Recent Changes to Turkish Constitution Present Opportunity for Gender Equality Advancement

Posted by Lou Anne King Jensen

A majority of Turkish voters recently approved a referendum to amend the Turkish constitution. These accepted changes bring Turkey further in line with EU standards, including equality before the law. The modification regarding gender equality ensures that measures can be implemented that will increase the participation of women in the social, economic, and political spheres. Many women’s groups are now hoping that the government will actually institute such actions.  

The inclusion of women into public spaces is imperative since gender disparities remain high in Turkey. Large numbers of Turkish women are illiterate, many do not participate in the labor force, and their representation in politics is low. While illiteracy rates for women have decreased from 33.9% to 19.6% since the 1990s overall, illiteracy rates continue to be much higher for women in the southeastern part of the country. Women’s labor participation has declined from 34.3% in 1988 to 22% in 2008, in sharp contrast to other countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), while 97.2% of all employers in the country are male. Political representation of women in parliament increased to 9.1% of the total seats in 2007. However, in 2009 only 0.9% of mayors (27 out of 2948) were women. Causes cited for these discrepancies include inadequate education, cultural traditions, childcare issues, limited knowledge of political processes, funding deficiencies, women’s lack of confidence, and a shortage of advancement opportunities.*

Despite these challenges, philanthropic foundations and individual philanthropists can take actions to ensure progress continues to be made regarding the inclusion of women. Fields that need to be supported include the following:

•  research that advances knowledge regarding gender equality;
• innovative programs that educate and encourage women;
• opportunities for the facilitation of linkages between local, national, and international women’s organizations that can provide access to new models, best practices, and serve as support networks;
• efforts to strengthen funding for women’s initiatives; and
• policy reform endeavors.

There are many excellent organizations working to support women in a variety of areas in Turkey. Some of my favorites include the following:

• KAMER Foundation; 
• Turkish Philanthropy Funds - Gender Equality selections; and
• Women for Women’s Human Rights - New Ways.

The approval of the referendum presents all of us with the opportunity to renew our efforts on behalf of women. While many women’s groups are calling on the government to put measures into place that will increase the participation of women, each one of us can be a part of the solution now by incorporating the principle of gender inclusion in our businesses, philanthropic efforts, and in the daily choices we make. It is my hope we will all find ways to give meaning to the passage of the gender component of the referendum by fostering positive change on behalf of women each and every day. 

* The statistics and some ideas contained in this section come from Eder, M., (2010). Turkey. In Ellen Lust, The Middle East (pp. 730-760). Washington, DC: CG Press.

Lou Anne King Jensen is a licensed master social worker recognized for independent practice and President of the Chrest Foundation, a private foundation that has been supporting social projects in Turkey since 2001. She also serves as an advisor or board member to a number of philanthropies and non-profit organizations including those related to Turkey, women, diabetes research, and college scholarships for students.    

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Creating Opportunities for Youth!

Supporters of  Turkish Philanthropy Funds partners, Toplum Gonulluleri Vakfi- TOG (Community Volunteers Foundation of Turkey) and Sabanci University - SU, will be participating in the 32nd Intercontinental Eurasia Marathon this Sunday, October 17th in Istanbul. Both TOG and SU teams are running for a notable cause: to create opportunities for youth to achieve successful futures.

One of the founders and board member of TOG, Ibrahim Betil, will be running in support of their "Valuing Young People" project while  34 Sabanci University faculty, staff, students and supporters will be running to raise funds for their Scholarship Fund.

To support their efforts through TPF please visit their pages at TPF website. Any contributions you make to these organizations  till October 20th will be relayed directly to the mentioned projects.

“Voices Unveiled: Turkish Women Who Dare”

Turkish Philanthropy Funds along with The American Turkish Society presents “Voices Unveiled: Turkish Women Who Dare” tonight at NYIT Auditorium on Broadway.  

Date: October 6, 2010 Time: 6:00 PM-8:30 PM  Location: NYIT Auditorium on Broadway 1871 Broadway (Between 61st and 62nd Streets)

Set in Turkey, Voices Unveiled explores the clash of the East and the West through the lives of three Turkish women – an activist, an artist and a dancer – who struggle to find their own voices in a traditional world. Turkish Women Who Dare is not just the story of three brave Turkish women.  It highlights the obstacles and challenges women in Turkey face -- obstacles and challenges that prevent them from reaching their potential -- obstacles and challenges that must be broken down -- that we must break down. These individuals’ struggles for personal empowerment reflect the challenges faced by women worldwide. Through their stories, the film examines such timely issues as societal change and the intersections between secularism, traditional values, and gender equality. 

 

Women's issues is at the heart of one of the causes TPF addresses. That's why tonight's screening is significant. The goal tonight is not only to raise awareness but also invite you to take action so we can bring women's tenacity, intelligence and creativity to the forefront and encourage them to make profound contributions to our society. Learn more on how you can take action through TPF.

This event is free and open to the public. However, space is limited and RSVP is required. RSVP for tonight's screening here.

Making of the Documentary "Voices Unveiled: Turkish Women Who Dare”

Posted by Binnur Karaevli

Growing up in a progressive family in Istanbul, I was provided with a great education and encouraged to pursue a career by my family.  However, I still felt society’s pressures in how I should behave and act as a woman.  “What would the neighbors think?” is a common worry for a lot of Turkish women no matter how liberated their families might be.  For the privileged, this subtle oppression might be irritating but a larger segment of women’s lives are dictated by the notion of the woman’s purity of reputation and honor.  In many less developed parts of Turkey, “honor” means a woman’s obedience.  “Honor killings,” the practice of murdering women at the hands of their family for transgressions such as extra-marital sex, are still practiced in the impoverished provinces.

As I set out to make the documentary, “Voices Unveiled,” my goal was to discover Turkish women who defied restrictions in the pursuit of their own dreams and thereby convey their stories.  During the filming, I met women from all walks of life but decided to concentrate on the stories of an artist, an activist and a dancer representing a cross section. Belkis (60s), Nur (50s) and Banu (20s), reflected different aspects of my personality. I felt a strong connection to Belkis’ art because her art is rooted in the traditional form of kilim, (Turkish Tapestry) and yet she creates abstract, minimalist and forceful designs that break out of the box and transcend the form. I immediately responded to Nur’s compassionate and diligent efforts on behalf of the less privileged women.  Many taboos concerning “professional dance” still exists in Turkey.  Banu, a champion ballroom dancer, had to fight against her family that did not accept her desire to dance publicly.  She had to continually walk the line between rebelling and reassuring, pressing on while demonstrating that her dancing is a legitimate pursuit. 

As I explored the main problems Turkish women face, I realized that these concerns are not unique to Turkey. Gender inequality, and lack of education, economic freedom, and sexual and bodily rights afflict many women in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America. In the film, Nur, the activist says, "Democracy is impossible without women being empowered." My goal with "Voices Unveiled" is to communicate to the audience the link between democracy and gender rights in the world.

Binnur Karaevli was born and raised in Istanbul and earned her BFA in Drama from Carnegie-Mellon University and her MFA in Film Production from University of Southern California.  Her films received top prizes from numerous film festivals around the world. She is currently working on a narrative feature film about the Ottoman Harem.  She splits her time between Istanbul and Los Angeles. For more information on the documentary, please visit www.voicesunveiled.com. Binnur Karaevli can be reached by emailing binnur@voicesunveiled.com

TPF along with the American Turkish Society will be holding a screening of "Voices Unveiled: Turkish Women Who Dare" on Wednesday, October 6th. RSVP online.

Please also join Binnur Karaevli and @tphilanthropy for a tweetchat on women's sexual and bodily rights on October 5th at 2PM EST/9PM IST by using the hashtag #genderequality.  

Go to TPF's website.

Illiteracy does not just mean the inability to read or write

“As I would board the bus, I would ask the driver shyly whether the bus was headed in the direction I needed to go. Now, I can read the bus route. I can go wherever I want without asking anyone.”- Emine S.

“I couldn’t go to the hospital alone before. Since I couldn’t read, I couldn’t find the department I needed to go to. I was afraid to ask. I would spend so much time looking. Now I can find the hospital departments without asking anyone. I can read the door plates.”-Hamiyet K.

“My greatest wish was to learn phone numbers. When somebody gave me their number I couldn’t write it and I felt miserable. Yesterday I got a phone call. They wanted to talk to my husband. I said he wasn't home and wrote their phone number. I am so happy.” -Muteber B.

As surprising as it may seem, Emine, Hamiyet and Muteber live in Turkey’s largest and most cosmopolitan city, Istanbul. Until they enrolled in the Mother and Child Education Foundation (ACEV)’s Women Empowerment and Functional Literacy Program (FALP), they could not read.

These women are not alone. There are several thousands of women, of all ages, who like Emine migrated to Istanbul, but who are unable to integrate into city life because of illiteracy. Illiteracy does not just mean the inability to read or write. It is a situation that prevents, mainly women, from living a normal life. For the past year, FALP has helped to change that in three disadvantaged districts in Istanbul.

From October 2009, FALP has implemented a literacy program for women in their 30s and 40s in Eyup, Fatih and Kagithane, where there is a high percentage of migrants from southeastern and eastern Turkey. The majority are migrants with only a primary school education for the men and only a few years for the women. In most instances women from these parts of Turkey never even enrolled in a classroom.

With the assistance of three volunteer teachers selected by ACEV’s Functional Literacy Program, 65 women from these Istanbul districts developed basic primary school level reading skills in three months.

FALP aims “for participants to gain skills that would boost women’s status in society and the family, such as using literacy skills in daily life, benefiting form the right to lifelong education as an informed citizen, and understanding the importance of educating female children.” Raising literacy rates in Turkey is one step in the right direction.

As a result of ACEV’s literacy program, there are several dozens of women in Istanbul more confident and able to function independently in their daily lives. Pleased with its results, ACEV plans to offer more advanced courses for these women. It also plans to expand the program to other districts in Istanbul.

ACEV's FALP program is a recent grantee of TPF. Read more on the outcomes of the project here.

Tweetchat on female education and literacy

We just had a very lively discussion on Twitter on female education and literacy. Thanks to everyone who joined us.
If you missed it, you can read back through it here: http://twubs.com/girlseducation 

Visit TPF website.

If a Turkish girl can be President, can she change a tire? Only if she has an education.

Posted by Elmira Bayrasli

My father doesn’t think I should change a tire. I am, after all, a Turkish girl – and Turkish girls don’t change tires. Interestingly, he does think that I should and can be whatever I want to be – President of the United States for example. Hence, why he encouraged me - no scratch that - ordered me to study – a lot. “Education,” he would say, “is the most important thing in the world.”

That is, unfortunately, not the norm in Turkish culture. More than half of Turkish girls do not receive anything beyond the mandatory primary education. Today, only 57.2 percent of Turkish girls are enrolled in secondary school and only 18.7 percent in tertiary – and that is an increase over the past ten years. It is a disturbing gender gap, especially for a country that has aspirations to belong to the European Union. That is why I’m so glad to be involved with the Turkish Philanthropy Funds (TPF).

In name, TPF is a foundation that assists individuals eager to make philanthropic donations to Turkey. They’re an information and due-diligence resource that helps people make knowledgeable choices in charitable giving. Translated, they’re a convener and a community eager to make a positive impact on Turkey, in four specific areas:

• Gender Equality
• Arts & Culture
• Economic Development (entrepreneurship)
• Education

It’s two of these areas: gender equality and education and the work TPF is doing is why I’ve chosen to volunteer my Wednesday mornings working at their offices.

TPF identifies, evaluates and partners with non-profits that are doing measurable work with significant outputs in these areas. One of the organizations they’ve chosen is the Mother Child Education Foundation (ACEV). It is an organization that works with rural communities to develop early childhood and adult education programs. Among the programs that they support is educating….men.

Fathers, brothers and uncles hold the key to closing Turkey’s gender gap. They must be included in efforts to increase female literacy and school enrollment. That’s what I love about ACEV’s Father Support Program. It works to “address the parenting skills and attitudes of fathers.” ACEV works with the Turkish education ministry and other education professionals to develop programs that encourage men to not only support female education, but to be involved in their daughter’s success. Beyond cool.

It is a program I found out about through TPF, as a result of the resources it makes available to those interested in making a difference in Turkey. TPF has a team that works to identify non-profits working in the four areas of focus I outlined above. More importantly, it works to ensure that those non-profits and the programs they’re implementing are having a significant and measurable impact. TPF is the quality control of Turkish philanthropy.

And quality is something we’re all looking for in every aspect of our lives. Yet somehow we don’t make it a priority when we’re giving. Our charity is, more often than not, driven by guilt as a palliative rather than thoughtful deliberation on what will affect long-term progress. The Turkish Philanthropy Funds has created the platform to help turn giving into something that is part of a community rather than conscience. It is a place to affect real change.

For me changing the lives of Turkish girls by giving them a chance at an education couldn’t be more thrilling. They’re capable of so much. And that capability is something Turkey desperately needs.

Elmira Bayrasli writes and works on economic development issues. She is writing a book Under-Development about her experiences working in government and with entrepreneurs.

Please join her in a Twitter chat to discuss this issue of female education and literacy next Monday, September 20 at 2PM EST/9PM IST using the hashtag #girlseducation.

Visit TPF website.