ABSTRACT
By reviewing the parliamentary debate surrounding a bill reforming maternity leave and part-time work, we demonstrate that women members of the religious-conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey emphasized women’s motherhood duties within the family and childcare rather than highlighting the shared responsibilities of parents. Particularly, they perceive women as the core unit of family. Women members of AKP follow the religious-conservative claims of the party and perpetuate women’s traditional location in the society. In this sense, women’s substantive representation in the AKP is inherently limited to the gendered claim-making leaving little room for the presence of diverse interests, particularly feminist claim-making demanding gender equality.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by Hacettepe Üniversitesi Research Projects Coordination Unit [SUI-2019-18178].
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).