Research: The Position and Prospects of Women Politicians in Turkey

Click here to download The Position and Prospects of Women Politicians in Turkey presentation.

On September 22, 2022, as “Ben Seçerim” (I Choose) Association, we completed our “The Position and Prospects of Women Politicians in Turkey” research launch. This research was conducted in cooperation with KONDA Research and Consultancy Inc, and was supported by the Canadian Government.

In our study, we obtained essential data on how Turkish society;

perceieve women politicians,
evaluate policies followed by political parties on gender issues,
How the issue of gender effects the voting behavior of political parties own voter bases,
How male and female voters from different political parties view the withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention,
and most importantly, the views of young voters on women politicians who will vote for the first time in the next election.

The fieldwork for the survey was carried out on 9-10 April 2022. Face to face interviews by random sampling included 2258 people in 126 villages in 80 districts among 31 cities in Turkey. The final report of the survey reflects the demographic profiles, educational status and political tendencies of the Turkish voters. It is the most comprehensive and recent research conducted that measures the perceptions of and expectations from women politicians in terms of variables such as age, gender, and party affiliation.

Advisory Board Member Prof. Dr. Binnaz Toprak, Member of the Board of Directors Assoc. Dr. Özlem Kaygusuz, Chairperson of the Board of Directors Nilden Bayazıt from Ben Seçerim (I Choose) Association and Bekir Ağırdır from KONDA Research and Consulting Inc. shared the research data with 18 members of the press and approximately 50 members from various institutions, organizations, embassies, and political parties. We believe that Ben Seçerim (I Choose) working with and using scientifically obtained data is a very important contribution to the development of civil society in Turkey. We are currently sharing the research findings with the public. We will continue to share the findings with all national and international institutions to develop future projects.

There were many interesting results from our research. Some of them are:

62% of the society, 71% of women and 54% of men think that when there are more women politicians, Turkey will develop and become a better society.
61% of the society thinks that a mandatory women's quota should be applied in political parties. Those who do not agree with this idea make up only 23% of the society.
While 50% of men support co-chairmanship in parties, 61% of women support this idea.
While 51% of the society agrees that political party leaders put female candidates on the list from places where they cannot be elected, 27% of the society does not agree with this opinion. The proportion of women who agree with this judgment is higher than that of men.
While 40% of the society does not find any party's stance on gender equality successful, 20% of the society finds the Justice and Development Party successful in this regard. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) is followed by Republican People’s Party (CHP) with 16%, IYI Party with 11%, and the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) with 8%.
While 73% of the society says that they would support a woman from their family to enter politics, we can say that there is a difference between the approaches of men and women on this issue. 79% of women and 67% of men say that they would support a female family member entering politics.
For women to play a greater role in politics, 44% of women think that women candidates should be prioritized, and 37% of men say that nothing should be done about this issue and those deserving women candidates will be elected anyway. Only 6% of the Turkish Society says that there is no need for women to enter politics.
49% of those between the ages of 15-17 blame political parties for women's underrepresentation in politics. As age decreases society blames political parties for not giving enough opportunities to women in politics
Half of the society thinks that there should be a mandatory quota for women in political parties and that the distribution of men and women should be 50-50. While 17% of women and 9% of men think that there should be more women, 8% of women and 18% of men think that there should be more men in political parties.
More than 80% of Republican People’s Party (CHP), The People’s Democratic Party (HDP), and İYİ Party voters think that there should be more women in politics.
65% of male Justice and Development Party (AKP) voters and 45% of female Justice and Development Party (AKP) voters say there is no need for more women in politics.
The cluster of voters where women and men have the most different opinions on this issue is Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) voters. While 69% of men in this cluster do not think that more women in politics are necessary, 80% of women think that more women in politics are necessary.
Among female voters, the cluster with the highest tendency to think that there should be more women in political parties is the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) voters with 24%, followed by Iyi Party voters with 21%.
Male Justice and Development Party (AKP) voters are the most rigid cluster regarding the quota for women. While 34% of this voter cluster does not agree with the mandatory quota for women, 30% think that there should be more men.

The speakers mentioned important points in the research launch:

“If you want to be a politician that imitates men, don't become one. The expectation is not just sex-based equality in the parliament. There is a meaning attached to woman politicians, there is an expectation that women will change the patriarchal political climate.” KONDA Research and Consulting Inc. Bekir Ağırdır

"There are two main conclusions from this research. The first one is, that society wants to see women in decision-making positions. Secondly, young voters have great expectations for change." Ben Seçerim Association Board Member Assoc. Dr. Özlem Kaygusuz

"Society believes a change in politics comes with women.” Ben Seçerim Association Chair Nilden Bayazıt

"The issue of women politicians is not only a matter of equal representation; women politicians are needed for a democratic society, for justice, for solving the climate problem, for ending corruption, for transforming education policies and for organizing family policies." Ben Seçerim Association Advisory Board Member Prof. Dr. Binnaz Toprak

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