Ev Kadınlarının Siyasal Katılımı ve Feminizm Anlayışları: İzmir Örneği (Political Participation of Homemaker Women and their Attitude to Feminism: Case of İzmir)

This article analyses the political participation of homemaker women in Izmir, Turkey and their attitude to feminist ideology, based on an anonymous survey conducted in 2014. The survey consists of the following questions: What is the meaning of being a women in Turkey? Who generally makes decisions in your family? Is there gender equality in your society? What are your proposals to solve gender inequality existing in the Turkish society? What is feminism? Are you a feminist? How do you consider the political responses regarding women’s rights and violence against women? Have you experienced violence by your husband? How do you see the position of women in the Turkish society in the future? Do you watch the news on daily basis? Do you read the newspapers on daily basis? In the elections, can you vote for a different party from your husband’s? Are you a member of an NGO? The answers to the questionnaire have been analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Izmir is the city on the West coast of Turkey. Izmir has been a city where different cultures live together, thereby contributing to a cosmopolitan culture. Today, Izmir still conserves its multicultural structure and from a sociological point of view, it is a city with a high share of intercultural relations and tolerance. It is the third largest city of Turkey with a population of 4,4 millions. Due to this multicultural character of the city, the patriarchal structure in Izmir weaker than other big cities and regions of Turkey. Consequently, a higher political participation of women in Izmir than in other parts of the country can be expected. Sixty per cent of the participatnts have a high school or university degree. However findings of the survey reveal that 36 per cent of women have experienced physical violence by their husbands, only 12 per cent are member of an NGO, 30 per cent of them do not read newspapers and only 16 per cent define themselves as feminists. The majority of the respondents define feminism negatively such as an unnecessary ideology, enemy of men or they do not even know the meaning of feminism.