Women Discuss Women in Politics

Seyman, Karakus, Boyali and Sancar, talks about womens roles in the political parties: We are very active, but we cant come forward. Some friends have very important positions. We cannot voice our opinions loud enough in the male-dominated parties.

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Men head the political parties in Turkey, except the True Path Party (DYP) . And women generally have to pursue their political careers within certain divisions of the party.

There was only one women involved in the alliance talks ahead of the November 3 general elections. The alliance talks resulted from the concern of achieving 10 percent of votes needed to be represented in parliament.

Bianet asked about women's participation in politics to Yasar Seyman from Social Democratic People's Party (SHP), Filiz Karakus from Socialist Democracy Party (SDP), Sati Boyali from Freedom and Solidarity Party (ODP), and Nuray Sancar from Labor's Party (EMEP).

Karakus argues that the "independent women's movement needs to grow stronger in order for women's participation in political parties to increase."

"Women's voices are not heard, one in every three lawmakers should be a woman," Karakus said.

Boyali from ODP believes that "women and men have equal rights, but because of responsibilities like housekeeping and looking after the children, women cannot be as gutsy and active enough."

According to Sancar, who is against a quota for women, women's movement cannot be separated from class struggles.

Seyman: Women are everywhere

All the political parties look like men's party. There are many qualified women in these parties but we don't see them in top management.

It is beneficial to implement a minimum quota for women within the political parties. There are many women who really deserve to be in important positions. A woman in Kahramanmaras was elected to be at the top of the list at the pre-elections. However, pre-elections are not common in Turkey. When appointing people form the lists, women do not have a chance.

Women in political parties are invisible because they don't think individualistic and don't push their names forward. And women, who already voice their opinions at certain organizations, do not need to come forward.

Karakus: Independent women's movement should get stronger

In SDP, there is a quota of one in three. This means that one in every three people in any level within the party is a woman. There are debates about the women participation in the alliance talks. When two people attend the alliance talks, should one of them be a woman? The right thing would be for one of them to be a woman.

If there was a strong women's movement, the women within the parties would be more influential. The socialist parties aren't all that isolated from the male domination that exists within the society.

It's not that we don't voice our opinions, but men are more inclined to lobbying and such bargaining. We don't have the strength to pound the table with our fists. Women do politics by emphasizing similarities.

The presence of women with a woman's point of vision is important. I am unable to say that the process would be much different if there were women at the alliance talks. But if there were a woman from women's liberation movement at the alliance talks, the result would have been different. As in the example of Tansu Ciller.

Boyali: Women should spend more effort

Women in ODP cooperate. There is a quota and it is being implemented. Because our fellow friends are working on different issues, they did not attend the talks but they voiced their opinions. The ambiance of the talks would probably have been kinder and gentler if women attended.

There are no problems in ODP in terms of positioning women. But maybe women need to spend more effort and be more active. Women have more responsibilities than men at home. And this makes them more inactive.

Sancar: Women's struggle goes together with class struggle

Women were not influential at the alliance talks. But because of the obvious social, political and psychological reasons they cannot take initiatives. They are faced with the same political problems during the elections period. Women again remain as passive bystanders.

It would have been very encouraging for our society if women played a role at the alliance talks. We want to represent our parties, not because women have privileges and quotas or because women should be viewed as a different political foci, but because we deserve to. Of course, every woman should spend effort to become a political figure within the party she embraces.

The parties that pursue a labor policy have a mission of helping women. They have not fully implemented this mission yet.(BB/NK/EA/NM)

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