--- title: Why Turkey's Election Is High Stakes for Women description: President Erdogan's party has already diminished women's rights—imagine what could happen if his power expands canonical: https://time.com/3901401/turkeys-election-women/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-02T17:59:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:05.614Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Why Turkey's Election Is High Stakes for Women og:description: If President Erdogan's party wins a majority, it could mean a step backwards for women's rights og:url: https://time.com/3901401/turkeys-election-women/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3722c6bd7d8d3a80/698852a006f2c174b433a722/turkey-election-women.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: TOPSHOTS-TURKEY-VOTE-OPPOSITION-CHP og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Turkey's Election Is High Stakes for Women twitter:description: If President Erdogan's party wins a majority, it could mean a step backwards for women's rights twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3722c6bd7d8d3a80/698852a006f2c174b433a722/turkey-election-women.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Turkey's Election Is High Stakes for Women > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=d82e7165-0139-480e-9db8-62cba63e594d&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Next Gen Leaders: Engin Onder, Turkey [Watch (HLS stream): Next Gen Leaders: Engin Onder, Turkey](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/oZzEglEF.m3u8) (2:45)  _Published 2015-05-28. Next Gen Leaders: Engin Onder, Turkey_ by [Xanthe Ackerman and Christina Asquith](https://time.com/author/the-fuller-project-for-international-reporting/) ## Xanthe Ackerman and Christina Asquith Jun 2, 2015 5:59 PM UTC  Supporters of Turkey's main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) cheer their leader during an election rally ahead of the legislative election in Istanbul on May 24, 2015. Supporters of Turkey's main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) cheer their leader during an election rally ahead of the legislative election in Istanbul on May 24, 2015. Bulent Kilic—AFP/Getty Images by [Xanthe Ackerman and Christina Asquith](https://time.com/author/the-fuller-project-for-international-reporting/) ## Xanthe Ackerman and Christina Asquith Jun 2, 2015 5:59 PM UTC As Turks head to the polls on June 7 for national elections, it’s likely the conservative ruling party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), will win. What’s at stake is whether voters will give the party the close to 400 [seats](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/05/19/could-erdogan-lose-turkeys-upcoming-election/) it desires to greatly expand the authority of Turkey’s power-hungry president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. For women, that would be a devastating blow. Under Erdogan’s rule, the Turkish government has been steadily shrinking the rights of women—along with those of the media, minorities, and independent judges. The government has pushed legislation that [restricts](http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/turkish-womens-right-to-choose-law-fails.html#) abortion, [shifted](http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/17/turkey-women-battle-oppression-protest) programs from protecting women to supporting families, and [changed](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/13/world/europe/turkish-reforms-entangle-education.html) the education system to promote Islamic teachings and encourage wearing the head scarf for girls as young as 10. More alarming is the cultural shift. Macho statements from party leaders veer into the perverse, such as dictating that women should not [laugh](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harut-sassounian/turkish-deputy-prime-mini%5Fb%5F5656807.html) in public, go out at night, or be seen in public while pregnant. Some have openly said women are not equal to men and should be “[entrusted to men](http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/3/18/turkey-steps-up-rhetoric-on-violence-against-women.html)” for protection. Erdogan has [attacked](http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-women-not-equal-to-men-turkeys-erdogan-2014-11) feminists as against family and not true Muslims. “If the AKP were to get a majority and change the rules of the democratic game so that it’s entirely in their hands, that would allow them to crush even further the opposition, alternative lifestyles and ideas,” says Boston University Professor Jenny White, author of [_Muslim Nationalism and the New Turks_](http://www.amazon.com/Muslim-Nationalism-Princeton-Studies-Politics/dp/0691161925)and several other academic books on Turkey. “The role of women will be shaped by that, and by old men from the 20th century who still have very misogynistic ideas about women.” Many women have rallied in opposition. Twice as many women candidates are running in this election compared to the 2011 election, according to KADER, a national women’s organization. Currently, women represent only [14%](http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/womens-participation-in-politics-still-low-in-turkey.aspx?pageID=238&nid=63323) of Parliament, which could increase to almost 20% after this election. The largest opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), is running female candidates in important stronghold districts, and the Kurdish-backed Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has gained a tremendous following on the back of a strong female platform, and a party list that is made up of [48%](http://dihanews.com/en/news/content/view/454051?from=452900577) female candidates. The Communist Party put forth a [party list](http://www.liberationnews.org/all-550-candidates-of-the-communist-party-turkey-for-the-upcoming-elections-are-women/) that was entirely made up of female candidates—an unprecedented move which was interpreted as a statement of protest against AKP’s attacks on women’s reproductive and social rights. AKP is also trying to shore up support among its conservative women voters. The party is running [99 women candidates](http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist/nicole-pope/falling-on-deaf-ears%5F377855.html) this year, compared to 78 four years ago. But the only woman in Erdogan’s cabinet is the Minister of Family and Social Policy, who has been criticized for lack of action. “We cannot see any women candidate who is present or visible in their campaigns. So if it’s like this in their campaigns, which kind of an agenda will there be for women when they get all this undefined power?” says Huda Kaya, a female member of the opposition HDP party. AKP has enjoyed support among its conservative women base largely due to its pro-family social values and its reversal in 2011 of the headscarf ban that kept observant women out of university. Now, polling analyst Bekir Agirdir, general manager of KONDA Research and Consultancy in Istanbul, says the group’s research indicates women’s support of Erdogan is in decline, largely due to the social unrest caused by the nationwide [Gezi Park protests](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/31/istanbul-protesters-violent-clashes-police) in 2013. Losing the woman’s vote would indicate a major political stumble for a party that scored a number of victories for women in the early years of Ergodan’s reign as prime minister. AKP officials established family courts, banned marital rape, instituted maternity leave, and took steps to stem domestic violence. But Erdogan’s stance toward women lately has been mostly to advocate their role in the family. Critics say that even many of his earlier pro-woman policies have been implemented carelessly and have set women back—such as extending maternity leave in a way that has led to unfairness in hiring. While many more women and girls have entered school during Erdogan’s leadership, Turkey still has one of the world’s lowest percentage of [women in the workforce](http://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2012/02/08/more-women-in-the-turkish-workplace). Erdogan also made a number of [“blame-the-victim” type comments](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/20/us-turkey-women-idUSKBN0NB15M20150420) following high-profile murders of women that led to thousands protesting in the streets earlier this year. Around the country, campaigns are in full swing, with vans blasting music and political messages and leaflets plastered along the walls of buildings. In Istanbul’s Taksim Square, Efruze Ozarda, 55, volunteers in support of AKP. “I really like the women’s policies of AKP because they give many rights to mothers and their children.” But not far away, 34-year old Serpil Er, a private service sector worker, shakes her head. “I know some AKP supporters who think women shouldn’t go out of the house,” says Er, as she leafs through HDP’s political brochures. “If AKP comes to power, women will go even more backwards.” _Christina Asquith is based in Istanbul and is the Director of The Fuller Project For International Reporting, which reports on women’s issues in the Middle East. Xanthe Ackerman is the founder of Advancing Girls’ Education in Africa and a journalist with The Fuller Project for International Reporting._ _Read next:_ [_Meet the Man Transforming Journalism in Turkey_](http://time.com/3896544/ngl-engin-onder/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/autoplay/?xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] If I remove the [ UNKNOWN ] area from the communication between the end user and actually the news producer or newspaper content producer. Then I can hear the truth. That was the initial idea why we started 140journos. My name is Engin Under and I'm one of the co- founders of 140journos. 140journos is Encounter media moments that we as three college students started three and a half years ago. It's actually our form of activism against the censored mainstream media environment in Turkey. [ MUSIC ] One day we woke up one morning where. 34 civilians in Turkey were bombarded by Turkish military jet planes. And we switched on our tv, we got a newspaper, there was nothing there. No news. But on Twitter, there was a storm about this. So we realized actually the news production and consumption had been changing And we said can't we do anything? Do we really need big cameras, fancy news terminology and some branded microphones? No, actually we did not. [ MUSIC ] We just had our smart phones. We took to the streets. We started making our news, the news that we wanted to consume. We started covering the minority rights. LGBT rights, whoever is on the street. They were trying to pass on something they really feel deeply. When we start creating our own network to communicate with each other. Because our belief was I will never hear the truth from mainstream media. When we are helping [ UNKNOWN ] a society. Understanding social media. Grasping social media as a safe communication place. P2P or from news organization to end user. What we do is To gather information, pool information from a network of newsmakers, filter this information, verify it, and give it back to the internet environment. I love this potential. I love this possibility, and I am thrilled to give this potential to random citizens on the street. 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