View source for Women in Turkey

{{Short description|none}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox women
|image         = Feminist protest from Turkey.jpg
|image_size    = 240px
|caption       = Women protesting in Turkey
|gii           = 0.272 (2021)
|gii_rank      = 65th out of 191
|matdeath      = 20 (2010)
|womparl       = 20.1% (2023)
|femed         = 26.7% (2010)
|womlab        =  29.7% ([[employment rate]] <br>[[OECD]] definition, 2020)<ref>{{Cite web|title=LFS by sex and age - indicators|url=https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DatasetCode=LFS_SEXAGE_I_R|access-date=2022-09-04|website=stats.oecd.org}}</ref>
| ggg          = 0.639 (2022)
| ggg_rank     = 124th out of 146
| ggg_ref      = <ref>{{cite web|title=Global Gender Gap Report 2022|url=https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2022.pdf|publisher=World Economic Forum|access-date=4 September 2022}}</ref>|gii_ref=<ref>{{cite web|title=Human Development Report 2021/2022|url=https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2021-22pdf_1.pdf|publisher=Human Development Reports|access-date=18 November 2022}}</ref>}}
{{Women in society sidebar}}
{{Women in Turkey}}

[[Women]] obtained full [[Civil and political rights|political participation rights]] in [[Turkey]], including the [[Women's suffrage in Turkey|right to vote]] and the right to run for office locally, in 1930, and nationwide in 1934. Article 10 of the [[Constitution of Turkey|Turkish Constitution]] bans any [[discrimination]], state or private, on the grounds of [[sex]]. It is the first country to have a woman as the President of its [[Constitutional Court of Turkey|Constitutional Court]]. Article 41 of the Turkish Constitution reads that the family is "based on equality between spouses".

There are many historical examples of Turkish women involved in public life and activism. The Turkish [[feminist movement]] began in the 19th century during the [[decline of the Ottoman Empire]] when the Ottoman Welfare Organisation of Women was founded in 1908. The ideal of [[gender equality]] was embraced after the declaration of the Republic of Turkey by the administration of [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]], whose [[Atatürk's reforms|modernising reforms]] included a ban on [[polygamy]] and the provision of full political rights to Turkish women by 1930.

Turkish women continue to be the victims of rape and [[honour killing]]s, especially in [[Turkish Kurdistan]], where most crimes against women in Turkey take place.<ref name="Turkish girl was 'buried alive'">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8501181.stm|title=Turkish girl was 'buried alive'|date=5 February 2010|access-date=3 April 2018|via=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> Research by scholars<ref>{{Cite journal | last = Sallan Gül | first = Songül | title = The role of the State in protecting women against domestic violence and women's shelters in Turkey | journal = [[Women's Studies International Forum]] | volume = 38 | pages = 107–116 | doi = 10.1016/j.wsif.2013.01.018 | date = May–June 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last = Henneke | first = J. | title = Combating domestic violence in Turkey | url = https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/9884/1/Hennecke%20%20DV%20thesis.pdf | date = 2008 | publisher = Goeteborgs University | location = Sweden }}</ref> and government agencies<ref>{{Cite journal | title = Kadin ve kizlara yönelik şiddetten kaçmanin üç adimi | url = http://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/sites/default/files/files/domestic-violence/turkish.pdf | publisher = Home Office | location = United Kingdom }}; this document is in Turkish, use a translator such as Google, if you cannot read Turkish.</ref> indicate widespread [[domestic violence]] among the [[Turkish people|people of Turkey]], as well as in the [[Turkish diaspora]]. Turkey is the first and only country to withdraw from the [[Istanbul Convention]], the [[Council of Europe]] Convention on Preventing and Combating [[Violence Against Women]] and [[Domestic Violence]]. It was estimated in 2012 that 40 percent of women have experienced physical [[sexual violence]].<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |last=Sussman |first=Anna Louie |date=2024-07-24 |title=The Brothel Next Door |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2012/05/14/the-brothel-next-door/ |access-date=2024-07-18 |website=Foreign Policy |language=en-US}}</ref> The participation of Turkish women in the labour force stands at about 35 percent.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://data.tuik.gov.tr/Bulten/Index?p=Women-in-Statistics-2023-53675&dil=2#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20results%20of%20the%20household%20labor%20force%20survey,females%20and%2071.4%25%20for%20males | title=TURKSTAT Corporate }}</ref>

Women in Turkey face [[Employment discrimination|discrimination in employment]], and, in some regions, education. The participation of Turkish [[Women in the workforce|women in the labor]] force is less than half of that of the [[European Union]] average, and while several campaigns have been successfully undertaken to promote female [[literacy]], there is still a [[Sex differences in education|gender gap in secondary education]]. [[Child marriage in Turkey]] dropped below 1%, although some cases still occur in the [[Kurds|Kurdish]]-inhabited eastern parts of the country.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.unicef.org/turkiye/en/child-marriage | title=Child marriage }}</ref>

== History ==
=== Sultanate of Women ===
{{Main article|Sultanate of Women}}
[[File:Tizian 123.jpg|thumb|[[Roxelana|Roxalena]], by [[Titian]]]]

In the course of the 16th and 17th centuries during the [[Sultanate of Women]], women of the [[Imperial Harem]] had extraordinary influence on politics of the [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fatima Ali |first=Asmat Naz |date=2020 |title=The Ottoman's Harem as an Institution of Female Elevation in the Power Politics |url=https://jhs.bzu.edu.pk/upload/vol%20II-%2020_The%20Ottoman%20Article.pdf_46.pdf |work=The Women University Multan-Pakistan}}</ref> The sultans did not fear their female relatives as much as they feared their male relatives, allowing women to become close advisers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reign of Women (1520–1683) {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/reign-women-1520-1683 |access-date=2024-07-23 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> Many of the Sultans during this time were minors and it was their [[Valide sultan|mothers]], like [[Kösem Sultan]], who were the leaders of the Harem and effectively ruled the Empire, though sometimes it was the daughter of the sultan, as with [[Mihrimah Sultan (daughter of Suleiman I)|Mihrimah Sultan]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Meadows |first=Teresa |title=The Harem: A Place of Power for Women |url=https://www.academia.edu/23889519}}</ref> Most of these women were of slave origin.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peirce |first=Leslie P. |title=The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-19-508677-5 |location=New York |pages=191}}</ref> The period started in 1520 during the reign of [[Suleiman the Magnificent]] until 1656, the reign of [[Mehmed IV]].

=== Decline of the Ottoman Empire ===
{{Main|Decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire}}

During the [[decline of the Ottoman Empire]] in the 19th century, educated women within the elite classes of Istanbul began to organise themselves as feminists. The first women's magazine, ''[[Terakki-i Muhadderat]]'', appeared on 27 June 1869 as a weekly supplement to ''Terakki'' (''Progress'') newspaper.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Badegül Eren Aydınlık
|author2=Seyfi Kenan|title=Between men, time and the state: education of girls during the Late Ottoman Empire (1859–1908)|journal=Paedagogica Historica|date=2021|volume=57|issue=4|pages=405–406|doi=10.1080/00309230.2019.1660386
|s2cid=203437211 |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00309230.2019.1660386|url-access=subscription}}</ref> With the [[Tanzimat]] reforms, improving women's conditions was considered as part of a wider modernisation effort. Ottoman women's movement began to demand rights.<ref name="tanzeur">{{cite web|title=The Women's Movement in Turkey: From Tanzimat towards European Union Membership 1|url=http://sam.gov.tr/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ZuhalYesilyurtGunduz2.pdf|author=The Women's Movement in Turkey: From Tanzimat towards European Union Membership 1|access-date=9 September 2012|archive-date=15 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160615053414/http://sam.gov.tr/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ZuhalYesilyurtGunduz2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> They fought to increase women's access to education and paid work, to abolish [[Polygyny in Islam|polygamy]], and the [[peçe]], an [[Islamic veil]]. Early feminists published woman magazines in different languages and established different organizations dedicated to the advancement of women.<ref name="fem-mov" /> The first women's association in Turkey, the [[Ottoman Welfare Organization of Women]], was founded in 1908 and became partially involved in the [[Young Turks]] Movement. Writers and politicians such as [[Fatma Aliye Topuz]], [[Nezihe Muhiddin]] and [[Halide Edib Adıvar]] also joined the movement.<ref name="fem-mov">{{cite web|title=Feminist Movements in Turkey|url=http://amargigroupistanbul.wordpress.com/feminism-in-turkey/feminist-movements-in-turkey/|first1=Charlotte|last1=Binder|first2=Natalie|last2=Richman|date=15 January 2011 }}</ref> In her novels, [[Halide Edib Adıvar]] criticised the low social status of Turkish women and what she saw as the lack of interest of most women in changing their situation. [[Nene Hatun]] became a folk heroine during [[Russo-Turkish War]]

<gallery>
File:Safiye Ali.jpg|[[Safiye Ali]], the first Turkish female doctor. She studied medicine in Germany in 1916, and opened her office in Istanbul in 1922.
File:Selma riza.jpg|[[Selma Rıza]], the first female Turkish journalist and an early novelist.
File:Afife-Jale-1jpg.jpg|[[Afife Jale]] was the first Muslim theatre actress in Turkey.
File:Fatma aliye topuz bicycle.jpg|[[Fatma Aliye Topuz]], the first female novelist in the Islamic world
</gallery>

=== Turkish Republic ===
[[File:Turkish holiday.jpg|thumb|Turkish women in a holiday celebration in 1930s]]
During the [[Turkish War of Independence]], [[Kara Fatma]], a widow, proved herself as a successful militia leader.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-notes/16008231 |access-date=2024-07-23 |website=www.cliffsnotes.com}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=September 2024}}
 
After the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923, the feminist movement gradually became part of the [[Kemalism|Kemalist]] [[Atatürk's reforms|modernization efforts]]. [[Polygamy in Turkey|Polygamy]] was banned, divorce and inheritance rights were made equal.<ref name=fem-mov /> [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk|Mustafa Kemal]] had the ambition to make Turkey a new modern secular nation. In 1925, the Turkish government introduced a new Family Law modelled after the Swiss Family Law,<ref>{{Cite book |year=1977 |last1=Zweigert |first1= Konrad, Professor of Law, University of Hamburg; Director, Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Private Law  |last2=Kötz |first2=Hein, M.C.L. (Mich.); Professor of Law, University of Konstanz |title= An Introduction to Comparative Law; Translated from the German by Tony Weir, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge |publisher= North Holland Publishing Company |place= Amsterdam, New York, Oxford |volume= I: The Framework |pages=176–177}}</ref> and in the same year, it banned the [[Fez (hat)|fez]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Records of travel in Turkey, Greece, etc|last=Slade|first=Adolphus|year=1854|location=London|pages=194|publisher=William Taylor}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Mehmet Yaman, İnkılap Kanunları Hakkında Anayasal Bir Yorum, Kriter.org sitesi 26.07.2011 |url=http://www.kriter.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2042&Itemid=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191129064702/http://www.kriter.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2042&Itemid=1 |archive-date=29 November 2019 |access-date=10 August 2011}}</ref> In 1928, the Turkish government removed the official religion provision from the constitution.<ref>beykent.edu.tr, [http://kampus.beykent.edu.tr/Paylasim/Dosyalar/Anayasalar_129807210772392500.pdf TC Anayasaları, 1921, 1924, 1961 ve 1982 Anayasalarını karşılaştırılması] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200224041757/http://kampus.beykent.edu.tr/Paylasim/Dosyalar/Anayasalar_129807210772392500.pdf |date=24 February 2020 }} {{in lang|tr}}</ref>

Mustafa Kemal viewed modern clothing as an essential visual symbol of the new secular nation and encouraged both women and men to wear modern fashion,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kavas |first=Serap |date=2015 |title='Wardrobe Modernity': Western Attire as a Tool of Modernization in Turkey |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44157659 |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=515–539 |doi=10.1080/00263206.2014.979802 |jstor=44157659 |issn=0026-3206|url-access=subscription }}</ref> but in contrast to his law against traditional wear (for example, the [[Fez (hat)|fez]]) for men,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nereid |first=Camilla T. |date=2011-03-22 |title=Kemalism on the catwalk: the Turkish Hat Law of 1925 |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=00224529&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA254405133&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs |journal=Journal of Social History |language=English |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=707–730|doi=10.1353/jsh.2011.0003 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> he never introduced a ban against the [[hijab]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Islam |first1=M. Kavakci |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eQtdAQAAQBAJ&dq=latife+ataturk+veil&pg=PT36 |title=Headscarf Politics in Turkey: A Postcolonial Reading |last2=Kavakci |first2=Merve |date=2010-10-25 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-230-11394-7 |language=en}}</ref> However, he appeared in public with his wife [[Latife Uşaki]] unveiled and arranged formal state receptions with dinner and dance were men and women could mingle, to encourage women to leave seclusion and adopt modern clothing, and in the mid-1920s, upper and middle class Turkish women started to appear unveiled in public. In the 1930s, Turkey gave full political rights to [[women]], including the right to elect and be elected locally (in 1930) and nationwide (in 1934).<ref name="IHGD">[http://sorular.rightsagenda.org/soru-cevap/?g=4 Questions and Answers on Women's Right] Turkish, prepared by the Human Rights Agenda Association; accessed on 14 October 2009</ref> Granted by [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]], Turkish women gained [[women's suffrage]] before women in many European countries such as [[France]], [[Italy]] and [[Greece]]. There still remained, however, a large discrepancy between formal rights and the social position of women.<ref name=fem-mov />

In the 1980s, women's movements became more independent of the efforts to modify the state. After the [[1980 Turkish coup d'état]], women from both urban and academic milieus began to meet in reading groups and discuss [[feminist literature]] together. In these "awareness-raising groups",<ref name=":2" /> which were established notably in Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir, they criticized the standard construction of the family as well as the gender-specific role behavior that was forced on women. The movement was criticized for being feminist because of western influence, of being middle class, as well as criticized by the socialists for being reformist and liberal.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Existing by Mobilising: Commemorating the 1980s Feminist Movement in Turkey |url=https://www.iemed.org/publication/existing-by-mobilising-commemorating-the-1980s-feminist-movement-in-turkey/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=www.iemed.org |language=en-US}}</ref> Independent feminist women's magazines were founded to expose the frequency of sexual harassment and violence against women.<ref name=fem-mov /> [[Şirin Tekeli]], Stella Ovadia and Gülnur Savran were some notable women in the movement.<ref name=":2" /> They were part of the TUMAS trade union which they organized, which they hoped would be a democratic and egalitarian organization.<ref name=":2" /> The feminists published articles in [[Somut]], which subsequently became the most widely spread paper among Turkish women.<ref name=":2" />

According to an article by Charlotte Binder and Natalie Richman, in 1987 feminists organized the first public protest against male violence, followed by campaigns against [[sexual harassment]], "purple needle"{{Definition needed|date=September 2024}} and campaigns seeking the right of self-determination over the female body. These campaigns arose due to women's wish to reject the traditional patriarchal code of ethics, honor, and religion, which left men to decide the fate of the female body. The second wave of the women's movement in Turkey reached a wider and more diverse group of women than the first women's movement.<ref name="fem-mov" />

The acceptance of women's issues as an independent political and planning problem was discussed for the first time in the Fifth Five Year Development Plan (1985–1990), and "the General Directorate for the Status and Problems of Women" was established as a national mechanism in 1990. The General Directorate, which was connected to the Prime Ministry in 1991, has been carrying out its activities under the responsibility of a State Ministry. It conducts a large variety of activities with the objectives of protecting women's rights, strengthening the position of women in social, economic, cultural, and political life, and providing the equal utilization of rights, opportunities, and capacities. Since the 1990s, feminist discourse has become institutionalized, with the foundation of women's studies centers and university programs at universities such as [[Marmara University]] and [[Istanbul University]].<ref name=fem-mov /> In 1993, [[Tansu Çiller]] became the first female [[Prime Minister of Turkey]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tansu Çiller {{!}} Women's Rights Activist, Political Leader & Economist {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tansu-Ciller |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

In 2002, the Turkish government reformed Turkish criminal and civil law to equalize the rights of women and men during marriage, divorce, and any subsequent property rights.<ref name=fem-mov /> A criminal law has been established that deals with female sexuality as a matter of individual rights, rather than as a matter of family honor.{{clarification needed|date=September 2024}} Additions to the Turkish constitution oblige the state to use all the necessary means to promote the equality of the sexes. Family courts were also created, labour laws were instituted to prohibit sexism, and programs were created to educate against domestic violence and improve access to education for girls.<ref name=fem-mov />

In 2021, Turkey left the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence at the [[Istanbul Convention]].<ref name=":3">{{Citation |last=Human Rights Watch |title=Turkey: Events of 2022 |date=2023-01-12 |work= |url=https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2023/country-chapters/turkey |access-date=2024-09-15 |language=en}}</ref> In response [[Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women|CEDAW]] told the Turkish government to reverse its decision. A UN special rapporteur said that Turkey's abandonment of the convention "emboldened perpetrators" against women.<ref name=":3" />

The Turkish government prohibited marching to commemorate [[International Women's Day]], but despite the prohibition, several thousand women marched in Istanbul in March 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Thousands of Turkish women defy ban to protest for equal rights |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/thousands-turkish-women-defy-ban-protest-equal-rights/story?id=107937682 |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=ABC News |language=en}}</ref>

<gallery>
File:Sabiha_gokcen3.jpg|[[Sabiha Gökçen]] was the world's first female fighter pilot.
File:Kara Fatma and her colleagues.jpg|[[Kara Fatma]] and her camerades.
File:Yamzu.jpg|[[Afet İnan]], co-founder of the [[Turkish Historical Society]]
</gallery>

==Legal rights==
{{main|Women in Turkish politics}}
[[File:Political_cartoon_commenting_on_women's_voting_rights_in_Quebec.jpg|thumb|Canadian political cartoon of a woman in Quebec reading a sign that reads: "News bulletin: for the first time in Turkish history women will vote and be eligible to the public office in the general election which takes place this week." Women were granted the right to vote in Turkey in 1930, but the right to vote was not extended to women in provincial elections in Quebec until 1940.]]
Turkey is a party to the [[Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women]] since 1985, as well as to its [[Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women|Optional Protocol]] since 2002.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Right of Women, Gender Equality and Struggle with Violence Against Women|url=http://www.mfa.gov.tr/the-right-of-women_-gender-equality-and-struggle-with-violence-against-women.en.mfa|publisher=Rep. of Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs}}</ref>

Article 10 of the [[Constitution of Turkey|Turkish Constitution]] bans any [[discrimination]], state or private, on the grounds of [[sex]]. It is the first country which had a woman as the President of its [[Constitutional Court of Turkey|Constitutional Court]], [[Tülay Tuğcu]]. In addition, [[Turkish Council of State]], the supreme court for [[administrative law|administrative cases]], also has a woman judge [[Sumru Çörtoğlu]] as its president.

The article 41 of the [[Turkish Constitution]] was revised to read that the family is "based on equality between spouses".<ref name="tk-ds">{{cite web|url=http://stopvaw.org/turkey.html|title=Turkey|website=stopvaw.org|access-date=3 April 2018|archive-date=31 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731154038/http://www.stopvaw.org/turkey.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The new code also granted women equal rights to property acquired during marriage, which was supposedly meant to give economic value to women's labor within the family household.<ref name="tk-ds"/>
[[File:Nezihe muhiddin.jpg|150px|thumb|left|[[Nezihe Muhiddin]], one of leading names of the First Wave Republican feminists. She completed the formation of [[Women's People Party]]]]
The minimum age for marriage was also raised to 18 (17 with parental consent).<ref name="tk-ds"/> In cases of forced marriage, women have right to ask an annulment within the first five years of marriage.<ref name="tk-ds"/> In 2004, an update to article 10 of the constitution placed the responsibility for establishing gender equality on the state: "men and women have equal rights. The state shall have the obligation to ensure that this equality exists in practice".<ref name="tk-ds"/>

In 2005, the Turkish penal code was changed to criminalize [[marital rape]] and harshen the sentences for those convicted of honor killings, which previously carried reduced sentenced because of "provocation".<ref name="pbs"/> The Human Rights Directorate reported that the number of honor killings committed in Turkey rose to 220 in 2007, with most of the killings occurring in major cities.<ref name="pbs">{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/europe/turkey/women.html|title=In Turkey, Degrees of Change in Women's Rights – 6 November 2008 – Online NewsHour – PBS|website=pbs.org|access-date=3 April 2018|archive-date=1 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101041457/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/europe/turkey/women.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[Headscarf controversy in Turkey|Islamic headscarf]], worn by 20% of Turkish women,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Turkey's fraught history with headscarves |url=https://theworld.org/stories/2016-12-20/turkeys-fraught-history-headscarves |access-date=2022-09-04 |website=The World from PRX |date=20 December 2016 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=October 4, 2018 |title=Almost 60 percent of Turkish women cover their heads |url=https://ahvalnews.com/turkey/almost-60-percent-turkish-women-cover-their-heads |access-date=September 4, 2022 |website=Ahval}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Özkök |first=Ertuğrul |title=Kadınların yüzde kaçı başını örtüyor, türbanlı kadın oranı artıyor mu |url=https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/ertugrul-ozkok/kadinlarin-yuzde-kaci-basini-ortuyor-turbanli-kadin-orani-artiyor-mu-40976040 |access-date=2022-09-04 |website=www.hurriyet.com.tr |date=4 October 2018 |language=tr}}</ref> is allowed to women working in public offices during the practice of their functions. Girl students in primary and secondary education also are allowed to use headscarf.

==Politics==
{{main|Women in Turkish politics}}

===Feminism===
[[File:Halide adivar.jpg|thumb|[[Halide Edib Adıvar]]. [[Turkish literature|Turkish novelist]] and [[feminism|feminist]] political leader.]]
The [[First-wave feminism|first wave]] of Turkish feminism occurred in the early 20th century, when women's organizations began to demand equality in civic and political rights. An important women's organization was the [[Ottoman Society for the Defense of Women’s Rights|Ottoman Society for the Defense of Women's Rights]], which was and its organ, the journal ''[[Women's World (Ottoman magazine)|Kadınlar Dünyası]]'' (Women's World) was established in 1913.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Çakır|first=Serpil|title=Osmanlı Kadın Hareketi|publisher=Metis Yayınları|year=2006|isbn=|location=|pages=407}}</ref>

After the establishment of the Republic, the women's movement organized in the [[Women's People Party]], which was transformed in to the [[Turkish Women's Union]] in 1924, which worked for women's suffrage in the new modern state. During this early period, the women's rights claims overlapped with the Kemalist reform process in the aftermath of the Republic.<ref name="wavesfem">{{cite web|title=Waves of feminism in Turkey: Kemalist, Islamist and Kurdish women's movements in an era of globalization|url=https://khas.academia.edu/suletoktas/Papers/783269/Waves_of_feminism_in_Turkey_Kemalist_Islamist_and_Kurdish_womens_movements_in_an_era_of_globalization|author=Cagla Diner And Sule Toktas|access-date=31 October 2017|archive-date=1 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001031238/http://khas.academia.edu/suletoktas/Papers/783269/Waves_of_feminism_in_Turkey_Kemalist_Islamist_and_Kurdish_womens_movements_in_an_era_of_globalization|url-status=dead}}</ref>

On 17 November 1972, [[National Women's Party of Turkey]] founded by [[Mübeccel Göktuna Törüner]] in İstanbul. Although Turkish women gained universal suffrage in 1934, in the 1970s women's participation in Turkish politics was very low.

[[Second wave feminism]] reached Turkey in the 1980s, bringing up issues common to the movement which had emerged in the West in the 1960s, such as the elimination of violence against women, the oppression experienced in the family and the challenge against [[virginity test]]s, then a common practice for women who were about to get married or who had been subjected to [[sexual assault]].<ref name="wavesfem" />

The rise of a global civil society and the internationalization of women's organizations and the [[accession of Turkey to the European Union]] have given women's organizations the possibility of accessing foreign funds. The number of women's organizations as well as the projects that these organizations conduct have increased.<ref name="wavesfem" /> On the 23 July 1995, it was allowed for political parties to form women's branches, which beforehand was banned in the [[Constitution of Turkey|Turkish constitution]] of 1982.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Ansay|first1=Tuğrul|title=Introduction to Turkish Law|last2=Wallace|first2=Don Jr.|date=2011-04-07|publisher=Kluwer Law International B.V.|isbn=978-90-411-3957-3|pages=27|language=en}}</ref>

===Political representation===
{{Main|Women in Turkish politics}}
[[File:Turkish prime minister Tansu Çiller in Brussels.jpg|thumb|[[Tansu Çiller]] is first and only female [[Prime Minister of Turkey|Prime Minister]] of [[Turkey]] from 1993 to 1996.]]
In 1930s, Turkish women entered politics for the first time. The first elected female mayor in Turkey was [[Sadiye Hanım]] (1930). In the elections held on 8 February 1935 18 women entered the parliament. One of them, [[Hatı Çırpan]] was a [[Muhtar (title)|muhtar]] (village head) of a village prior to entrance to parliament. The first female city mayor was [[Müfide İlhan]] in 1950. 
Although representation of women in political and decision-making bodies is relatively low, [[Tansu Çiller]] has been prime minister between 1993 and 1996. The number of [[Women in Turkish parliament|women in the Turkish parliament]] has increased to 14.3% after the [[2011 Turkish general election]] (79 individuals in the parliament), most of them are affiliated with the [[Justice and Development Party (Turkey)|Justice and Development Party]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=76718 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130112071320/http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=76718 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=12 January 2013 |title=Women deputies constitute 14.3 pct of Turkish parliament &#124; Politics &#124; Worldbulletin News |publisher=Worldbulletin.net |date=27 July 2011 |access-date=22 June 2014}}</ref> In 1975 the percentage was 10.9 and in 2006 it was 16.3.<ref>[http://www.bmkadinhaklari.org/unjp/web/gozlem.aspx?sayfaNo=66 UN Joint Program for the Development of Women and Children's Rights] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524043905/http://www.bmkadinhaklari.org/unjp/web/gozlem.aspx?sayfaNo=66 |date=24 May 2011 }}, Turkish: ''Türkiye'de Kadın Olmak''; accessed on 14 October 2009</ref> Only 5.58 percent of mayors are women and in the whole of Turkey there is one governor (among 81) and 14 local governors.<ref name="IHGD" />

==Crime against women==
{{see also|Crime in Turkey|Femicide in Turkey|Pippa Bacca|Murder of Özgecan Aslan}}
[[File:8_mart_platformu_kadikoy_eylemi.jpg|thumb|International Women's Day Protests in Turkey.]]

Because Turkey does not keep official statistics on [[femicide]]<ref name="Reuters_oct2019">{{Cite news|last=Altayli|first=Daren Butler, Birsen|date=2019-10-21|title=Turkey under pressure to tackle sharp rise in murders of women|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-women-idUSKBN1X01DV|access-date=2020-12-15}}</ref><ref name="dw_2019">{{Cite web|title=Turkey's women lawmakers stage Las Tesis 'rapist is you' protest |date=2019-12-15|url=https://www.dw.com/en/turkeys-women-lawmakers-stage-las-tesis-rapist-is-you-protest/a-51684425|access-date=2020-12-15|website=dw.com|language=en-GB}}</ref> and does not release any regular data about murders of women, most of the statistics comes from human rights [[NGO]]s which jointly try to collect the data.<ref>[https://balkaninsight.com/2019/09/02/women-face-rising-violence-in-male-dominated-turkey/ Women Face Rising Violence in Male-Dominated Turkey]</ref>

In March 2018, Turkish police launched the "Women Emergency Assistance Notification System" (KADES) app for women to report cases of domestic violence and seek assistance faster.<ref>{{Cite web|last=sabah|first=daily|date=2018-03-25|title=New app allows victims of domestic violence to notify Turkish police with single button|url=https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/2018/03/25/new-app-allows-victims-of-domestic-violence-to-notify-turkish-police-with-single-button|access-date=2020-12-15|website=Daily Sabah|language=en}}</ref> In November 2018, the Turkish Interior Minister [[Süleyman Soylu]] said that the app has been downloaded by over 353,000 people.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Women across Turkey demand safety, prevention of violence - Turkey News|url=https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/women-across-turkey-demand-safety-prevention-of-violence-149137|access-date=2020-12-15|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=26 November 2019 |language=en}}</ref> The murders of women in Turkey increased from 66 in 2002 to 953 in the first seven months of 2009.<ref name=nyt-2012-04-25/> In the [[Eastern Anatolia Region, Turkey|Eastern]] and [[Southeastern Anatolia Region, Turkey|Southeastern Anatolia]] regions in particular, women face [[domestic violence]], [[forced marriage]]s, and [[honor killing]]s.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jan-09-fg-honor9-story.html |access-date=6 August 2008 |title=Taking the 'honor' out of killing women |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=9 January 2007 |first=Tracy |last=Wilkinson}}</ref> Şefkat-Der, a Turkish non-governmental organization, has suggested granting licensed, tax-free guns to women as a way to combat domestic violence.<ref>{{cite news|title=Fight fire with fire, NGO tells women|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/fight-fire-with-fire-ngo-tells-women.aspx?pageID=238&nid=10163|newspaper=Hürriyet Daily News|date=28 December 2011}}</ref> On 8 March 2017, a mob illegally entered the [[Istanbul Bilgi University]] campus and attacked students celebrating [[International Women's Day]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Group attacks Women's Day demo at Istanbul Bilgi University|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/group-attacks-womens-day-demo-at-istanbul-bilgi-university.aspx?PageID=238&NID=110587&NewsCatID=509|newspaper=Hürriyet Daily News|date=8 March 2017}}</ref> also, students mentioned that they had been threatened on [[Twitter]] before the incident.<ref>{{cite web|title=Knife-wielding group attacks women's day event at Turkish university|url=http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/knife-wielding-groups-attacks-women-s-day-event-turkish-university-1969551162|publisher=middleeasteye|date=8 March 2017}}</ref> Between 2002 and 2009, the murder rate of women skyrocketed by 1,400 percent.<ref name="aljazeera.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/02/turkey-life-battered-woman-2014257594926477.html|title=Turkey: The life of a battered woman|first=Glen|last=Johnson|website=www.aljazeera.com|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref> On 2010, the Turkish anti-violence group [[Mor Çatı Foundation|Mor Cati]] created a video attempted to raise awareness of violence toward women in a public way. The group placed large posters of women jumping for joy, their arms and legs splayed out beyond the frame's borders, all around Istanbul. The text next to the women reads, "I want to live in freedom." The organization then set up hidden video cameras, which purport to show male passersby kicking and ripping off the cutouts' arms and legs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/03/domestic-violence-against-women-video-turkey/388544/|title=In Turkey, Not Even Posters of Women Are Safe From Violence|first=Olga|last=Khazan|website=theatlantic.com|date=25 March 2015 |access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=45&v=116eJjIxRaI|title=Mor Cati – Domestic violence made visible on the streets |publisher=paper-plane.fr|date=5 May 2010|access-date=3 April 2018|via=YouTube}}</ref> In 2013, about 28,000 women were assaulted, according to official figures. Of those, more than 214 were murdered, monitors say, normally by husbands or lovers.<ref name="aljazeera.com"/>

In November 2015, Izmir Bar Association's Women's Rights and Legal Support Office said that the last decade has not only seen the increase in the numbers of women subject to violence, but that the violence itself has become more intense and barbaric, "bordering on torture." They also stated that the number of [[femicide]]s in the last few years has ranged between 5,000 and 6,000, adding that the State either cannot or do not disclose exact records, so different platforms try to fill in this gap in terms of adequate data through media monitoring,". The journalist Ceyda Ulukaya, made an interactive ""Femicide Map" of Turkey. The project, supported by the Platform for Independent Journalism, contains detailed data about 1,134 femicide victims between 2010 and 2015, including the victims, the identity of the accused/murderer, the reason and links to newspaper stories about their murders. Both qualitative and quantitative data showed that the majority of the victims were killed by husbands/ex-husbands (608 cases) and boyfriends/ex-boyfriends (161). The most often-cited reason of the murder is that the woman wanted a divorce or refused reconciliation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/violence-against-women-in-turkey-increases-both-in-number-and-brutality-91880|title=Violence against women in Turkey increases both in number and brutality|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=30 November 2015 |access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref>

On 15 March 2017, [[Ministry of the Interior (Turkey)|Turkish Interior Ministry]] has announced that a total of 20 women were killed while under temporary state protection between 2015 and 2017. An average of 358 women a day applied to law enforcement officers after suffering violence in 2016. Around five women every hour, or 115 a day, were faced with the threat of murder. The Umut Foundation released statistics regarding violence against women in Turkey on [[International Women's Day]], showing that 397 women were killed in Turkey in 2016. A total of 317 women were killed with weapons in 2016, an increase over the 309 women killed with weapons – out of a total of 413 – in 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/20-women-killed-despite-state-protection-turkish-interior-ministry-110831|title=20 women killed despite state protection: Turkish Interior Ministry|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=15 March 2017 |access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref> On 6 July 2017, a pregnant [[Refugees of the Syrian Civil War|Syrian]] woman was raped and killed with her 10-month-old baby in the [[Sakarya Province]], Turkey.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pregnant Syrian woman raped, killed with baby in Turkey's northwest|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/pregnant-syrian-woman-raped-killed-with-baby-in-turkeys-northwest-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=115230&NewsCatID=509|publisher=hurriyetdailynews|access-date=6 July 2017|date=6 July 2017}}</ref>
[[File:First female MPs of the Turkish Parliament (1935).jpg|thumb|The first female MPs Republic of Turkey (1935).<br />'''Top row (left to right):''' [[Mebrure Gönenç]] (Afyon), [[Hatı Çırpan]] (Ankara), [[Türkan Örs Baştuğ]] (Antalya), [[Sabiha Gökçül Erbay]] (Balıkesir), [[Şekibe İnsel]] (Bursa), [[Hatice Özgener]] (Çankırı)<br />'''Middle row (left to right):''' [[Huriye Baha Öniz]] (Diyarbakır), [[Fatma Şakir Memik]] (Edirne), [[Nakiye Elgün]] (Erzurum), [[Fakihe Öymen]] (Ankara), [[Benal Nevzat İstar Arıman]] (İzmir), [[Ferruh Güpgüp]] (Kayseri)<br />'''Bottom row (left to right):''' [[Bahire Bediş Morova Aydilek]] (Konya), [[Mihri Pektaş]] (Malatya), [[Meliha Ulaş]] (Samsun), [[Fatma Esma Nayman]] (Seyhan), [[Hatice Sabiha Görkey]] (Sivas), [[Seniha Nafız Hızal]] (Trabzon)]]
In the monthly report of the group "We Will Stop [[Femicide]]", in May 2017, it mentions that 328 women were killed in 2016 while in the first five months of 2017, 173 women were killed across Turkey compared with 137 in the same period of 2016. 210 Turkish women were killed or forced to commit suicide in 2012 in misogynist attacks by men. Women's activists said that the rise in killings had come as more women sought to exercise their rights, including divorcing abusive partners.<ref name="hurriyetdailynews">{{cite web|title=Turkey's deepening tragedy of murdered women|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkeys-deepening-tragedy-of-murdered-women-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=115410&NewsCatID=339|publisher=hurriyetdailynews|access-date=12 July 2017|date=12 July 2017}}</ref> 294 women killed in 2014 and 237 in 2013.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Women Are Dying in Turkey|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/turkey/2017-04-27/women-are-dying-turkey|publisher=foreignaffairs|access-date=27 April 2017|date=27 April 2017|last1=Jones |first1=Sophia |last2=Tung |first2=Nicole }}</ref> From 2010 till May 2017, 118 women have been killed in [[İzmir]] alone.<ref name="hurriyetdailynews"/> In December 2016, a man attacked a pregnant woman, in [[Manisa]] for jogging at a park.<ref>{{cite web|date=December 2016|title=Pregnant woman attacked for exercising in public|url=https://news.sol.org.tr/pregnant-woman-attacked-exercising-public-171144|access-date=2020-12-15|publisher=sol}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Assailant who attacked woman in Turkey for jogging at a park released|url=http://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/assailant-who-attacked-woman-in-turkey-for-jogging-at-a-park-released-139239.html|publisher=birgun|access-date=12 December 2016|date=12 December 2016}}</ref> According to reports monitoring the number of women killed at the hands of abusive men, 41 women were killed in August 2018 in Turkey.<ref name="Women_Shelters"/> Unofficial data compiled by a Turkish advocacy group reported that in 2018, 440 women in Turkey murdered by men.<ref name="Reuters_oct2019"/><ref name="dw_2019"/> In 2019, the eight women lawmakers from the main opposition staged a protest in Turkey's general assembly. They were banging their desks and singing the "[[A Rapist in Your Path]]", while some other lawmakers stood up and held around 20 pictures of victims of femicide in Turkey.<ref name="dw_2019"/> According to the We Will Stop Femicides Platform (Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız Platformu), more than 157 women were murdered by men in Turkey from January 2020 - July 2020.<ref name="ChallengeAccepted"/>

On the 14 March 2012, Turkey was the first country to ratify the [[Istanbul Convention]], the [[Council of Europe]] Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence,.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Full list|url=https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list|access-date=2021-03-27|website=Treaty Office|language=en-GB}}</ref> The convention entered into effect on the 1 August 2014 as on this date enough member states ratified the Istanbul convention.<ref name=":1" /> In July 2020, the deputy chair [[Numan Kurtulmuş]] of the Turkish ruling party (Justice and Development Party (AKP)) said that Turkey's 2012 decision of ratifying the convention was wrong, adding that Turkey might consider withdrawing from it.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Turkey may consider withdrawing from Istanbul Convention: AKP official - Turkey News|url=https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-may-consider-withdrawing-from-istanbul-convention-akp-official-156247|access-date=2020-12-15|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=3 July 2020 |language=en}}</ref> In the same month, the  leader of the main opposition party in Turkey ([[Republican People's Party|CHP]]) said that there is a rise in violence against women in the country.<ref>{{Cite web|title=CHP leader warns of rise in violence against women - Turkey News|url=https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/chp-leader-warns-of-rise-in-violence-against-women-156755|access-date=2020-12-15|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=21 July 2020 |language=en}}</ref> World famous celebrities have joined Turkish women's social media campaign with the hashtag #ChallengeAccepted, in order to put an end to domestic violence in Turkey.<ref name="ChallengeAccepted">{{Cite web|title=Hollywood actresses join Turkish women's calls for end to domestic violence - Turkey News|url=https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/hollywood-actresses-join-turkish-womens-calls-for-end-to-domestic-violence-157009|access-date=2020-12-15|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=31 July 2020 |language=en}}</ref> Despite resistance from the opposition, the Turkish Government of [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]] decided to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention in March 2021.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2021-03-19|title=Turkey Withdraws From Treaty on Violence Against Women|language=en|work=Bloomberg.com|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-19/turkey-withdraws-from-treaty-on-violence-against-women|access-date=2021-03-20}}</ref>

===Domestic violence===
{{main|Domestic violence in Turkey}}
[[File:AtaşehirBS2019-20 (25).jpg|thumb|[[Ataşehir Belediyespor]] protesting against violence against women in Turkey.]]
A 2002 study by Ayranci, et al. observed that in Turkey, 36.4% of women reported physical [[violence]] and 71% mentioned physical, psychological or [[sexual assault]] during [[pregnancy]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/290267|title=Domestic Violence against Women in Turkey: Policy Suggestions to Prevent It|first=Pelin|last=Gul|website=academia.edu|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref>

According to report by the Turkish government dating from 2009, 42% of the surveyed women said they had been physically or sexually abused by their husband or partner.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.cnn.com/2011-07-24/world/turkey.women.protest_1_progressive-laws-turkish-government-protection-order?_s=PM:WORLD|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728190003/http://articles.cnn.com/2011-07-24/world/turkey.women.protest_1_progressive-laws-turkish-government-protection-order?_s=PM:WORLD|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 July 2011|title=Marchers demand better protection for women in Turkey|website=CNN|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref> Nearly half of the victims never spoke to anyone about their abuse, and only 8% approached government institutions for support.<ref name="amnesty">{{cite web|url=http://blog.amnestyusa.org/women/women-in-turkey-the-numbers-are-stacked-against-them-2/|title=Women in Turkey: The Numbers Are Stacked Against Them|date=20 June 2011|website=amnestyusa.org|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref> When women do approach them, police and gendarmerie tend towards attempting to "reconcile" the families rather than protecting the female victims. <ref name="amnesty"/> While the rates of violence are particularly high among poor, rural women, one third of the women in the highest economic brackets have also been subject to domestic violence.<ref name="amnesty"/>

A 2009 survey conducted by a leading Turkish university stated that some 42 percent of women over age 15 in Turkey and 47 percent of rural women have experienced physical or sexual violence at the hands of a husband or partner at some point in their lives.<ref name="hrw.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2011/05/04/turkey-women-left-unprotected-violence|title=Turkey: Women Left Unprotected From Violence|date=4 May 2011|website=hrw.org|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref>

According to a [[United Nations]] report published in July 2011, 39% of women in Turkey have suffered physical abuse at some time in their lives, compared with 22% in the United States.<ref name=nyt-2012-04-25/> Even though every municipality with more than 50,000 inhabitants is required by law to have at least one women's shelter, there are just 79 in the whole country.<ref name=nyt-2012-04-25>{{cite news|title=Women See Worrisome Shift in Turkey|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/26/world/europe/women-see-worrisome-shift-in-turkey.html?_r=1|newspaper=The New York Times|date=25 April 2012}}</ref> In May 2011, the [[Human Rights Watch]] said in a report that Turkey's flawed family violence protection system leaves women and girls across the country unprotected against domestic abuse. The 58-page report, "'He Loves You, He Beats You': Family Violence in Turkey and Access to Protection," documents brutal and long-lasting violence against women and girls by husbands, partners, and family members and the survivors' struggle to seek protection.<ref name="hrw.org"/>

Over 37% of Turkish women said that they had experienced physical or sexual violence – or both – according to an exhaustive 2014 survey of 15,000 households by the country's family ministry.<ref name="hurriyetdailynews"/> According to the We Will Stop Women Homicides Platform, 294 women were killed in 2014, and 60% of them perished at the hands of husbands and boyfriends.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/02/turkey-violence-against-women-husbands-speak-out.html|title=No justice for Turkish women who kill in self-defense|website=al-monitor.com|date=25 February 2015 |access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref> On 3 October 2017, a woman who took refuge in a women's shelter due to being subjected to violence from her husband was killed by him at [[Kastamonu]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-fails-to-protect-women-for-yet-another-day-120377|title=Turkey fails to protect women for yet another day|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=4 October 2017 |access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref>
[[File:5. Islamic Solidarity Games 2021 Konya Judo Women Team Turkey 20220817 2.jpg|thumb|Judo women's team of Turkey]]
On 9 October 2017, [[Habertürk]] reported that the number of [[Electronic tagging|electronic bracelet]]s given for domestic violence incidents throughout Turkey is only 30, although some 120,000 women are subjected to violence by men every year in the Turkey.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/30-electronic-tags-given-for-domestic-violence-cases-in-turkey-120555|title=30 electronic tags given for domestic violence cases in Turkey|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=9 October 2017 |access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref> In November 2017, according to a study conducted by a student at [[Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University]], mentioned that 28.5 percent of the respondents said they have witnessed domestic abuse. In the same study 52.9 percent of those who were involved in a relationship said they were subjected to "dating abuse," described in the report as "psychological harassment or physical aggression." The report also revealed that 6.25 percent of victims said they were touched without their consent and 4.54 said they were raped. The study also showed that abusers are overwhelmingly men.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/half-of-turkish-students-who-date-are-subjected-to-abuse-study-122413|title=Half of Turkish students who date are subjected to abuse: Study|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=14 November 2017 |access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref>

A total of 365 women were killed by men in the first 11 months of 2017, according to data compiled by the "We Will Stop Femicide" activist platform based on news reported in the media. The report also stressed that women who are victims of sexual abuse tend to be neglected by their families, which pushes them to undertake independent measures for their self-protection. Among many victimized women, some end up committing suicide. The report stated that 2017, as of November, 15 percent of the women killed were victims of murder for "wanting to get a divorce," 11 percent were killed for "taking decisions about their lives independently," 7 percent were killed for "financial reasons," 4 percent were killed for "turning down [the man's] reconciliation efforts," and another 4 percent were killed over "debates about their children." Most of the women killed in Turkey in November were aged between 25 and 35, with 75 percent of the women in this age range becoming victims after wanting to get divorce.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/365-women-killed-in-turkey-in-first-11-months-of-2017-report-124209|title=365 women killed in Turkey in first 11 months of 2017: Report|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=15 December 2017 |access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref> In 2017, a total of 409 women were killed and 387 children sexually abused in Turkey, according to data compiled by the group "We Will Stop Femicide".<ref name="hurriyetdailynews.com1">{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/28-women-killed-25-sexually-harassed-in-turkey-in-january-ngo-126826|title=28 women killed, 25 sexually harassed in Turkey in January: NGO|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=5 February 2018 |access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref> A report about October 2017 reveals that during that month 40 women have lost their lives due to femicide, while 25 women have been subject to sexual violence and 32 children have been sexually abused. Also, 20% of women who have been murdered, range between 19 and 24. In addition the report mention that 70% of victims have been murdered by their close relatives (partner, father, son, brother, etc.), and that 40% of victims have been shot dead, whereas 28% have been stabbed to death.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-11-22|title='End Femicide Platform' launched October Report|url=https://dokuz8haber.net/english/end-femicide-platform-launched-october-report/|access-date=2020-12-15|website=dokuz8HABER|language=tr}}</ref>

According to a report released by the group "We Will Stop Femicide", 28 women were killed and 25 others were subjected to sexual violence in January 2018, added that also 147 children had been sexually abused during January. Twenty one percent of the women killed were murdered for making decisions regarding their own lives, while four percent of women were murdered for refusing to reunite with their former partners. 43 percent were between 36 and 65 years old, 14 percent were older than 66, and 11 percent were between 25 and 35 years old. The majority of the women were killed at home. The platform said the total number of femicides fell slightly compared to the final months of 2017.<ref name="hurriyetdailynews.com1"/>

A 2020 study investigated the relationship between femicides and economic development in Turkey. Using data from the 2010-2017 period, it found that "whether economic development reduces femicide depends on other factors: in poorer provinces, there is a strong positive correlation between women's murders and equality in education and divorce rates, but in richer provinces, these associations are significantly weaker." It concluded that "These results are consistent with the idea that economic development may not reduce women's murders by itself, but it can mitigate the effects of male backlash against women who challenge the status quo."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kavakli|first=Kerim Can|date=October 21, 2020|title=Women's Murders and the Interaction Between Gender (In)equality and Economic Development: A Subnational Analysis in Turkey|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0886260520967164|journal=Journal of Interpersonal Violence|volume=37 |issue=9–10 |pages=NP6535–NP6556 |doi=10.1177/0886260520967164|pmid=33084468|s2cid=224822282|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

=== Monument Counter ===
[http://anitsayac.com/ The Monument Counter] is an online Internet monument commemorating women who have lost their lives to domestic and male violence. It is updated every day. It was conceived in 2012 as a device to generate public awareness concerning the rising number of deaths due to domestic violence<ref>{{Cite web|title=Anıt Sayaç Kadın Cinayetleri Üzerine Ne Anlatıyor? {{!}} Veri Bülteni|url=https://veribulteni.voyd.org.tr/anit-sayac-kadin-cinayetleri-uzerine-ne-anlatiyor/|access-date=2021-05-26|language=tr|archive-date=22 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922082551/https://veribulteni.voyd.org.tr/anit-sayac-kadin-cinayetleri-uzerine-ne-anlatiyor/|url-status=dead}}</ref> and to keep track of this data that is often suppressed, and largely unknown. The website, clearly setting out on its homepage all the names of the women who were murdered, also features a large active counter. Not only is it an awareness raising mechanism for society around domestic violence, but it is also a space for commemoration and mourning. The Monument Counter demonstrates a worrying increase, as well as inviting an urgent countdown. Each name is backed by a news article, with a focus on increasing knowledge and ensuring verifiability. At the time of writing (26.05.2021), the counter is at 162 women thus far for the year of 2021.

===Violence for choice of clothing===
[[File:Üniversity women union.jpg|thumb|Protest during women's day]]
In September 2016, Ayşegül Terzi was called a "devil" and kicked by a man in face on a public bus for wearing shorts. Footage showed the man telling her that those who wear shorts "should die."<ref name="hurriyetdailynews.com">{{cite web|title=Turkish women march against rising intolerance in Istanbul|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-women-march-against-rising-intolerance-in-istanbul.aspx?pageID=238&nID=116102&NewsCatID=339|publisher=hurriyetdailynews|access-date=30 July 2017|date=30 July 2017}}</ref> In protest at the attack, the hashtag #AyşegülTerzininSesiOlalim, which translates into English as "let's be the voice of Aysegul Terzi", was used thousands of times. Women in Turkey also posted images to social media of themselves wearing shorts in solidarity. On 18 September 2016, campaigners gathered in Istanbul to protest the attack and put pressure on authorities to focus on ending violence against women.<ref>{{cite web|title=Man who 'kicked woman in face for wearing shorts' told police he would be 'less aroused' if she had worn trousers|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/turkey-man-kicked-woman-face-wearing-shorts-abdullah-ak-ro-lu-ay-eg-l-terzi-police-aroused-worn-a7323936.html|work=The Independent|access-date= 22 September 2016 |date= 22 September 2016}}</ref>

In June 2017, a female university student, Asena Melisa Sağlam, was attacked verbally and physically by a man on a bus in Istanbul for wearing shorts during the Muslim holy month of [[Ramadan]]. The incident was caught on security cameras.<ref name="hurriyetdailynews.com"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Woman attacked on bus in Turkey for wearing shorts during Ramadan|url=http://globalnews.ca/news/3546011/woman-attacked-on-bus-in-turkey-for-wearing-shorts-during-ramadan/|publisher=globalnews|access-date=21 June 2017|date=21 June 2017}}</ref> Also, later on the same month a woman was harassed on the street in Istanbul when a man accused her of wearing provocative clothing, saying she should be careful because she was "turning people on."<ref name="hurriyetdailynews.com"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Eminönü'de sözlü saldırıya uğrayan Kaymakçı'dan kadınlara çağrı: Lütfen susmayın, biz et parçası değil insanız!|url=http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/haber/turkiye/771366/Eminonu_de_sozlu_saldiriya_ugrayan_Kaymakci_dan_kadinlara_cagri__Lutfen_susmayin__biz_et_parcasi_degil_insaniz_.html|publisher=cumhuriyet|access-date=30 June 2017|date=30 June 2017}}</ref>

In July 2017, hundreds of women marched in [[Istanbul]] on to protest against violence and animosity they face from men demanding they dress more conservatively. Protesters say there has been an increase in the number of verbal and physical attacks against women for their choice of clothing in Turkey in recent years.<ref name="hurriyetdailynews.com"/> Also, later on the same month the security chief of the Maçka Democracy Park in the [[Şişli]] district of Istanbul verbally abused a young woman for the way she was dressed and he also called the police. On 30 July 2017, Women's rights associations protested in the Park against such actions.<ref>{{cite web|title=Women in Istanbul protest, chant 'Don't mess with my outfit'|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/women-in-istanbul-protest-chant-dont-mess-with-my-outfit.aspx?pageID=238&nID=116168&NewsCatID=339|publisher=hurriyetdailynews|access-date=31 July 2017|date=31 July 2017}}</ref>

On 10 August 2017, two men on motorbikes sexually harassed two women, at [[İzmir]]. Then the women asked for help from two police officers in the street, but one of them started beating one of the women, according to the woman's testimony the "officer said the harassers were right because we were 'dressed inappropriately'".  Security footage showed one of the police officers starting to beat one of the women.<ref>{{cite web|title=Probe launched after police beat women asking for help on harassment in Turkey's İzmir|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/probe-launched-after-police-beat-women-asking-for-help-on-harassment-in-turkeys-izmir.aspx?PageID=238&NID=116652&NewsCatID=509|publisher=hurriyetdailynews|access-date=12 August 2017|date=12 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Young women 'beaten by police' at tourist hotspot as they 'tried to report sex assault'|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/young-women-beaten-police-tourist-10987207|work=Daily Mirror|access-date=14 August 2017|date=14 August 2017}}</ref> In September 2017, at [[Ankara]], neighbors complained to the manager of an apartment building about a woman for wearing shorts at her home, demanding that she must keep her curtains closed. The manager warned the woman to keep her curtains closed for her own sake.<ref>{{cite web|title=Neighbors complain about woman for 'wearing shorts at her home' in Turkish capital|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/neighbors-complain-about-woman-for-wearing-shorts-at-her-home-in-turkish-capital.aspx?pageID=238&nID=117676&NewsCatID=341|publisher=hurriyetdailynews|access-date=7 September 2017|date=7 September 2017}}</ref> In March 2018, a teacher at a religious vocational high school in [[Konya]] was dismissed from his post over comments he made about female students wearing gym clothes. He also wrote that physical education classes should be an optional class for students, as it "prepared girls for the devil".<ref>{{cite web|title=Teacher in Konya dismissed after remarks about female students wearing gym clothes|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/teacher-in-konya-dismissed-after-remarks-about-female-students-wearing-gym-clothes-128524|publisher=hurriyet|access-date=9 March 2018|date=9 March 2018}}</ref>

===Rape===
Turkey outlawed [[marital rape]] in 2005.<ref name=UNTurkey>[http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/pressrels/2005/wom1480.html Anti-Discrimination Committee Takes Up Situation of Women in Turkey], UN Information Service, 21 January 2005.</ref>

In 2015, Turkish university student [[Özgecan Aslan]] was murdered as she resisted a rape attempt<ref name=latimes>{{cite news |title=Brutal slaying leads to protests over violence against women in Turkey |url=http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-slaying-of-turkish-woman-leads-to-street-protests-over-womens-rights-20150214-story.html |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=15 February 2015 }}</ref> on a [[minibus]] in [[Mersin]]. Her burnt body was discovered on 13 February. The murder was committed by Turkish minibus driver Ahmet Suphi Altındöken, his father Necmettin Altındöken and his friend Fatih Gökçe.<ref name=judgementNews>{{cite news|title=Türkiye'yi sarsan Özgecan Aslan davasında karar: 3 sanığa da ağırlaştırılmış müebbet|url=http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/turkiyeyi-sarsan-ozgecan-aslan-davasinda-karar-3-saniga-da-agirlastirilmis-muebbet-40022229|access-date=3 December 2015|agency=Hurriyet}}</ref> According to Turkish Daily Sabah, Özgcan Aslan became a symbol for Turkish women who are the victims of violence.<ref>{{cite news|title=Convicted killer of Özgecan Aslan shot dead in prison|url=http://www.dailysabah.com/d/national/2016/04/12/convicted-killer-of-ozgecan-aslan-shot-dead-in-prison|access-date=8 May 2016|work=DailySabah|archive-date=3 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603122935/http://www.dailysabah.com/d/national/2016/04/12/convicted-killer-of-ozgecan-aslan-shot-dead-in-prison|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2013, ''[[The Guardian]]'' reported that 'the rape and torture of Kurdish prisoners in Turkey are disturbingly commonplace'. According to a report from Amnesty International in 2003, Hamdiye Aslan, who was accused of supporting the Kurdish separatist group, the PKK, had been detained in Mardin Prison, south-east Turkey, for almost three months in which she was reportedly blindfolded, anally raped with a truncheon, threatened and mocked by officers.<ref name =gg>{{cite web|author=Meral Duzgun |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2013/jun/10/turkey-history-sexual-violence |title=Turkey: a history of sexual violence &#124; Global Development Professionals Network &#124; Guardian Professional |work=The Guardian|date=10 June 2013 |access-date=3 December 2013}}</ref>

Reporting on cases of sexual abuse in Turkey is often difficult; the issue is still taboo in Turkish culture, as well as the fact that much of Turkish media don't report on such cases as they tarnish the country's modern and secular image. The result of this is that many injustices within Turkey, including systematic rapes carried out in prisons to maintain power over communities, go unheard by the rest of the world.<ref name=gg/>

===Honor killings===
{{main|Honor killing}}
[[File:Latrans-Turkey_location_Southeastern_Anatolia_Region.svg|thumb|[[Southeastern Anatolia Region]], a region of Turkey strongly associated with honor killings]]

According to researchers, one of the important reasons for the high number of honor killings is that punishments are not harsh and laws and legal applications protect the perpetrators.<ref name="Seher Cesur-Kılıçaslan">{{cite web |title=Honor Killings in Turkey|url=https://www.academia.edu/17259818|author=Seher Cesur Kilicaslan|publisher= The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies|date=2013|website=www.academia.edu}}</ref> Between 2003 and 2007, 432 (58.5%) of 739 honor killings were committed in İstanbul (167 persons), Ankara (144 persons) and İzmir (121 persons).<ref name="Seher Cesur-Kılıçaslan"/>

A July 2008 Turkish study by a team from Dicle University on honor killings in the [[Southeastern Anatolia Region]], the predominantly Kurdish area of Turkey, has so far shown that little if any social stigma is attached to honor killing. The team interviewed 180 perpetrators of honor killings and it also commented that the practice is not related to a feudal societal structure, "there are also perpetrators who are well-educated university graduates. Of all those surveyed perpetrators, 60 percent are either high school or university graduates or at the very least, literate".<ref>{{cite news |title=Honor killing perpetrators welcomed by society, study reveals|url=http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=147349&bolum=101|newspaper=[[Today's Zaman]]|author=Murat Gezer|access-date=15 July 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080719085429/http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=147349&bolum=101 |archive-date = 19 July 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Feminist Analysis of Honor Killings in Rural Turkey|url=https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitsream/1807/17543/1/cultureofhonour.pdf|publisher=University of Toronto|author=Aysan Sev'er|access-date=2 January 2015}}{{dead link|date=June 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> In 2010 a 16-year-old girl was buried alive by relatives for befriending boys in Southeast Turkey; her corpse was found 40 days after she went missing.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://montrealgazette.com/Girl+buried+alive+honour+killing+Turkey+Report/2521342/story.html|title=Girl buried alive in honour killing in Turkey: Report|work=AFP|date=4 February 2010|access-date=25 June 2010|archive-date=10 February 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100210061316/http://www.montrealgazette.com/Girl%2Bburied%2Balive%2Bhonour%2Bkilling%2BTurkey%2BReport/2521342/story.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> There are well documented cases, where Turkish courts have sentenced whole families to life imprisonment for an honor killing. Such a case was on 13 January 2009, where a Turkish Court sentenced five members of the same family to life imprisonment for the honor killing of Naile Erdas, a 16-year-old Kurdish girl who got pregnant as a result of rape.<ref>[http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/2009/01/13/1231608651606.html Daughter pregnant by rape, killed by family – World]. BrisbaneTimes (13 January 2009). Retrieved on 1 October 2011.</ref>

A June 2008 report by the Turkish Prime Ministry's Human Rights Directorate said that in [[Istanbul]] alone there was one honor killing every week, and reported over 1,000 during the previous five years. It added that metropolitan cities were the location of many of these, whilst the perpetrators of these crimes in such cities mostly originated from Eastern Turkey.<ref>{{cite news|title= Turkish Press Scanner|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-press-scanner.aspx?pageID=438&n=turkish-press-scanner-2008-06-21|access-date=23 April 2016|work=hurriyetdailynews.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=107834|title=Honor killings claim 1,000 lives in five years|newspaper=[[Turkish Daily News]]|access-date=27 September 2008|archive-date=20 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121120162848/http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=107834|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2011-10-23|title=Women told: 'You have dishonoured your family, please kill yourself'|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/women-told-you-have-dishonoured-your-family-please-kill-yourself-1655373.html|access-date=2020-12-15|website=The Independent|language=en}}</ref> The mass migration during the past decades of rural population from Southeastern Turkey to big cities in Western Turkey has resulted in cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, and Bursa having the highest numbers of reported honor killings.<ref>Ince, Hilal Onur, Aysun Yarali, and Dogancan Ozsel. "Customary killings in Turkey and Turkish modernization." Middle Eastern Studies 45, no. 4 (2009): 537–551.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Rubin|first=Clara|date=2010|title=Between Traditional Practice and Secular Law:Examining Honor Killings in Modern Turkey|url=https://middlab.middlebury.edu/files/2111/04/Honor-Killings-essay1.pdf|access-date=2020-12-15}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=May 2016|reason=See talk page}} Most honour-related crimes happen in the rural Kurdish region, where a feudal, patriarchal system survives, but as Kurds have fled these regions, the crime is also spreading into cities across Turkey.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-the-crimewave-that-shames-the-world-2072201.html|title=Robert Fisk: The crimewave that shames the world|date=7 September 2010|website=independent.co.uk|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref> Honor killings continue have some support in the conservative parts of Turkey, especially in southeastern Turkey, where most of the crimes take place.<ref name="Turkish girl was 'buried alive'"/> A survey where 500 men were interviewed in [[Diyarbakir]] found that, when asked the appropriate punishment for a woman who has committed adultery, 37% of respondents said she should be killed, while 21% said her nose or ears should be cut off.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>{{cite news|last=Rainsford |first=Sarah |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4357158.stm |title='Honour' crime defiance in Turkey |work=BBC News |date=19 October 2005 |access-date=23 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=2006|title=They Killed Her For Going Out With Boys: Honor Killings in Turkey in Light of Turkey's Accession to the European Union and Lessons for Iraq|url=https://law.hofstra.edu/pdf/academics/journals/lawreview/lrv_issues_v35n02_ee1_boon_final.pdf|journal=Hofstra Law Review|volume=35|issue=815 }}</ref>

===Human trafficking===
{{main|Human trafficking in Turkey}}
[[File:Bulentersoy1987.jpg|thumb|[[Bülent Ersoy]], arguably the most famous [[transgender]] woman in Turkey]]
In 2008, critics have pointed out that Turkey has become a major market for foreign women who are coaxed and forcibly brought to the country by international mafia to work as [[Sexual slavery|sex slaves]], especially in big and touristic cities.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Turkey.htm|title=Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery – Turkey|website=gvnet.com|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/05/080505fa_fact_finnegan?currentPage=all |title=The Countertraffickers: Rescuing the victims of the global sex trade |date=5 May 2008 |access-date=6 August 2008 |magazine=[[The New Yorker|New Yorker]] |first=William |last=Finnegan}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/06/27/news/turkey.php |title=Turkey's sex trade entraps Slavic women |work=[[International Herald Tribune]] |first=Craig S |last=Smith |date=28 June 2005 |access-date=6 August 2008}}</ref>

===Sexual harassment===

On 15 February 2015, a social media campaign started in order to let women share their own sexual harassment stories under the hashtag #sendeanlat (you tell your story too), after a 20-year-old woman was brutally killed in Turkey.<ref name="ReferenceC">{{Cite web|title=Turkish women relate sexual harassment stories via social media - Turkey News|url=https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-women-relate-sexual-harassment-stories-via-social-media--78413|access-date=2020-12-15|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=16 February 2015 |language=en}}</ref> As of 25 February 2015, there were more than 800,000 tweets.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Alfred|first=Charlotte|date=2015-02-17|title=Women In Turkey Share Devastating Stories Of Sexual Harassment On Twitter|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/turkey-sendeanlat-twitter-campaign_n_6699702|access-date=2020-12-15|website=HuffPost|language=en}}</ref>

In 2015, the Turkish model, Didem Soydan, tweeted that she had received abusive text messages, after testifying and giving her cell phone number to police in the case of a woman who was forced into a car after being beaten. In addition, the actress [[Beren Saat]], tweeted her own experiences about the sexual harassment and abuses.<ref name="ReferenceC"/> In June 2018, the Turkish actress [[Hande Ataizi]] and a Turkish costume assistant accused the actor [[Talat Bulut]] of sexual harassment. A total of 56 producers and directors in Turkey supported the victims with a written statement. In the statement it mention that: "We know it is hard for a woman to expose harassment and abuse incidents in Turkey". The male actor had rejected the allegations and threatened to launch a countersuit.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Turkish TV series producers boycott actor over sexual abuse allegations - Turkey News|url=https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-tv-series-producers-boycott-actor-over-sexual-abuse-allegations-133289|access-date=2020-12-15|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=14 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

===Women's shelters===

As of September 2018, there are a total of 132 [[Women's shelter]]s in Turkey. Only the province of [[Bitlis]] does not have a shelter for women. Most of those facilities are run by the Family, Labor and Social Services Ministry while others are operated by municipalities, the Immigration Authority (Göç İdaresi) and the Purple Roof (Mor Çatı), an NGO. According to data from 2016, 102 shelters under the Family Ministry accommodated 29,612 women and 17,956 children. Thirty-three facilities operated by municipalities sheltered 2,088 women and 1,433 children. And 66 women and 23 children were hosted at the shelter run by the NGO.<ref name="Women_Shelters">{{Cite web|title=Turkey needs more and better shelters for women: Charity - Turkey News|url=https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-needs-more-and-better-shelters-for-women-charity-136538|access-date=2020-12-15|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=6 September 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

Aslı Elif Sakallı, from the Purple Roof Women's Shelter Foundation, said that only one or two social workers are employed at shelters that host 25 to 30 women. She also added that some employees at the shelters who are not conscious about gender equality could make statements such as: "But clearly you deserved this".<ref name= "Women_Shelters"/>

==Religious officials and women==

In 2017, the [[mufti]] of the [[Kocaeli Province|Kocaeli]]'s [[Gölcük, Kocaeli|Gölcük]] district had likened women without headscarves to products sold at half price.<ref name="hurriyet_06292018">{{Cite web|title=Turkish mufti says 'women should not see each other naked while swimming' - Turkey News|url=https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-mufti-says-women-should-not-see-each-other-naked-while-swimming-133958|access-date=2020-12-15|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=29 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref> In 2018, the mufti of the [[Zonguldak]] said that "Women should enter the sea in a way that other women cannot see them. Even women should hide their bodies from other women."<ref name=hurriyet_06292018 />

==Education==
{{Main|Education in Turkey}}
[[File:Uludag-PSİ-2007 ing.jpg|thumb|left|A scene from a female-majority class at the Psychology Department of Uludağ University in Bursa, Turkey. In Turkey, 47.5% of staff at the top five universities are female, a higher proportion than for their equivalents in the United States (35.9%), Denmark (31%) and Japan (12.7%).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/global-gender-index-2013/2003517.article|title=Global Gender Index, 2013|last=Grove|first=Jack|date=2 May 2013|work=Times Higher Education|access-date=2 June 2017}}</ref>]]

While still trailing male [[literacy]] rates, female literacy rates in Turkey have grown substantially to 93.6% in 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/turkey/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110073821/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/turkey|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 January 2021|title=The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref> Illiteracy is particularly prevalent among rural women, who are often not sent to school as girls.<ref name="glob-giv">{{cite web|url=http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/?menu=4&programme=141/|title=Effective Literacy Programmes|first=UNESCO Institute for Lifelong|last=Learning|date=8 September 2017|website=www.unesco.org|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref> Half of girls aged between 15 and 19 are neither in the education system nor in the workforce.<ref name="hdn-2">{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=inequalities-are-deep-in-turkey-and-women-suffer-the-most-2010-07-22|title=Hürriyet Daily News|website=Hürriyet Daily News|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref> The government and various other foundations are engaged in education campaigns in Southeastern [[Anatolia]] to improve the [[Literacy|rate of literacy]] and education levels of women.<ref name="Literacy">{{cite news|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3753582.stm |title=Turkish girls in literacy battle|first=Jonny |last=Dymond|work=[[BBC News]]|access-date=11 December 2006|date=18 October 2004}}</ref> In 2008, 4 million women were illiterate, as opposed to 990 thousand men.<ref name=sta/> A 2008 poll by the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey showed that almost half of urban Turkish women believe economic independence for women is unnecessary reflecting, in the view of psychologist [[Leyla Navaro]], a heritage of patriarchy.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=116153 |access-date=24 September 2008 |title=Half of women say they do not need economic independence |work=[[Turkish Daily News]] |date=24 September 2008 }}{{dead link|date=June 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
[[File:1950lerin Basinda Camlica Kiz Lisesi Voleybol Takimi.jpg|thumb|Volleyball team of Çamlıca Girls' High School in 1950s]]

In the 2012–2013, the schooling ratio of girls (at 99.61%<ref>{{cite web|title=Schooling Ratio by Educational Year and Level of Education|url=http://www.tuik.gov.tr/PreIstatistikTablo.do?istab_id=135|publisher=Turkish Statistical Institute|access-date=14 February 2015|archive-date=1 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801120636/http://www.tuik.gov.tr/PreIstatistikTablo.do?istab_id=135|url-status=dead}}</ref> as of 2014 according to the [[Turkish Statistical Institute]]) exceeded that of the boys for the first time in Turkish history. The gender gap in secondary education (5.3% lower than boys) remained, albeit at much lower levels in comparison to the 2002–2003 educational year (25.8%). However, the gender gap in higher education increased between 2002 and 2012 to 9.5%.<ref>{{cite news|title=Kızların okullaşma oranı erkekleri geçti|url=http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/egitim/25633801.asp|newspaper=Hürriyet|access-date=14 February 2015|language=tr}}</ref> Significant regional differences still persist, with only 15.9% of girls attending secondary school in the [[Muş Province]] as of 2010, as opposed to 82.4% in the [[Bilecik Province]], the province with the highest percentage.<ref>{{cite web|title=Taslak Ülke Programı Dokümanı- Türkiye|url=http://unicef.deparyazilim.com/files/bilgimerkezi/doc/2011-2015-ulke-programi.pdf|publisher=UNICEF|access-date=14 February 2015|language=tr|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225223/http://unicef.deparyazilim.com/files/bilgimerkezi/doc/2011-2015-ulke-programi.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2009, the provinces with the lowest schooling ratios for girls were [[Bitlis Province|Bitlis]], [[Van Province|Van]] and [[Hakkari Province|Hakkari]], all in southeastern Turkey, while those with the highest ratios were [[Ankara Province|Ankara]], [[İzmir Province|İzmir]] and [[Mersin Province|Mersin]], all in western Turkey. Dropout rates for girls at primary level are higher than boys, especially concentrating at the fifth and sixth years.<ref name=sta>{{cite web|title=Kadınların okuryazarlığı erkeklerden dört kat az|url=http://www.siviltoplumakademisi.org.tr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=716:kadinlarinokuryazarligi&catid=44:son-haberler&Itemid=118|publisher=Civil Society Academy|access-date=14 February 2015|language=tr|archive-date=9 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309062057/http://siviltoplumakademisi.org.tr/index.php?catid=44:son-haberler&id=716:kadinlarinokuryazarligi&itemid=118&option=com_content&view=article|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Daily [[Habertürk]] reported on 9 January 2018, that only three state universities in Turkey have women [[Rector (academia)|rectors]], despite women making up 43.58 percent of all academics in the country. According to education specialist Alaaddin Dinçer, the absence of women among universities' boards of directors is the result of a "consciously made decision."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/only-three-out-of-111-state-university-rectors-are-women-in-turkey-125478|title=Only three out of 111 state university rectors are women in Turkey|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=9 January 2018 |access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref>

==Employment==
{{See also|Economy of Turkey|Female labor force in the Muslim world}}
[[File:Sertab Erener - 15. Radyo Boğaziçi Ödülleri (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Sertab Erener]] is a Turkish singer and the winner of [[Eurovision Song Contest 2003]]]]

The [[employment rate]] (for ages 15–64), as of 2017, was 32.2% for women, much lower than that of men which was 70.7%.<ref name="stats.oecd.org">{{cite web |url=http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DatasetCode=LFS_SEXAGE_I_R# |title=LFS by sex and age - indicators |website=stats.oecd.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611031738/http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=LFS_SEXAGE_I_R |archive-date=2009-06-11}}</ref>
In 2011, out of 26 million employable women, only 5.9 million were in the labor force.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=turkey-needs-more-women-in-business-2011-09-30|title=Hürriyet Daily News|website=Hürriyet Daily News|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref> 23.4% of women have either been forced by men to quit their jobs or prevented from working.<ref name="hdn-1">{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=women-murder-victims-increase-snowballing-in-turkey-2011-02-20|title=Hürriyet Daily News|website=Hürriyet Daily News|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref> The rate of women not covered by [[social security]] is 84% in the East and 87% in the Southeast.<ref name="hdn-2"/>

According to [[World Bank]], women made up 32.7% of the labor force in 2018 (roughly unchanged from 1990 when they made up 30.8%).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.TOTL.FE.ZS|title=Labor force, female (% of total labor force) – Data|website=data.worldbank.org|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref>

On the other hand, it is possible that the involvement of women in the labour force is very underestimated, due to women working in the [[informal economy]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/08/informal-female-work-turkey-com-201481163535208284.html|title=Turkish women's informal work – a complex story|first=Riada Asimovic|last=Akyol|website=www.aljazeera.com|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref>

Despite the relatively low involvement of women in the workforce compared to other countries, women in Turkey are quite well represented in the business world; for instance the proportion of women in business leadership roles in Turkey is almost twice higher than that of Germany.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.grantthornton.global/en/press/press-releases-2015/women-in-business-2015/|title=Women in business 2015 results|website=Grant Thornton International Ltd. Home|access-date=3 April 2018|archive-date=13 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413230553/https://www.grantthornton.global/en/press/press-releases-2015/women-in-business-2015/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

On 19 October 2017, Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation (TÜRKONFED) Chairman said that half of the women in Turkey's labor force are unregistered and that the ratio of unregistered women workers in the country is much higher than that of men.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/half-of-women-in-turkish-labor-force-unregistered-121153|title=Half of women in Turkish labor force unregistered|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=19 October 2017 |access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref> He also, said that Turkey must raise women's participation in the workforce to ensure sustainable development, adding that Turkey is the only country in [[Europe]] with an employment rate among women lower than 40 percent.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>

As of 2018, just 34% of women in Turkey work, by far the lowest of the 35 industrialised countries of the [[OECD|Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] (OECD) where the average is 63%.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2018-03-01|title=Women challenge Turkey traditions for right to work|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43197642|access-date=2020-12-15}}</ref>

On 19 June 2018, the [[European Court of Human Rights]] has fined Turkey 11,000 [[euro]]s over the government-owned electricity distribution company's refusal to appoint a woman as a security officer on account of her gender. In October 1999 the female applicant, Hülya Ebru Demirel, passed a civil service exam and was informed that she would be appointed as a security officer at the [[Kilis]] branch of the Turkish Electricity Distribution company (TEDAŞ). However, the company refused to appoint her, citing her failure to fulfil the condition for the position to be "a man who has completed military service". The applicant initially won a discrimination court case against the company in 2001 but that decision was overturned on appeal by the Supreme Administrative Court in December 2002. Demirel's subsequent appeals were all reported to be unsuccessful, which ultimately led her to lodge an appeal at the ECHR on 17 June 2008.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Euro court fines Turkey over refusal to appoint woman as security guard - Turkey News|url=https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/euro-court-fines-turkey-over-refusal-to-appoint-woman-as-security-guard-133493|access-date=2020-12-15|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=19 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

<gallery>
File:JanetAkyuzMattei.jpg|[[Janet Akyüz Mattei]], 2009, Astronomer
File:Muazzez İlmiye Çığ.jpg|[[Muazzez İlmiye Çığ]], 2010, Sumerologist
File:Dagdeviren in front of YellowBox (cropped).jpg|[[Canan Dağdeviren]], Scientist
File:LSST Public Talk (rubin-3s8a6613).jpg|[[Feryal Özel]], Scientist
</gallery>
==Censorship==
{{Main|Censorship in Turkey}}

In March 2018, Parliament Speaker [[İsmail Kahraman]] forbid the women of a troupe from being onstage, at a tribute to the anniversary of the [[Gallipoli Campaign]] at the [[Turkish Parliament]]. He was offended that actresses playing the mothers of soldiers would be giving men public hugs.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Nicholson|first1=Amy|date=2018-04-30|title=Turkey's Government Is Censoring the Movies, But the Istanbul Film Festival Is Soldiering On|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2018/04/istanbul-film-festival-turkey-censorship-1201957551/|access-date=2020-12-15|website=IndieWire|language=en}}</ref>

In September 2020, a female politician of Kurdish origin [[Sebahat Tuncel]] was sentenced to 11 months in prison for calling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan an enemy of women in a speech in 2016. She had made this statement after two controversial statements of Erdogan where in 2014 he said "publicly women are not equal to men" and in 2016 he said "women who reject motherhood are deficient and incomplete".<ref>{{cite news |last= Judd|first= Emily|date=22 September 2020|title=Turkey sentences female politician to prison for calling Erdogan 'enemy of women'|url=https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/09/22/Turkey-sentences-female-politician-to-prison-for-calling-Erdogan-enemy-of-women-|newspaper=Al Arabiya}}</ref>

==Family life==
{{see also|Child marriage in Turkey}}
[[File:2509286 Female officers of the Turkish Land Forces at Camp Butmir, Bosnia and Herzegovina 2016.jpg|thumb|Female soldiers of [[Turkish Armed Forces]] in NATO Headquarters [[Sarajevo]].]]
On average, 18% of Turkish women were married before the age of 18. Because of the large regional differences in the incidence of underage marriages, as many as 30% are married as minors, particularly in [[Eastern Anatolia]].<ref name=nyt-2011-11-17>{{cite news|title=Turkish Television Takes on Topic of Child Brides|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/world/europe/turkish-television-takes-on-topic-of-child-brides.html?pagewanted=all|newspaper=The New York Times|date=17 November 2011}}</ref> A report by the Commission on Equality of Opportunity for Women and Men states that childhood marriages are "widely accepted" by Turkish society.<ref name=nyt-2011-11-17/> A [[bride price]] is still paid in parts of Turkey.<ref name=nyt-2011-11-17/>

In 2016, the governing [[Islamism|Islamist]] conservative [[Justice and Development Party (Turkey)|Justice and Development Party]] (AKP) sought to introduce legislation which would have made a child rape no longer punishable if the perpetrator would offer to marry his victim; this was withdrawn after a public outcry against what was widely seen as an attempt of "legitimising rape and encouraging child marriage".<ref name=AKP>{{cite news|title=Women and vulnerable people are paying for Turkey's authoritarianism |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/24/women-vulnerable-turkey-child-rape|newspaper=The Guardian|date=24 November 2006}}</ref>

In February 2018, daily [[Habertürk]] reported that the number of Turkish women illegally seeking [[surrogate mother]]s abroad, especially in countries where the practice is common and legal, such as in Cyprus, Georgia and the United States, or women offering to become surrogates for money has been on the rise. This practice is forbidden by Turkish law.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/number-of-turkish-women-illegally-seeking-surrogate-mothers-online-abroad-on-rise-report-126825|title=Number of Turkish women illegally seeking surrogate mothers online, abroad on rise: Report|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=5 February 2018 |access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref>

===Underage pregnancy===
{{See also|Teenage pregnancy}}
General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs, mentioned that 2,730 girls younger than 15 years old and 50,848 girls aged between 15 and 17 gave birth in 2001.<ref name ="186 underage pregnant girls treated in Turkey’s western province of Edirne in 2017">{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/186-underage-pregnant-girls-treated-in-turkeys-western-province-of-edirne-in-2017-128486|title=186 underage pregnant girls treated in Turkey's western province of Edirne in 2017|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=9 March 2018 |access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref>

[[Turkish Statistical Institute]] (TÜIK) mentioned that 16,396 girls aged between 15 and 17 gave birth across Turkey in 2016, as well as 234 girls younger than 15.<ref name ="186 underage pregnant girls treated in Turkey’s western province of Edirne in 2017"/>

In 2017, officials in Turkey recorded the number of underage pregnancies at 15,216. Istanbul and the [[Gaziantep Province|province of Gaziantep]] topped the list with 1,106.<ref name = "2018-report-underage-pregnancy">[http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/22-000-teenage-pregnancies-recorded-in-18-months-report-139020 22,000 teenage pregnancies recorded in 18 months: Report]</ref>

In January 2018, media reports revealed that a single Istanbul hospital had covered up over 100 underage pregnancies in just six months.<ref name ="186 underage pregnant girls treated in Turkey’s western province of Edirne in 2017"/>

In the first half of 2018, there were 625 underage conceptions in Istanbul and 499 in Gaziantep.<ref name = "2018-report-underage-pregnancy"/>

During 2017 and the first half of 2018, there were 1,348 underage pregnancies in the [[Adana Province|province of Adana]], 1,005 in the [[Diyarbakır Province|province of Diyarbakır]] and 1,313 in the [[Hatay Province|province of Hatay]]. During this period, in only four [[provinces of Turkey]] the number of underage pregnancies fell below 10.<ref name = "2018-report-underage-pregnancy"/>

==Clothing==
{{see also|Headscarf controversy in Turkey|Turkish folk dress|Kurdish traditional clothing}}
{|class="wikitable" style="border:1px black; float:right; margin-center:1em;"
|-
! style="background:#f99;" colspan="4"|Do you cover when going outside?<ref name=TESEV07p64>{{cite book|last=Fromm|first=Ali Çarkoğlu, Binnaz Toprak; translated from Turkish by Çiğdem Aksoy|title=Religion, Society and Politics in a Changing Turkey|year=2007|publisher=TESEV publications|location=Karaköy, İstanbul|isbn=978-975-8112-90-6|page=64|url=http://www.tesev.org.tr/Upload/Publication/b1d06f12-4c13-4e18-a3b3-8c1555d915d7/RSP%20-%20Turkey%2011%202006.pdf|access-date=5 June 2013|archive-date=17 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017200148/http://www.tesev.org.tr/Upload/Publication/b1d06f12-4c13-4e18-a3b3-8c1555d915d7/RSP%20-%20Turkey%2011%202006.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> 
|-Answers
| || 1999 || 2012
|-
| No, I do not || 47.3% || 70.5%
|-
| Yes, I wear a headscarf || 33.4% || 18.8%
|-
| Yes, I wear a [[türban]] || 15.7% || 11.4%
|-
| Yes, I wear a [[çarşaf]] || 3.4% || 0.1%
|-
| NI/NA || 0.3% || 2.2%
|}

[[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk|Mustafa Kemal]] had the ambition to make Turkey a new modern Secular nation. In 1925, he [[Secularism in Turkey|removed Islam from the constitution]] and introduced a new [[Family Law]] modelled after the [[Swiss Civil Code|Swiss Family Law]], and in the same year, he banned the traditional hat for men, the [[Fez (hat)|fez]]. Mustafa Kemal viewed modern clothing as an essential visual symbol of the new secular nation and encouraged both women and men to wear modern fashion, but in contrast to his law against traditional wear for men, he never introduced a ban against the [[hijab]]. However, he appeared in public with his wife [[Latife Uşaki]] unveiled and arranged formal state receptions with dinner and dance were men and women could mingle, to encourage women to leave seclusion and adopt modern clothing, and in the mid-1920s, upper- and middle class Turkish women started to appear unveiled in public.

A 2006 survey by the [[Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation]] estimated the prevalence of hair covering among Turkish women at 30%.<ref>{{cite web|title=Turkish beauty mag ties Muslim veil to glamour|url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5is4od4JJaJenUAvqG9kqXN44DZzA?docId=CNG.da2764e86cb62e559ce333c0ceb4bcc0.491|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615114149/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5is4od4JJaJenUAvqG9kqXN44DZzA?docId=CNG.da2764e86cb62e559ce333c0ceb4bcc0.491|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 June 2013|publisher=AFP (hosted on Google)|access-date=5 June 2013|date=2 May 2012}}</ref> There are regional variations: in 2005, 30% of women in [[Istanbul]] covered their hair, while in central and eastern Turkey, women are rarely seen on the streets, and wear headscarves in public.<ref name="KamerlingGustafson2012">{{cite book|author1=Jane Kamerling|author2=Fred Gustafson|title=Lifting the Veil|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ml_JHjX2vFIC&pg=PA109|access-date=5 June 2013|date=May 2012|publisher=Fisher King Press|isbn=978-1-926715-75-9|page=109}}</ref>
[[File:Women at a cafeteria in Istanbul.jpg|thumb|left|Women in headscarves at a cafe]]
The 2006 survey found that, compared to a previous study carried out in 1999, the number of women who employ headcoverings had increased in rural areas, but decreased in cities.<ref name=TESEV07>{{cite book|last=Fromm|first=Ali Çarkoğlu, Binnaz Toprak ; translated from Turkish by Çiğdem Aksoy|title=Religion, society and politics in a changing Turkey|year=2007|publisher=TESEV publications|location=Karaköy, İstanbul|isbn=978-975-8112-90-6|pages=27–29|url=http://www.tesev.org.tr/Upload/Publication/b1d06f12-4c13-4e18-a3b3-8c1555d915d7/RSP%20-%20Turkey%2011%202006.pdf|access-date=5 June 2013|archive-date=17 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017200148/http://www.tesev.org.tr/Upload/Publication/b1d06f12-4c13-4e18-a3b3-8c1555d915d7/RSP%20-%20Turkey%2011%202006.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> It also found that the [[Çarşaf]], Turkish version of Arabic [[niqab]], was almost never worn by women in the 18–39 age group.<ref name=TESEV07/>

From 1999 to 2006, women not wearing head coverings in the 25–39 age group rose from 28% to 41.5%, and in the 18–24 group increased from 40.5% to 50.7%.<ref name=TESEV07/> The prevalence also differs by income: in 2006, 37.2% of women in the medium income group were uncovered, compared to 71.2% in the higher income group.<ref name=TESEV07/>

The same survey asked single men whether they would want prospective wives to go covered: 56% responded no, 44% yes.<ref name=TESEV07/> Only 1.1% of covered women said they cover because of their spouses, fiancees or family.

==Women's health==
{{see also|Abortion in Turkey|Health in Turkey|Health care in Turkey|Women's health}}
Since 1985, Turkish women have the right to freely exercise [[Abortion in Turkey|abortions]] in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy and the right to [[Contraception|contraceptive medicine]] paid for by the [[Social Security Institution|Social Security]]. Modifications to the Civil Code in 1926 gave the right to women to initiate and obtain a [[divorce]]; only [[2011 Maltese divorce referendum|recognized in Malta (an EU country)]] for both men and women in 2011.
Turkish prime minister [[Erdoğan]] argued that [[Demographics of Turkey|women should have at least three children]].<ref name="amnesty"/>

No gender discrimination exists regarding the laws as well as their practice in the health sector in Turkey.{{clarify|date=September 2012}} With the 1994 World Population and Development Conference, the Ministry of Health adopted a policy change which included the emotional, social and physical health of women and young girls with an integrated approach, rather than only reproductive health and family planning as it did in the past. Another initiative brought onto the agenda by the Ministry of Health after the Beijing Conference, is to ensure the participation of men in reproductive health and family planning.
<gallery>
File:CaglaKubatPWA IFCASlalomWorldChampionship2006.jpg|[[Çağla Kubat]], 2006, Turkish model and windsurfer
File:Nevin Yanıt.JPG|[[Nevin Yanıt]], 2012, [[Turkish women in sports|Turkish sprinter]], winner of [[2010 European Athletics Championships]] in 100&nbsp;m.hurdles
File:Sonmez WMQ23 (53062069365).jpg|[[Zeynep Sönmez]], WTA Tour winner
</gallery>

==Bibliography on feminism in Turkey==
===History of feminism in Turkey===
====Feminism during the Ottoman Empire====
[[File:Güler Sabancı, October 2008 1.jpg|thumb|right|[[Güler Sabancı]], 2008, Turkish industrialist. As of 2014, she is listed as the 60th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes]]
* Berktay, Fatmagul. (2000). "Osmanlı'dan Cumhuriyet'e Feminizm". Tarihin Cinsiyeti, 2006, Istanbul: Metis Yayınları. pages 88–111
* Çakıf, Serpil. (1996). Osmanlı Kadın Hareketi. Istanbul, Metis Kadin Araştırmaları Dizisi, Metis Yayınları.
* Adıvar, Halide Edib. (1913). "Yirminci Asırda Kadınlar" Mektep Müzesi Dergisi.
* Karakışla, Yavuz Selim. (1999). "Osmanlı Hanımları ve Hizmetçi Kadınlar", Toplumsal Tarih, Mart 1999, issiue 63, p.&nbsp;15–24.
* Melissa Bilal ve Lerna Ekmekçioğlu, Bir Adalet Feryadı: Osmanlı'dan Türkiye'ye Beş Ermeni Feminist Yazar, "Hayganuş Mark" (İstanbul: Aras Yayınları), p.&nbsp;242–263.
* Mojab, Shahrzad. (?). "Part 1: Historical Perspectives". Women of a Non-State Nation: The Kurds. Mazda Publication. s. 25–94.
* Toprak, Zafer. (1992). "II. Meşrutiyet Döneminde Devlet, Aile ve Feminizm", Sosyo-Kültürel Degişme İçinde Türk Ailesi, cilt 1, Başbakanlık Aile Araştırrma Kurumu Yayınları, Ankara, pages 237.
* Zihnioğku, Yaprak. (2003). Kadınsız İnkılap. Metis. (especially pp.&nbsp;54–115, chap. 5–7.)
* Safarian Alexander. (2007). On the History of Turkish Feminism, "Iran and the Caucasus", vol.11.1, Brill, Leiden – Boston, pp.&nbsp;141–152.

====The Republic and feminism====
[[File:Aysekulin.jpg|thumb|[[Ayşe Kulin]], 2008, [[Turkish women in literature|Turkish author]]]]
* {{cite book | last = Aksit | first = Elif Ekin| title = Kizlarin Sessizligi: Kiz Enstitulerinin Uzun Tarihi | date = 2005 | publisher = Iletisim Yayinlari | location = Istanbul }}
* Arat, Zehra F. (1998). "Kemalizm ve Turk Kadini", (der) Ayse Berktay Hacimirzaoglu, 75 Yilda Kadin ve Erkekler. Istanbul: Turkiye Ekonomik ve Toplumsal Tarih Vakfi Yayini, 51–58.
* {{cite book | last = Arat | first = Zehra | title = Turkiye'de Kadin Olmak (der) | publisher = Say Yayinlari | location = Istanbul }}
* {{Cite journal | last = Arat | first = Zehra F. | title = Kemalism and Turkish women | journal = Women and Politics | volume = 14 | issue = 4 | pages = 57–80 | doi =  10.1080/1554477x.1994.9970716| date = Fall 1994 }} 
* Berktay, Fatmagul. (1993). "Turkiye Solunun Kadina Bakisi: Degisen Bir Sey Var mi?" (der) Sirin Tekeli, 1980'ler Turkiye'sinde Kadin Bakis Acisindan Kadinlar. Istanbul: Iletisim Yayinlari.
* {{cite book | last = Çağlayan | first = Handan | title = Analar Yoldaslar Tanricalar: Kurt Hareketinde Kadinlar ve Kadin Kimliginin Olusumu | date = 2007 | publisher = Iletisim Yayinlari | location = Istanbul | isbn = 9789750504921 }}
* {{Cite journal | last = Durakbasa | first = Ayse | title = Cumhuriyet Doneminde Kemalist Kadin Kimliginin Olusumu" Tarih ve Toplum | journal = Tarih ve Toplum | volume = 9 | issue = 51 | publisher = Iletisim Yayinlari| year = 1989 }} 
* {{Cite journal | last = Ergün | first = Emek | title = Feminist translation and feminist sociolinguistics in dialogue: A multi-layered analysis of linguistic gender constructions in and across English and Turkish | journal = [[Gender and Language]] | volume = 7 | issue = 1 | pages = 13–33 | doi = 10.1558/genl.v7i1.13 | date = February 2013 }} 
* {{cite book | last = Edip | first = Halide | title = Turk Modernlesmesi ve Feminizm | date = 2000 | publisher = Iletisim Yayinlari | location = Istanbul }}
* Koçak, Mine. 80'li Yıllar Kadın Hareketi [http://www.feminisite.net/news.php?act=details&nid=216 Link to the original document.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303222832/http://www.feminisite.net/news.php?act=details&nid=216 |date=3 March 2016 }}
* {{citation | last = Mojab | first = Shahrzad | contribution = Introduction: The solitude of the stateless-Kurdish women at the margins of feminist knowledge | editor-last = Mojab | editor-first = Shahrzad | title = Women of a non-state nation: the Kurds | pages = 1–10 | publisher = Mazda Publishers | location = Costa Mesa, California | year = 2001 | isbn = 9781568590936 | postscript = .}} [http://sites.utoronto.ca/wwdl/resources/thekurds_contents.pdf Pdf of book contents.]
* Tekeli, Sirin. (1998). "Birinci ve İkinci Dalga Feminist Hareketlerin Karşılaştırılmalı İncelemesi Üzerine bir Deneme." 75 Yılda Kadınlar ve Erkekler, İş Bankası ve Tarih Vakfı Yayınları, s. 337–346.
* Stella, Ovadia ve Gülnur Savran; Bozan & Ekin, & Ramazanoglu & Tuksal pieces in Özgürlüğü Ararken, Amargi, s. 37–57, 81–101, 203–221, s. 221–239 (roza ve jujin dergileri), 239–257.
* {{Cite journal | last = Nukhet | first = Sirman |author-link=Nükhet Sirman | title = Feminism in Turkey: A Short History | journal = New Perspectives on Turkey | volume = 3 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–34 | publisher = Contemporary Turkish Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science| year = 1993 | url = http://www.newperspectivesonturkey.net/Journal/Archive }} 
* Selections from Amargi no. 3, Projen Var Mı? (tarih??)

===On women and gender===
====Islam, nationalism and the nation-state====
* Acikel, Fethi. (1996). "Kutsal Mazlumlugun Psikopatolojisi", ''Toplum ve Bilim''. (70): 153–199.
* Akin Feride. (1998). "Turban Sorunu: En Buyuk Dusman", ''[[Birikim]]'' 114.

====Media and women====
* Aktanber, Ayse. (1993). "Turkiye'de Medya'da Kadin: Serbest, Musait Kadin veya Iyi Es, Fedakar Anne", (der) Sirin Tekeli, 1980'ler Turkiyesinde Kadin Bakis Acisindan Kadinlar. Istanbul: Iletisim Yayinlari.
* Asuman, Süner. Hayalet Ev: Yeni Türk Sinemasında Aidiyet, Kimlik ve Bellek, "Vasfiye'nin Kız Kardeşleri" (İstanbul: Metis Yayınları), s. 291–305.

====Women's bodies, sexuality, and violence====
* Ayse Gul Altınay and Yesim Arat, 2007. Türkiye'de Kadına Yonelik Siddet. [Click on for the original document: http://www.kadinayoneliksiddet.org/TurkiyedeKadinaYoneliksiddet.pdf ]
* Kadioglu Ayse (1998) "Cinselligin Inkari: Buyuk Toplumsal Projelerin Nesnesi Olarak Turk Kadinlari", 75 Yilda Kadinlar ve Erkekler, Tarih Vakfi Yurt Yayinlari.
* {{cite journal | last1 = Sümer | first1 = Sevil | last2 = Eslen-Ziya | first2 = Hande | title = New waves for old rights? Women's mobilization and bodily rights in Turkey and Norway | journal = [[European Journal of Women's Studies]] | volume = 24 | issue = 1 | pages = 23–38 | doi = 10.1177/1350506815619878 | date = February 2017 | s2cid = 148220666 }}

====Gender-related division of labor====
* Hattatoglu-Ozbek Dilek. (2002). "Ev Eksenli Calisma Stratejileri" (der) Aynur Ilyasoglu, Necla Akgokce, Yerli Bir Feminizme Dogru. Istanbul: Sel Yayincilik.
* Ozbay Ferhunde (1998) "Turkiye'de Aile ve Hane Yapisi: Dun, Bugun, Yarin", (der) Ayse Berktay Hacimirzaoglu, 75 Yilda Kadin ve Erkekler. Istanbul: Turkiye Ekonomik ve Toplumsal Tarih Vakfi Yayini.
* (2002) "Evlerde El Kizlari: Cariyeler, Evlatliklar, Gelinler", (yay. Haz. Ayse Durakbasa) Tarih Yaziminda Sinif ve Cinsiyet. Istanbul: Iletisim Yayinlari.
* Ozyegin Gul (2003) "Kapicilar, Gundelikciler ve Ev Sahipleri: Turk Kent Yasaminda Sorunlu Karsilasmalar", (der) Deniz Kandiyoti, Ayse Saktanber, Kultur Fragmanlari/ Turkiye'de Gundelik Hayat. Istanbul: Metis.
* (2004) Baskalarinin Kiri/Kapicilar, Gundelikciler ve Kadinlik Halleri (Cev. Sugra Oncu) Istanbul: Iletisim Yayinlari.
* Yasin, Yael Navaro. (2000). "Cumhuriyetin Ilk Yillarinda Ev Isinin Rasyonellesmesi", Toplum ve Bilim (84).
* Sirman, Nukhet. (2002). "Kadinlarin Milliyeti", Modern Turkiye'de Siyasi Dusunce (Cilt 4), Istanbul: Iletisim Yayinlari.

====Women and property rights====
* {{Cite journal | last1 = Toktas | first1 = Sule | last2 = O'Neil | first2 = Mary Lou | title = How do women receive inheritance? The processes of Turkish women's inclusion and exclusion from property | journal = [[Asian Women (journal)|Asian Women]] | volume = 29 | issue = 4 | pages = 25–50 | doi = 10.14431/aw.2013.12.29.4.25 | date = December 2013 | s2cid = 142938497 }}

====Women and work====
* Erdogan Necmi (2002) "Yok-Sanma: Yoksulluk, Maduniyet ve Fark Yaralari", (der) Necmi Erdogan, Yoksulluk Halleri. Istanbul: Demokrasi Kitapligi.
* Savran Gulnur (2004) Beden, Emek, Tarih: Diyalektik Bir Feminizm Icin. Istanbul: Kanat Yayincilik.
* Bora, Aksu (2005). Kadınların Sınıfı. İletişim. pp.&nbsp;59–182 (the theoretical overview from pp.&nbsp;21–59 is highly recommended by Ayse Parla for her gernder class in Sabanci)

====Women and gender (overall)====
* Agduk-Gevrek, Meltem. (2000). "Cumhuriyet'in Asil Kizlarindan 90'larin Turk Kizlarina" Vatan, Millet, Kadinlar, Iletisim.
* Alakom Rohat 1998. "Araştırmalarda Adı Fazla Geçmeyen Bir Kuruluş:  Kürt Kadınları Teali Cemiyeti." Tarih Toplum 171 (March): 36–40.
* Amargi. (2009). Kadinlar Arasinda: Deneyimlerimiz hangi kapilari aciyor: II. (der).
* Amargi (Aralik 2008). Oda: Virginia Woolf'un odasindayiz: Deneyimlerimiz hangi kapilari aciyor –I.
* Arat, Zehra. (1997). Kadinlarin Gundemi. (der). Istanbul, Say Yayinlari.
* Arat, Zehra. (1996). Kadin Gerceklikleri. (der). Istanbul, Say Yayinlari.
* Bora Aksu, Asena Gunal, and Gulnur Savran (na), "Yuvarlak Masa." ''Birikim''.
* Edip Halide (1987) Zeyno. Istanbul: Remzi Kitabevi.
* Gürbilek Nurdan. (2004). "Kadınsılaşma Endişesi: Efemine Erkekler, Hadım Oğullar, Kadın-Adamlar," In Kör Ayna, Kayıp Şark. Metis.
* Mutluer, Nil (2008) (der). Cinsiyet Halleri: Turkiye'de toplumsal cinsiyetin kesisim sinirlari. Istanbul, Varlik Yayinlari.
* {{Cite journal | last = Glüpker-Kesebir | first = Gitta | title = Women's Rights in Turkey and the European Union Accession Process: German Media Perspectives | journal = [[Journal of Women, Politics & Policy]] | volume = 37 | issue = 4 | pages = 514–537 | doi = 10.1080/1554477X.2016.1192422 | date = August 2016 | s2cid = 147777072 }}
* Demet Lüküslü (2023) Becoming a young woman through a feminist lens: young feminist women in Turkey, Journal of Gender Studies, DOI: 10.1080/09589236.2023.2172556

== See also ==
*[[Domestic violence in Turkey]]
*[[Secularism in Turkey]]
*[[Women in Turkish politics|Turkish women in politics]]
*[[Turkish women in academics]]
*[[Turkish women in literature]]
*[[Turkish women in sports]]
*[[Child marriage in Turkey]]
*[[List of Turkish women who won international beauty pageants]]
*[[Human rights in Turkey]]

==References==
{{Country study}} (Data as of January 1995.)
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{externalvideo|video1=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtUS_JSxnwI Honour Killings: Turkey]}}
{{commons category|Women of Turkey}}
* [http://www.kadinininsanhaklari.org/ Kadının İnsan Hakları] — [http://www.wwhr.org/ Women for Women's Human Rights (English website)]
* [http://www.kagider.org/ KAGIDER — Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey]
* [http://www.ka-der.org.tr KA.DER – Kadın Adayları Destekleme Derneği] — [http://www.ka-der.org.tr/en/index.php Association for the Support of Women Candidates (English website)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120617194520/http://www.ka-der.org.tr/en/index.php |date=17 June 2012 }}
* [http://www.ucansupurge.org Uçan Süpürge – Kadın Haber Sitesi] — [http://www.ucansupurge.org/english/index.php Flying Broom – Women News Site (English website)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120902021310/http://www.ucansupurge.org/english/index.php |date=2 September 2012 }}
* [http://www.kedv.org.tr/index.php?page=english Foundation for the Support of Women's Work]
* [https://www.undp.org/turkiye/press-releases/turkeys-performance-gender-equality-lags-behind-its-advances-human-development-undp-study-shows Turkey's performance on gender equality lags behind its advances in human development, UNDP study shows] United Nations

{{Turkey topics}}
{{Asia topic|Women in}}
{{Women in Europe}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Women in Turkey}}
[[Category:Women in Turkey| ]]
[[Category:Women by country|Turkey]]
[[Category:Violence against women in Turkey]]