Tip Of The Iceberg Of Being a Woman In Turkey by Elif Cemre Umutlu

Nowadays countless women in nearly every country are facing great challenges of all kinds. If we  focus on Turkey, the biggest challenge for women and girls cannot be specified in my opinion. It is so  heartbreaking to state that there are so many serious challenges that females have to encounter in  Turkey, that the most challenging amongst them cannot be pointed out. 

To start with, the challenge that can be counted as one of the easiest is that menstrual product  marketing in Turkey is considered to be shameful and dirty. Especially women who live in more rural  areas are facing greater challenges purchasing menstrual products. What is trying to be asserted as  troubles can be briefly outlined as the shop employees are wrapping pads into newspapers so that  they won’t be seen in a plastic bag. Or the quite opposite of the situation, the customer is asking the  employee to wrap their pads with newspapers so that they won’t be judged by the men who  embraced patriarchal standardization which includes the idea of periods are dirty and should be  ashamed of. Besides their troubles while trying to buy their needs, they are made to feel ashamed of  having their period which is a completely healthy body function and a must for a woman at a certain  age. Even though it is way easier to buy menstrual products in a city, the trouble now that faces  women is their choice of product. Tampon users are looked at in a way that they shouldn’t be using  tampons nor it is absurd to use them, and especially a strict no for young women since the majority  of our society is more obsessed with their purity than their comfort.  

Secondly, since we are all free individuals, we should be wearing what we want as long as we don’t  invade others’ personal space and comfort. But sadly in Turkey clothing for women is again a  sensitive topic. As mentioned earlier, as long as no one invades another’s personal space no one can  be involved in your choice of clothing. Nevertheless, men whose personal space has not been  invaded by any clothes that a woman has worn, are somehow finding the right to direct a woman’s  choice in clothes and criticize their clothe’s lengths and low cuts. 

Lastly, many innocent women had been brutally murdered. Many of them occurred after the women refused their spouses, boyfriends or friends. So after being refused the men decided that ending  their lives would be the best solution way. On the contrary, many of the innocent lives taken didn’t  even know who their attacker was or, their attacker was one of the members of their beloved family. Moreover, the most hurting part of these murders is that horribly, many children are being murdered  after being exposed to many assaults. All being said, in the past ten years at least 3659 verified  women were victims of men and with the rate of %289, Turkey is currently at its highest rate of  increase in female murders. After all, no women nor person deserves to be taken their life, especially  in such hurtful ways.  

To sum up, regrettably many other challenges can be pointed out, that women have to face in  Turkey. But unless we educate our society about how to treat and love women in the right way,  there will be more problems occurring gradually in addition to all the problems that are present.