The Development of Civil Society and The Women’s Rights Movements in Türkiye
The Development of Civil Society and The Women’s Rights Movements in Türkiye

Author(s): Ahmet Görgen
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Social Sciences, Psychology, Essay|Book Review |Scientific Life, General Reference Works, Geography, Regional studies, Library and Information Science, Sociology
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Civil society; development; women’s rights; movements; Türkiye
Summary/Abstract: This paper is based on the research related to the role of women’s rights movements for the development of civil society in Türkiye. Recent analyses reveal that the civil society has been in the development process since the late Ottoman Empire. Moreover, the post-1980s liberalization process of the public sphere has been in relation to the empowering civil society that has been also a scene of the women’s rights movements. Indeed, this was visible in parallel with the reform process in the 2000s under the Justice and Development Party (JDP) governments. In this regard, research shows that the development of civil society and the empowerment of the women’s rights movements has been in parallel that shows the strong role of women’s rights movements for the development of civil society in Türkiye. Preliminary research reveals that early struggle for women’s rights had been in the magazines and newspapers during the late Ottoman Empire. In 1914, Women’s University (Inas Darülfunun) was founded in Istanbul. With the foundation of the Republic of Türkiye in 1923 more freedom was provided for women in terms of lifestyle. The global wave of feminism influenced the women in Türkiye in the 1960s. In the post-1980s, first of all the magazines on the struggle of women emerged. In the 1990s, the research institutions on the gender and women’s studies started to emerge. Later, the organizations from various ideological positioning of women emerged for the struggle for women’s rights. Also, the development of internet technology contributed to the women’s movements’ being a part of the virtual public sphere. This paper presents the role of women’s rights movements for the development of civil society in Türkiye.

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