Essay by Ece Albayrak

What is the biggest challenge facing women and girls in Turkey today?  

 That might sound like a hard question to answer to some of you, but it is not for me, a sixteen year old girl born, raised and living in Turkey. The answer is child marriage, violence,  unemployment, economic disparity, conservativeness, traditions, patriarchy, not being brought up  equally as men, needing to look for a ‘rich husband’ or wanting to be a housewife since it is what  women are worthy of ? And unfortunately, the answer is not one of them, it is actually all of them,  but if asked to point out a single challenge which is the biggest one, I would say it is being  underestimated.  

 I am Ece Albayrak. I live in Antalya, Turkey. I go to one of the best schools in Antalya. I live in  a secure housing complex and a reliable neighborhood. I rarely use public transportation. Either I  take a taxi or my parents drive me around. My parents are both lawyers and are pretty open minded  and up to date.  

 I have never been forced to get married, contrarily I have been told I should wait until I have my  own income not to depend on someone. I have never been exposed to any kind of violence. I have  never been told it would be ‘haram or ayıp’ to do something I want, to do something my way. I have  never had to change my outfit just to avoid men looking at me, just not to turn a man on …   I actually am on the lucky side of the Turkish girls. The reason why I started with these points is  not to show how developed or over these issues Turkey is, because we are not over it, we are just  getting started. I might have not been confronted by any of these issues but that does not mean I do  not find it difficult being a woman in Turkey. I wasn’t accepted to the school’s basketball team since  there was not any girls team and ‘I would not be good enough for the boys team’. I was not elected  as the class representative since ‘a boy would be better for the position’. I had to quit horse riding  since I was not as powerful as a boy. I have been told I am a feminist like it is a bad thing just  because I said I can do something as good as a boy or even better… I have been underestimated.   And after a whole life of being underestimated, girls start to think that they are what people tell  them they are, ‘not enough’. If people believe in themselves, there is nothing they cannot do.  However, the culture and traditions of our country raise girls only as servants and wives. Some are  not valuable before they are married. Some are being sold or exchanged like goods and do not have  financial freedom. If we, women, change our minds, the rest will follow.For example, in the  nineteenth century, only men and cattle were being counted when making  censuses. But thanks to Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, only after less than a  century Turkish women had the rights to elect and be elected even before most of the European  countries. Even though there are plenty of problems women face daily, we are in a much better  position than the Islamic Middle Eastern countries. To be exact, Turkey has the most comprehensive  laws for women among the Islamic countries. And our rights are not much less in comparison to the  European women, some of them are exact quotations. But the problem is that we still do not know  how to embark on or use these laws to our own benefit.  

 The solution to these problems is actually easy to talk about. The solution is changing people’s  minds starting from ourselves, women, then continuing with men and children, raising children  equally is one of the most effective solutions to be specific. Nevertheless, when it comes to  implementing, we, Turkish people, have a long way to go. That does not mean that we should not  have faith. We get better day by day and that only happens because of us, the new generation, that is  getting more and more conscious about the situation and is hopeful about the future. I believe in  myself, I can be the change.You should do too.