Obstacles to Political Careers
| Published date | 01 July 1985 |
| Date | 01 July 1985 |
| DOI | 10.1177/019251218500600309 |
| Author | Yeşslim Arat |
| Subject Matter | Article |
OBSTACLES
TO
POLITICAL
CAREERS
Perceptions
of
Turkish Women
YESIM
ARAT
“Routine politics” becomes central
to
the study
of
the nature and limits
of
women’s
political aspirations in
a
context where women have not as yet chosen to organize
a women’s movement. This article
is
based
on
a
series of indepth interviews with
a
group
of
female Turkish politicians. The skewed structure
of
power relations between
men and women is aptly reflected in women’s perceptions
of
women’s problems
in
politics. Locating the problem at this level makes it more difficult
to
ameliorate the
situation, short
of
there being a radical change in the patriarchal power structure
of
society.
This article focuses on a group
of
women who have never had
a
women’s movement. In Turkey, unlike many other countries, women
have not organized themsehes into a well-defined group to fight for
their political rights. The founding fathers of the Turkish Republic,
following the War
of
Independence
(1919-1923)
granted full rights
of
citizenship to women by
1935.
After suffrage was granted, there was
no collective activity to pursue further improvements in women’s status.
Women
did
not come together to work in consciousness-raising groups
or act as pressure groups to liberalize abortion laws. The government
recognized the right to abortion
as
part
of
a family planning policy
and there was no consciousness raising. In other words, there was
neither a women’s rights nor a women’s liberation movement.
Within the context
of
Turkish society, where historically men pro-
moted women’s rights, do women have easy access
to
political power?
In a society where there has been
no
women’s movement, what are
the obstacles women in politics confront?
It
is well known that women
working through traditional political institutions confront numerous
problems in their attempt to rise
to
the top through political chan-
nels. Their traditional roles hinder their public activities (Kirkpatrick,
1974;
Currell,
1974;
Lynn and Flora,
1977).
They cannot raise the funds
International Political Science Review,
Vol.
6
No.
3,
1985
355-366
e
1985
International Political
Science
Association
355
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