As a Transformative Force in Masculine Legal Culture, Feminist Advocacy “Feminists at the Court Room”

As in many other countries, the demand for gender equality has long been the most dynamic wing of the struggle for rights in Turkey. Rising criticism of policies related to women and gender has led to the positioning of activism in Turkey alongside various forms of collective action, organizational structures, and political stances. Today, networks of feminist lawyers who voluntarily follow femicide and LGBTI+ violence cases in Turkey and collect data on them cover the whole country. Since the neoliberal right-wing government withdrew its signature from the Istanbul Convention, the number of feminist lawyers joining solidarity networks to combat increasing masculine violence is increasing day by day. While patterns of masculine legal culture, such as impunity and misogynistic judicial practices, narrow women's access to justice, a stronger army of lawyers is emerging to support victims of masculine violence.

Based on data from qualitative research with activists advocating for rights against masculine violence against women and LGBTI+ in Turkey, this paper primarily addresses the following questions: Can we talk about the transformative effect of feminist advocacy in cases of masculine violence on legal culture? What role do feminist lawyer networks that provide voluntary advocacy support in cases of masculine violence play on women's access to justice? While seeking answers to these questions, it is also aimed to produce local knowledge of this field and support advocacy by revealing the difficulties faced by rights defenders and activists who struggle for gender equality and the strategies and suggestions they have developed to overcome them. Using NVIVO12, I analyzed the qualitative data from in-depth interviews and focus groups with lawyers defending victims and/or their relatives in cases of masculine violence, interpreting it in the context of theories on advocacy, legal culture, and women's access to justice.