[Istanbul, 22 June 2018, Press Release by EWL Turkish members KA.DER] Only a few days to the June 24 elections, when the complete candidate lists submitted to the Supreme Election Council are observed, the most salient issue is that how ‘tight’ the political parties are again regarding the representation of women.
As a result of a male dominated political structure vision, of the 4200 candidates, only 931 of them are women; and only 5.4% of these 931 candidates are listed first.
With these attitudes; it is understood that various political parties, which included women and rights of women both in the party programs and in the election bulletins, actually considers the women as ‘voters’ and that their main goal is to get the votes of women.
In the 84th Anniversary of the adoption of the universal suffrage to grant women the right to participate in elections and run for public office; the fact that only 22% of the candidates took part in the lists are women, who constitute 50% of the population and 51% of the voters, shows us that men will make all decisions including the ones about women in this period again!
Political rights, which are purported to be enjoyable by all, are not open to women in practice, and there is lack of de facto recognition of the equality of women and men, although there is the recognition of the de jure equality. Unless social equality is reconciled with political equality, it is not possible to speak of a real freedom.
However, in order for the understanding of democracy to develop in a society, women shall be more effective in politics; and in order for achieving democracy fully, women shall be equally represented in all decision-making mechanisms, including politics.
No political structure that is not shared with women can feel the sense of achievement. Because half of the world constitutes women and the real alliance is an alliance made with women.
As KA.DER, we call to Male Dominated Period and say that:
Equal Representation is a Right! Womanless Parliament is Condemned to the Underachievement!
ABOUT KA.DER KA.DER is a women’s organization, which advocates equal representation of women and men in all fields of life. KA.DER sees equality between women and men in all elected and appointed decision making bodies, where decisions concerning the society and the individuals are made, as a matter of democracy. Women in Turkey have established their presence in different fields of social life. However, in top management positions and especially in politics, women are still too far away from being equally represented. KA.DER was established in March 1997 with a mission to eliminate inequality, to provide participation of all citizens in decisions, and to bring women’s experience and resolution ability into social and political arenas. KA.DER strives to increase the representation rate of women in all decision-making bodies, both elected and appointed. KA.DER is the sole association working in that field with its experience and expertize for 21 years.
