The contested boundaries of the patriarchal political culture in Turkey: Women's reputation, honor and the headscarf

This paper is an attempt to contextualize the underrepresentation of women by looking at the ways in which women’s agency in political sphere is limited by the patriarchal political culture. This paper is a product of a qualitative research project titled “Gender in Local Politics” on the gender relations in local politics by utilizing in-depth interviews with women who were elected or nominated for various positions in local governments in 2009 local elections. The main research questions are:(1) How do women politicians in the local politics perceive and reconcile the values regarding their reputations stemming from their virtue(2) How and when do women politicians resist and confirm to this limitation regarding women’s participation to politics? (3) What are the prospects of better representation of women in the political offices?  In conclusion, this paper explores the contested boundaries of the patriarchal political culture in Turkey.

 (*) This research titled “Gender in Local Politics: The Issue of Women’s Representation at Local Level” has been sponsored by a generous grant through TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Council of Turkey) in 2009-2011.