http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0944-4751
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ABSTRACT
Moving from the assumption that local governments are significant stakeholders of women’s empowerment policies, this article aims to examine the struggle against violence against women (VAW) at the local level through gender-sensitive policies employed by female mayors from a gender perspective and how these can be utilized as collective transformative resources for women’s empowerment. Based on a field-study, the contention of this article is that gender budgeting, gender-sensitive collective-labor contracts, and women’s support centers are institutional resources for the transformation of the municipal-budget, for attitude transformation in male employees, and for sustainable empowerment policies in the struggle against VAW in municipalities in Turkey. This article, stressing the link between the struggle against VAW and women’s empowerment, reveals the significance of institutionalization of gender-sensitive policies and the struggle at local level as two prominent factors taken to be into consideration in women’s empowerment.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) for their financial support for the 1001 research project numbered 111K450. We owe special thanks to the female mayors without whose contributions this research would not be possible. We also appreciate the insightful comments of anonymous reviewers that helped us to improve our manuscript.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Ahu Sumbas was awarded a Ph.D. in Political Science at Hacettepe University in 2012. During her graduate work, she spent one year in Duisburg-Essen University. She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Hacettepe University. She is interested in gender studies and local politics, gendered policies, women’s representation, and violence against women.
Berrin Koyuncu is Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration of Hacettepe University. She received her MA and Ph. D. degrees from Bilkent University. She has published articles on local politics in Turkey, gender, the headscarf issue in Europe, Turkish political thought, and Turkish political economy. She is the author of various articles in Women’s Studies International Forum, Feminism & Psychology, and the Review of International Political Economy.
ORCID
Ahu Sumbas http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0944-4751
Notes
1. Kabeer, “Gender Equality”; Goldman and Jani, “Innovative Grassroots NGOs”; Batliwala, “Meaning of Empowerment”; Batliwala, “Putting Power”; and Batliwala, “Taking the Power.”
2. Beşpınar, “Questioning Agency”; Cindoğlu and Toktaş, “Empowerment and Resistance”; Erman, Kalaycıoğlu, and Rittersberger-Tılıç, “Money-earning Activities”; Landig, “Bringing Women to the Table”; Çınar and Uğur-Çınar, “What the City has to Offer”; and Gündüz-Hoşgör and Smits, “The Status of Rural Women.”
3. Kardam and Kardam, “Empowerment through Training,” 92.
4. WHO, Addressing Violence; Jansen et al., National Research on Domestic Violence; Yüksel-Kaptanoğlu, Çavlin, and Akadlı Ergöçmen, Türkiye’de Kadına Yönelik Aileiçi Şiddet.
5. Vienna Declaration.
6. Kabeer, “Gender Equality,” 14.
7. The Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence adopted by the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers on 7 April 2011.
8. We Will Stop Femicide Platform.
9. Turkey was ranked 69th out of 159 countries in the 2016 UN Gender Inequality Index and 131st out of 144 countries in the World Gender Gap Report of World Economic Forum, 2017.
10. Alkan, “Gendered Structures.”
11. Kabeer, “Resources, Agency, Achievements”; Kabeer, “Gender Equality”; and Mosedale, “Assessing Women’s Empowerment.”
12. Cornwall and Rivas, “From ‘Gender Equality’”, and WHO, Addressing Violence.
13. UN Nairobi Conference-1985, Local Agenda 21-1997, Council of European Gender Equality-1998; European Commission Manual for Gender Mainstreaming of Employment Policies-2007, The European Charter for Equality of Women and Men in Local Life-2001, Istanbul Convention-2011.
14. Batliwala, “Putting Power”; Batliwala, “Taking the Power”; Cornwall and Rivas, “From ‘Gender Equality’,” 9; and Rowlands, “A Word of Times.”
15. Lombardo, Meier, and Verloo, “Policy Making,” 688; Walby, “Introduction: Comparative Gender Mainstreaming”; Rees, “Reflections on the Uneven”; and Kiwala and Masaud, Gender Mainstreaming.
16. Schuler, Islam, and Rottach, “Women’s Empowerment Revisited”; Mosedale, “Assessing Women’s Empowerment”; Kabeer, “Gender Equality”; and Acharya and Ghimire, “Gender Indicators of Equality.”
17. Batliwala, “Taking the Power.”
18. WHO, Addressing Violence; Mosedale, “Assessing Women’s Empowerment”; Afshar, “Women and Empowerment”; Kabeer, “Gender Equality”; Cornwall and Rivas, “From ‘Gender Equality’”; and Batliwala, “Taking the Power.”
19. Schuler and Hashemi, “Credit Programs”; Mayoux, “Tackling the Down Side”; and Kim et al., “Understanding the Impact.”
20. Kabeer, “Is Micro Finance a Magic,” and Batliwala, “Taking the Power.”
21. Kabeer, “Gender Equality,” 16.
22. Batliwala, “Putting Power,” 2.
23. Kabeer, “Resources, Agency, Achievements,” and Kabeer, “Gender Equality.”
24. Council of Europe, Gender Mainstreaming.
25. Krizsan and Pap, “Implementing Comprehensive,” 25.
26. Kandiyoti, “Locating the Politics.”
27. Weldon and Htun, “Feminist Mobilization,” 234.
28. The only regulation concerning the struggle against VAW is the requirement to establish women’s shelter in the municipalities whose population exceeds 100.000 (Article 14, 5393 No Code of Local Governments 2005).
29. Haktankaçmaz, “Yerel Yönetimler.”
30. Şenol et al., Women Friendly Cities, and Gunluk-Senesen et al., “Gender Budgeting.”
32. Gunluk-Senesen et al., “Gender Budgeting.”
33. We list here the governing party, with AKP indicating the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi), which has ruled at the national level since 2002, and CHP the Republican Peoples’ Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi), which has been the largest opposition party.
34. Akduran, “Yerel Yaşamda”; “Çankaya’dan … ”; “Urla … .”; Klatzer, Akduran, and Gültaşlı, Belediyeler için Toplumsal, 37–49; and KEIG Platformu Stratejik Plan Çalışması.
35. Alanso, “Who Learns,” 177, 181.
36. 158,217 cases were reported as VAW in 2017 in Spain. https://www.thelocal.es/20180312/violence-against-women-in-spain-highest-ever-in-2017.
37. Local governments in Turkey may act as the main locus of combat against VAW through preventive, disincentive-protective and empowerment-supportive local services such as women’s shelters, women’s centers, and social-economic empowerment measures when gender-sensitive policies are promoted. See Koyuncu Lorasdağı and Sumbas, “Türkiye’de Yerel.”
38. Haktankaçmaz, “Kadına Yönelik Şiddetle Mücadelede”; Gunluk-Senesen et al., “Gender Budgeting”; Diner and Toktaş, “Women’s Shelters”; and Koyuncu Lorasdağı and Sumbas, “Türkiye’de Yerel.”
39. Bowman and Kearney, State and Local Government, and Levine, Urban Politics, 118–119.
40. Klatzer, Akduran, and Gültaşlı, Belediyeler için Toplumsal, and Koyuncu Lorasdağı and Sumbas, “Türkiye’de Yerel.”
41. Klatzer, Akduran, and Gültaşlı, Belediyeler için Toplumsal, 36.
42. Ibid.
43. This article is based on the findings of a research project funded by TUBITAK (The Science and Technology Research Institution of Turkey, Project No. 111K450) which aimed to investigate the discourses and activities of female mayors elected in 2004 and 2009 local elections concerning the combat against VAW.
44. DTP (Democratic Society Party) and BDP were pro-Kurdish political parties in Turkey, which had taken part in the 2004–2009 and 2009–2014 local elections. DTP’s was closed in December 2009, and was followed by BDP as a successor party. In May 2014, the BDP was closed and it was succeeded by HDP (People’s Democratic Party). We prefer to use BDP to represent these parties.
45. Yüksel-Kaptanoğlu, Çavlin, and Akadlı Ergöçmen, Türkiye’de Kadına Yönelik Aileiçi Şiddet.
46. Bryman, Social Research Methods.
47. Council of Europe, Gender Budgeting; Elson, “Gender Mainstreaming”; Çelik and Ertürk Atabey, “Toplumsal Cinsiyetin Ana Akımlaştırılması”; Akduran, “Yerel Yönetimde”; and Akduran, “Yerel Yaşamda.”
48. Gunluk-Senesen et al., “Gender Budgeting.”
49. Klatzer, Yerel Yönetimlerde Toplumsal Cinsiyet; Klatzer and Stiegler, Gender Budgeting; Quinn, Gender Budgeting; Günlük-Şenesen, “Toplumsal Cinsiyet-Duyarlı Bütçeleme,” Şahin, “Toplumsal Cinsiyete-Duyarlı Bütçeleme”; and Cáceres, Overview of Gender-responsive Budget.
50. Altınay and Arat, Türkiye’de Kadına Yönelik Şiddet, and Diner and Toktaş, “Women’s Shelters,” 345.
51. Günlük-Şenesen, “Toplumsal Cinsiyet-Duyarlı Bütçeleme,” and Şahin, “Toplumsal Cinsiyete-Duyarlı Bütçeleme.”
52. Haktankaçmaz, “Kadına Yönelik Şiddetle Mücadelede,” and Haktankaçmaz, “Yerel Yönetimler.”
53. Batliwala, “Putting Power.”
54. Klatzer, Yerel Yönetimlerde Toplumsal Cinsiyet, 11.
55. Çağlayan, “Kamusal Alan.”
56. Despite the belief that gender-sensitive collective-labor contracts can be an effective strategy to deter men violating their wives and daughters, it is found controversial from legal perspective. See Bakırcı, “Aile içi veya Birlikte Yaşayanlar Arasındaki Şiddete.”
57. Aktürk and Doğan, “Türkiye’de Belediyeler.”
58. Batliwala, “Putting Power.”
59. Walby, “Introduction”; Van der Leest, Xhelo, and Wittberger, Gender Equality; Franceschet, “Explaining Domestic Violence”; and Krizsan and Pap, “Implementing Comprehensive.”
60. In Turkey, İzmir Metropolitan (CHP-2008), Ankara Metropolitan (AKP-2008), Çankaya (CHP-2010), Yenimahalle (CHP-2013), Bursa/Nilüfer (CHP), İstanbul/Beşiktaş (CHP-2016) Municipalities have also women’s support centers.
61. GABB Bulletin, “Belediyemizde Cinsiyet,” 28–30.
62. Ibid., 43–44.
63. Krizsan and Pap, “Implementing Comprehensive.”
64. For instance, after the rape incident in Diyarbakır Hospital in 2012, in addition to providing shelter, psychological-legal consultancy to the victim woman, Kardelen paid specific attention to make this incident as a public issue. (“Kardelen Kadın Evi’nden tecavüz.”). For the significance of municipal agenda setting to attract attention to VAW, see Andrew, “Getting Women’s Issue Municipal Agenda.”
65. Kiwala and Masaud, Gender Mainstreaming, 22; Şenol et al., Women Friendly Cities; and Franceschet, “Explaining Domestic Violence.”
66. Batliwala, “Putting Power.”
67. Krizsan and Pap, “Implementing Comprehensive,” and Tosun, Kadın Sığınmaevleri Projesi,” 37–8.
68. Çınar and Uğur-Çınar, “What the City Has to Offer,” 258.