Türkiye’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention was sufficient for the opposition to escalate allegations that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government worsened the state of women’s rights. On the other hand, the government also faces criticism from ultra-conservative circles for “giving too many rights” to women through a comprehensive law.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan repeatedly highlights the importance they gave to the issue, particularly protecting women exposed to domestic violence and upholding the notion of family. As he pointed out earlier this week in a live interview, in 21 years under the AK Party, Türkiye achieved progress to restore the rights of women from all walks of life.
“Preserving the family institution is our priority. We always openly advocated it and worked to amend the Constitution to ensure it. We ever allowed any intervention in women’s lives, be it violence or attacks on their rights and honor. We took the most decisive steps in the fight against violence targeting women. It was unprecedented,” Erdoğan said in the interview.
Indeed, a short list of accomplishments of successive governments in two decades reveals the legal struggle on the issue to restore women’s rights and boost gender equality. The regulations catering to women include an end to the controversial practice of giving reduced sentences to those involved in domestic violence, criminalization of stalking and the freedom to wear a headscarf.
Figures show women’s gains are reflected in their education and business life as well. The rate of women accessing higher education reached 50% from just 13% in 21 years, while women’s participation in the workforce reached a record 36%. This number reached around 40% in the public sector.
The lifting of the headscarf ban is a historic gain for Turkish women. Turkish headscarf-wearing women have long struggled under laws that prevented them from wearing headscarves at schools as students and in public institutions as professionals, despite the prevalence of headscarf-wearing women in the country. The Republican People’s Party (CHP), which accuses the government of trampling women’s rights now, had fueled anti-headscarf sentiment among the people and supported laws banning it. The headscarf ban held an important place in public and political debates in Türkiye throughout the 1990s and 2000s. It was implemented widely in the 1980s but became stricter after 1997 when the military forced the conservative government to resign in an incident later dubbed the Feb. 28 "postmodern coup." Erdoğan previously described the period as “days of oppression against women,” of which he was a victim as he was forced to remove his children from school. Parliament lifted the ban on female students wearing the headscarf at university in 2008 in a move championed by Erdoğan and which the CHP lawmakers, including CHP Chairperson Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, had sought unsuccessfully to block in the Constitutional Court.
In 2013, Türkiye lifted the ban on women wearing headscarves in state institutions under reforms the government said were designed to bolster democracy.
But long before that, in 2003, “family courts” were established, a novelty for the Turkish legal system and an institution specialized in family law. In 2004, the constitutional amendments cemented the equality of women and men and tasked the state to maintain this equality. The same year, Türkiye increased the severity of sentences for crimes against women and particularly, female spouses. Also in 2004, Turkish laws recognized sexual harassment in the working environment as a crime for the first time and brought harsh sentences against it.
Another amendment in 2004 introduced aggravated prison sentences for so-called “honor killings” where family members kill a female family member if she elopes with someone the family does not want, pursues extramarital affairs or for similar motives. Aggravated life sentences can be handed down to those convicted of sexual abuse of women, forced prostitution and rape since that year, as well.
In 2009, a gender equality committee was established at the Turkish Parliament, to work on protecting women’s rights and their improvement. In 2010, a constitutional amendment paved the way for state policies for affirmative action in terms of women’s rights.
Law No. 6284 implemented in 2012 is regarded as a landmark bill to protect women from the risk of violence and the family, regulating the measures that the government is required to take on this field. The law broadened the description of violence toward women punishable by laws. It also paved the way for the establishment of domestic violence monitoring centers to help women facing the risk. The women facing fatal risks from domestic violence were given the option to change their IDs and distance themselves from violent spouses in a program similar to witness protection programs. Law enforcement and the judiciary were authorized to impose restraining orders against threatening spouses without the need for evidence.
In 2014, the government criminalized obstruction of the right to receive an education for women, which has been a bleeding wound for girls deprived of the right to go to school, especially in rural parts of Türkiye. Also in 2014, Türkiye increased sentences for sexual abuse and similar crimes. In the following years, Türkiye further revised and increased sentencing for crimes committed against a female spouse. Last year, stalking targeting women was defined as a separate crime for the first time, instead of an offense that carried a prison term only if it involved threats and similar offenses under the law.
