  in  respect  of  race,  language,  religion,  sect,  nationality,  colour,  sex,  political  or 
other opinion, philosophical belief, national or social background, birth, economic and other 
social  status  and  no  one  shall  be  granted  any  privileges  in  implementation  of  the  Penal 
Code“. 

Accordingly,  around  30  different  articles  in  the  Penal  code  were  specifically  designed  to 
promote  gender  equality.  In  terms  of  gender  policy,  the  new  Penal  Code  introduced 
significant  changes  such  as  banning  virginity  tests,  longer  prison  terms  for  polygamy  and 
for non-registration of religious marriage. The Code addressed a most pressing problem in 
gender  policy  in  Turkey,  the  issue  of  honour  killings.    The  Code  changed  the  conditions 
under  which  honour  killings  were  put  on  trial,  and  brought  life  imprisonment  charges  for 
those convicted of honour crimes. 

Equally  important,  the  new  Penal  Code  introduced  higher  and  stricter  sentences  for  all 
cases of sexual assault. More specifically, it brought a breakthrough change in Turkish law 
by criminalizing sexual assault within marriage. 

When  the  Penal  Code  was  put  into  force  in  2005,  series  of  campaigns  were  organized  to 
combat  gender  based  violence.  For  the  elimination  of  gender  based  violence,  on  May  18, 
2005,  the  Turkish  Grand  National  Assembly  adopted  Decision  no  849  to  establish  a 
“Parliament  Search  Commission”  for  investigating  the  causes  of  violence  against  women 
and  children,  and  identifying  possible  measures  to  prevent  it.  The  Commission’s  findings 
have been published as a Prime Ministerial Circular no. 2006/17 in the Official Gazette on 4 
July  2006.    This  Decree  required  the  listed  units  and  institutions  to  report  to  the  Sosyal 
Hizmetler ve Çocuk Esirgeme Kurumu for violence against children and to Kadının Statüsü 
Genel  Müdürlüğü  for  violence  against  women  every  three  months.  A  Hotline  for  Gender 
Based Violence -183- was extended to all of the 81 provinces in 2006. On 3 January 2008, 
a Protocol on “The Role of Health Personnel in Combating Violence Against Women and the 
Applicable Procedures” was signed between KSGM and the Ministry of Health. Also in 2008, 
programs were developed to augment gender awareness among health workers, the police, 
and  actors  within  the  judiciary  from  prosecutors  to  judges.  The  training  of  public  officials 
for  signs  of  domestic  violence  and  gender  based  violence  has  begun  to  bear  results  in 
2011. 

In May 2011, a new Council of Europe "Convention on preventing and combating violence 
against  women  and  domestic  violence”was  drawn  upon  in  Istanbul  and  signed  by  Turkey. 
The  Turkish  government  actively  worked  within  the  Council  of  Europe  during  its  term  of 
Committee  of  Ministers  in  spring  2011  for  the  adoption  of  the  text  and  was  a  strong 
supporter,  thereby  signalling  its  resolve  to  end  all  gender  based  violence.  These 
developments  signalled  that  a  broader  campaign  is  underway  to  eliminate  gender  based 
violence  along  with  social  transformation.  Accordingly,  there  is  now  more  public  visibility 
and reporting of domestic violence with strong support to the women’s movements to stop 
all forms of gender based violence in Turkey.  

11 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Policy Department C: Citizens' rights and Constitutional Affairs 

2.3. 

Access to decision making and political representation  

Despite  having  the  right  to  vote  and  to  be  elected  to  public  office  since  1934,  Turkish 
women’s access to decision-making and political representation is low. In the 2011 national 
elections,  78  women  were  elected  into  the  Turkish  Parliament  of  550  seats  compared  to 
only  50  women  MPs  in  the  2007  national  elections.  Currently,  there  is  only  one  women 
minister, the Minister for Family and Social Policies.  In terms of women’s representation in 
local government, Turkish women hold only 0.42 percent of seats in the municipal councils. 
In  addition,  out  of  2,948  mayors  in  Turkey  in  municipal  government,  only  %0,  9  (27)  of 
those are women.  Both in 2004 and 2010, when the Constitutional Amendments for Article 
10 were discussed, women’s organization demanded the Article 10 to be revised to include 
affirmative  action  for  women’s  access  to  political  decision  making,  specifically  requesting 
that 
increasing  women’s 
representation.  Specifically, it could be phrased as “women and men have equal rights and 
the  state  has  the  obligation  to  ensure  the  implementation  of  these  rights”.  Women’s 
organizations  demand  that  the  Political  Parties  and  Elections  Acts  should  be  amended  to 
involve a minimum 30% gender quota system.12 This would at least ensure a higher level 
of  political  representation. 
The  suggested  quota  system  is  so  far  not  accepted; 
nonetheless, positive discrimination measures for women are currently being debated.  

take  necessary  measures 

the  government  would 

for 

2.4. 

Access to Employment 

In terms of women’s access to employment and equal pay, the Constitution with its Article 
5 is pretty clear: “There cannot be any discrimination based on language, ethnicity, gender, 
political alignment, philosophical ideology, religious beliefs and anything else similar in the 
work  environment.”  For  equal  pay,  the  Constitution  states:  “For  equal  or  equivalent  jobs, 
there cannot be a disparity of wages based on gender.” Turkey adopted Articles 16 and 8 of 
the European Social Charter, the right of the family for economic, social protection and the 
right  of  the  employed  women  for  the  protection  of  maternity  and  incorporated  these 
Articles to its Constitution (Article 50) and the 2003 Labour Law (Article 74).   

Despite  the  legal  basis  for  gender  equality  in  the  workplace,  the  women’s  participation  in 
the work force is the lowest among the OECD countries. Only 22.8 % of women in Turkey 
currently work (three out of four women are not in the labour market).   In addition, 57.2 
% of women work in the agriculture sector and 50 % of them in the agriculture sector are 
part  of  family  work  force  without  being  paid.  Interestingly,  when  one  looks  at  the  female 
participation  in  professional  ranks,  the  picture  looks  a  bit  different.  Currently,  women 
constitute 27, 4% of full professors, 41, 5% of university staff, 39% of the architects, 36 % 
of the lawyers and 50, 2 % of the bankers, indicating that among the university graduates, 
women’s participation in the labour market is less of a problem.  The 9th Development plan 
targets women’s rate of participation in labour force to become 29.6 % by 2013.  This is, of 
course, still behind the EU’s Lisbon goals of 60%.  

An  effective  barrier  to  women’s  access  to  the  labour  force  is  the  traditional  family  values 
which stereotypes men as the breadwinner and the women as the homemaker. In addition, 
access  to  the  labour  market  is  directly  impacted  from  lack  of  education  and  women’s 

12	  Women Demand More Voice in Turkish Politics, Hurriyet Daily Newspaper, June 7, 2011. 

http://www.ka-der.org.tr/en/container.php?act=sayfa&id00=123&id01=101. 

12
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
  
 
 
 
 
 
Gender Equality in Turkey 

responsibilities at home for children and elderly care. Article 192 of the Civil Code specifies 
that  “None  of  the  spouses  is  required  to  get  their  partners’  permission  in  their  choice  of 
work  and  profession”  and  by  doing  so,  clarifies  the  legal  basis  for  the  right  of  married 
women  to  work  outside  the  home.  Nonetheless,  it  is  seen  that  women’s  access  to  the 
labour force could still be controlled by their husbands, especially in lower socio economic 
groups. 

This factor is most effective in socioeconomic groups with lower education, so it  is almost 
without  doubt  that  in  order  to  increase  women’s  participation  in  the  labour  market,  their 
access to education also needs to be improved.  This is particularly important as 12% of all 
women in Turkey are illiterate, and around 80% of that group is over age 50. This means 
that changes in the education system adopted in 1997 impacted the illiteracy rates among 
women and enabled Turkey to address a critical matter in girls’ education.  The access to 
education  for  girls  in  Turkey  has  shown  significant  improvement  with  campaigns  such  as 
“Haydi, kizlar Okula (Let’s go to school, girls) and the educational reforms of 1997.  

One also needs to note that there is a great variation between different regions of Turkey in 
terms  of  access  to  employment  and  education  with  South  East  and  Eastern  regions  of 
Turkey as the worst performers.  

In  May  2003,  a  new  labour  law, Law  no.4857,  revised  the  legislation  on  employment  to 
ensure equal treatment regardless of gender, ethnicity, or race. This law, establishing the 
principle  of  anti-discrimination  in  employment  became  operational  on  June  10,  2003. 
Accordingly, on January 22, 2004, a Prime Minister Decree aimed at protecting the gender 
equality  principle  in  civil  officials'  hirings.    The  Decree  ordered  the  public  institutions  to 
protect  the  gender  equality  principle  in  hirings  in  line  with  the  Constitution  and  the 
international agreements that the Turkish government is party to. In line with the National 
Action  Plan  on  Gender  Equality,  in  2008,  the  government  amended  the  Labour  Law  to 
promote  women’s  employment  under  an  "Employment  Package".  Regarding  more 
particularly  the  issue  of  equal  pay,  Turkey  adopted  the  ILO  convention  on  equal  pay  in 
1966.  Later,  the  2003  Labour  Law  set  the  legal  basis  for  equal  pay  for  equal  work,  and 
stated that there could not be any discrimination against women in the workplace based on 
their gender roles.  Additionally, the Labour Law also benefits from the 2005 Penal Code’s 
definition of sexual harassment at work. 

Women’s employment is also tied to conditions of social security.  In May 2006, a new Law 
on Social Security and General Health Insurance, Law 5510, was adopted which merged the 
different  security  systems  into  one  structure,  and  adopted  harmonized  legislation  for 
maternity  and  breastfeeding  leaves,  pensions  plans,  thereby  regulating  the  working 
conditions  for  women.  In  February  2011,  some  articles  of  the  2003  Labour  Law  were 
revised  to  ensure  the  rules  of  maternity  leave  for  women  which  is  mandatory  for  sixteen 
weeks  and  fully  paid  by  the  social  security  system,  and  it  could  be  extended  to  twelve 
months for civil servants and six months for others on an unpaid basis.  In addition, women 
employers could also use paid leaves for breast feeding, and employers can not terminate 
job contracts on grounds of pregnancy as required by the EU acquis.  The law also brought 
new  regulations  for  part  time  work  that  would  benefit  women,  specifically  Labour  Law’s 
Articles  13  and  14  were  revised  to  incorporate  domestic  help  workers  into  the  social 
security  system.  In  February  2011,  a  law  on  public  institutions’  personnel  hirings  was 
adopted.  Its  Article  6111  amended  the  working  conditions  for  the  women  employees  in 
public  institutions  set  under  Civil  Servants  Law  no  657,  especially  for  maternity  leave 
clauses and granted paternity leave as well. 

13 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
   
 
 
Policy Department C: Citizens' rights and Constitutional Affairs 

In  2006,  27  women  organizations  established  a  platform  “Women’s  Labour  and 
Employment  Initiative  Platform”  (KEIG),  specifically  to  address  the  obstacles  to  gender 
equality.  In  2009,  KEIG  proposed  a  series  of  amendments  to  Labour  Law.13  KAGIDER,  a 
leading  women’s  NGO  based  in  Istanbul  began  the  campaign,  ‘Çalışmak  İstiyoruz’  (We 
Want  to  Work)  in  order  to  increase  women’s  participation  in  the  labour  force.  Similarly, 
there  is  a  pilot  project  to  increase  women’s  employment  jointly  conducted  by  the 
International  Labour  Organization  (ILO)  and  the  Turkish  Employment  Organization 
(İŞKUR). 
In  2010,  the  Prime  Minister  Circular  2010/14  on  “Increasing  Women’s 
employment and achieving equality of opportunity” was adopted specifying the measures to 
be taken to increase women’s employment, Accordingly, the Turkish government adopted a 
measure  that  would  discriminate  positively  the  female  workers  over  the  age  of  18  by 
granting  the  employers  who  hire  them  exceptions  in  social  security  payments.  Turkish  Iş 
Kurumu  Genel  Müdürlüğü  and  the  European  Commission  cooperated  in  two  different 
projects “Active Labour program projects I and II” for 2003-2006 and 2008-2010 periods. 
There  is  also  a  “Twinning  project  for  promoting  gender  equality  in  working  life”14  with 
funding from the European Commission for 2010-2012 period. 

Of  course,  a  critical  matter  in  increasing  women’s  employment  is  balancing  mothering 
duties  and  work  responsibilities.  The  social  customs  also  act  as  effective  barriers  to 
women’s access to jobs. In line with the EU’s employment initiative, the Turkish Ministry of 
Labour is working on measures to increase women’s employment in Turkey. An important 
change that needs to be done is securing women’s access to maternity leave for all.15 Thus, 
with the 2003 Labour Law and the amendments adopted in 2011, critical steps were taken 
in  harmonizing  Turkish  legislation  to  EU  acquis.  However,  challenges  still  remain  in 
addressing  the  gap  for  women’s  employment  specifically  in  terms  of  increased  access  to 
education, social security legislation and a balancing of familial duties. 

3.  CONCLUSION 

There  have  been  significant  steps  in  Turkey’s  gender  policy  in  the  last  two  decades, 
especially  with  the  aim  of  making  Turkey’s  legislation  closer  to  the  EU  acquis.  The 
substantive changes in the field of gender equality began in the 1990s with the steps taken 
to  adjust  to  CEDAW,  and  Turkey’s  EU  accession  process  speeded  up  the  transformation. 
The amendments to the Constitution, the Penal Code and the Civil Code are all significant 
to  ensure  a  better  gender  equality.  Most  importantly,  even  though  legal  basis  for  gender 
equality  has  been  set  up  in  Turkey,  its  implementation  is  limited  by  the  prevalent  social 
norms and practices. This is particularly important for domestic violence, gender equality in 
family  and  access  to  employment.    Most  often,  the  society  prevents  women  to  exercise 
their  rights  that  exist  on  paper.  Thus,  a  social  transformation  is  needed.  In  that  sense, 
women’s  organizations'  activities,  campaigns  in  the  media,  training  of  public  officials,  and 
increased  societal  awareness  on  gender  equality  could  bear  fruits.    Significant  progress  is 
especially needed in the area of gender based violence.   

13  Women’s Labour and Employment Initiative Platform, “Women’s Labour and Employment 
2009, 

Policy  Suggestions,”  April 

Turkey: 

in 
http://www.wwhr.org/files/keigpolicyreportweb.pdf. 

Problem  Areas 

and 

17, 

14  http://www.isteesitlik.org/index_en.asp. 
15 

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-203643-rights-activist-ilkkaracan-turkey-needs­

urgent-initiative-on-gender-equality.html. 

14
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Gender Equality in Turkey 

Some  possible  steps  to  be  taken  could  be:  the  establishment  of  a  Ministry  for  Women 
(currently there is a ministry for family and social policies), the adoption of an Equal Status 
Act  for  the  elimination  of  discrimination  at  the  workplace,  increasing  women’s  access  to 
education and employment specifically in the less privileged classes of the Turkish society, 
and the adoption of women friendly policies such as child care facilities. More work is also 
needed  on  increasing  women’s  representation  in  decision-making  at  all  levels  of  public 
service, local and national. 

15 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
Policy Department C: Citizens' rights and Constitutional Affairs 

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	  Arat,  Yeşim  (1999)  Political  Islam  in  Turkey  and  Women’s  organizations,  Istanbul: 

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16