A Comparative Analysis of the Approaches of Politi-cal Parties and Women’s Organizations in Turkey on Gender Equality and Women's Issues

Abstract

This paper deals with how gender inequality and the major issues facing women are represented in the policy texts of political parties and within the strategies of women’s organizations in Turkey. Thus, it attempts to reveal different and similar perspectives on the gender regime in the political and civic sphere. For this purpose, it utilizes the content analysis method to look for answers to the following questions: What are the main foci of political parties and women’s organizations on women's issues? What are the policies of political parties and women’s organizations about the issues that women face in modern society? This paper compares political parties and women's organizations in terms of their objectives on gender equality and women’s rights. Thus, it will be possible to understand the approaches of the political parties and women's organizations on women's issues and the main themes of their discourses on women’s rights and to provide a holistic view of the inadequacies of policies on women’s rights and gender equality. The study concluded that political parties deal with women's issues on the basis of ideological priorities while the women’s civil society organizations and women’s rights activists aim at advancing women's rights.