Let Turkish Women Live by Ceren Şengün

I wish I could say the biggest issue facing women in my country was something small, maybe something related to economic power. However, as I remember how I feel when I turn on the news and see another black and white picture of a woman who has been killed by her husband or ex boyfriend, I’m reminded that there is a danger that women in Turkey are frightened of, an issue that needs immediate attention. The biggest challenge facing some women in Turkey is staying alive. Plain and tragic. There are women terrified of dying in the hands of their loved ones. These murders are so common, there is a specific term dedicated to the widespread occurrences of women being killed by their loved ones: femicide. But why do women die so frequently in a country where we’re supposed to be treated equally on paper? 

The legal sides of this situation should be looked into; the government must take further action by doing things like signing the Istanbul Convention and more to ensure the safety of women, however I believe that we should also explore the cultural aspect of this. 

Turkey is a predominantly Muslim country, and religion can be a tricky subject. People interpret religion to their own benefits, and this can result in deep rooted misogyny in a culture. Education, or lack thereof, plays an important contributor to the mindset created around selfish interpretations of Islam. Specifically the Eastern areas of Turkey are more rural and less developed; just as it is around the world, these less modern areas contain more religious and traditional ideologies. These areas are where these Islamic values tend to get more violent, and frankly farther away from the point of a peaceful religion. Valuing “honor” and “virtue” becomes more about the purity of a woman and her family duties, and less about the development and contentment of the society as a whole. Unfortunately, you can find people who will condone violent approaches when a woman “steps out of line”. Sexual and psychological abuse, or even rape and murder can hide under the title of “protecting the honor and purity of one’s family”. There are men willing to justify acts of abuse and violence. A woman who talks back deserves to be punished. A woman who doesn't comply with her domestic duties can be abused, at least psychologically. A woman who hides secrets from her husband, asks for privacy, or disrespects, nay disobeys him, should face the consequences.

The conservative family values and traditions involving harmful gender norms, stereotypes and unfair treatments shape this narrative of strong men establishing dominance over women in many fields. In Turkish culture, the male genitalia is glorified whilst most things related to women’s bodies are considered disgusting. Menstruation is a taboo topic -even so according to my grandmother, who scolded me for telling my dad about my period- meanwhile circumcision is a vital rite of passage that is celebrated with joy and pride. All of these push boys to believe that their genitalia have significant value compared to the “shameful” female genitalia, and therefore this insinuated sexual superiority is an elucidation of objectifying women. In addition to this, there is standard gender based discrimination, including phrases like “boys will be boys” and expectations of girls to “know their places” by being socially active but not too opinionated, smart but not clever enough to surpass their male counterparts, sweet but distant… the list goes on. Doing this involuntarily opens the opportunity of placing the blame on women if something happens to them. If a woman gets raped, it becomes easy to say “she was being too flirty, she asked for it”. Victim-shaming becomes normalized. These details might seem irrelevant, but considering that 300 women have fallen victim to femicides, the dreadfully tremendous impact these contributions have to these numbers shouldn’t be underestimated. 

It really isn’t easy for me to find a solution to this massive issue that makes women afraid of walking alone at night, and allows men to expect sexual favors from women. There really aren't a lot of practical and tangible solutions to come up with when there is a lack of basic human decency. We can only hope for better education, for more understanding and compassionate men who treat women as their equals. Because although you can find a very successful woman breaking the glass ceiling, accomplishing wonderful things, you can still find a scared girl holding her keys between her fingers, only two blocks over.