Re: [Daughters_of_Ataturk] Feminine lives ruled by masculine politics

THATS WHY, AT A CONFERENCE IN ISTANBUL ORTAKOY GENDER EQUALITY IN EDUCATION...

I RAISED  THE QUESTION "IF THE MAN IS NOT TRAINED EDUCATED AND ACCEPT  WHY AND WHAT IS BETTER FOR HIM AND FOR HER AS CALLING AND TREATHING AND EMPOWERERING WOMAN AS EQUAL.,
 SAY JUST EDUCATE THE WOMAN WILL NOT WORK BUT MAKE THINGS GO TO THE MORE EXTREEM OPPOSITION OF DESIRED OUTCOME"

TO LOOK AT EDUCATING THE WOMAN  ONLY,DO NOT BRING SOLUTION BUT MORE OF A REACTIVE SUPRESSION TOWADS WOMAN , AS MAN LOOKING AT HER AS COMPETTION IN A COMPETTIVE SYTEMS DAYS OF OUR TIMES, -LACK OF THOUGHT COLLABRATION IMECE AND COOPERATION IN ITS PLACE, - ALL THESE DYNAMICS SURPRESSES WOMAN , COUSES MORE  DESPERATE SEPARATION ON MALE AND FEMALE EGUALITY ..

WE NEED PEOPLE WHO ARE TRAINED FOR GRUP DYNAMICS ACTION REACTION  POWER AND CONTROL
DEALING WITH AOUTHORITY  BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE.. THAT THEY WILL EXPLAIN AND  EDUCATE
TURKS BETTER .. OTHERVICE .. UNIVERSITIES AND DEMOCRACY IS A NO WORKING GAME IN THE HANDS OF POWER HOLDERS..

NNM


-----Original Message-----
From: Meltemb <meltem@earthlink.net>
To: Daughters_of_Ataturk@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 5:53 am
Subject: [Daughters_of_Ataturk] Feminine lives ruled by masculine politics

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Feminine lives ruled by masculine politics

Monday, February 25, 2008

Making politics over a woman's body is just as wrong as depriving women who wear headscarves the right to an education in the name of protecting secularism, says UN's special rapporteur on violence against women

İZGİ GÜNGÖR
ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

  "Dynamism" and "dialectical development" were the most critical words in a Turkish United Nations special rapporteur's portrayal of women and society in Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

    "Women's demands for more rights have always bucked the system in Saudi Arabia and shows that society's dynamism," said Yakın Ertürk, U.N. special rapporteur on violence against women and a scholar at Middle East Technical University (METU.)

  "Even such a closed society, which maintains its conservative structure and doesn't allow things to be laid out for discussion, is now in a new engagement [with the outside world], Ertürk said. "This engagement brings some controversial issues [including women's rights] to the country's agenda. Yet, this is a contradictory progress. There is demand but the system is resistant."

  While Turks over the past few days have locked horns in a heated debate over the controversial headscarf issue, Ertürk was in Saudi Arabia preparing a report on women's rights there, a similarly sensitive realm for the U.N., whose report urges Saudi Arabia to fight domestic violence and eliminate discrimination against women.

  U.N.'s envoy had a chance to peek behind the walls and veil while teaching at a university in Riyadh from 1979 to 1982; her latest visit gave her a chance to view the situation more closely and compare the differences that have arisen over the past 25 years.

  

Development paradoxical:

  "There have been some positive developments on women's issues since then," Ertürk said. "This progress is partially dialectic and partially a result of the interaction with the outside world. But the control mechanism over women has similarly become harsher during this period."

  It is especially evident in styles of dress, which were more flexible in the past, said Ertürk, who never covered her head during her stay on the Arabian peninsula. Similarly harsh was the government crackdown on women when they took to the streets in cars during the Gulf War to send the message that they would carry on with their daily lives despite the fact their husbands were at war: their right to drive was revoked.

  "Ignoring established rules has resulted in a more rigid backlash over the course of time for women," Ertürk said. "There's a dynamism in society, but there exists a resistance in the system as well. Everything is dialectic."

  All the country's facilities and customs are designed to perpetuate discrimination between women and men," she said. "Women and men attend separate classes and work in separate public buildings. There is a guardianship system, according to which women aren't allowed to do anything without getting permission from their husbands or sons. When divorced, the children are given to the father."

  

Taboos broken: 

  There are however new developments on the women's issue, Ertürk said. Some taboos have been broken. Women's issues, including violence against women, have began to be discussed in the media. Family protection programs have been launched thanks to women's initiatives.

  Some institutional measures have also taken place. An official human rights commission has been established. A national dialogue initiative has been founded to bring different segments of society together to discuss the social problems. Women have been invited to the podium to express their concerns to King Abdullah.

  Some Saudis thought that such developments were the spontaneous outcomes of the changes in the world and that the country should have shown even further progress, while the majority thought progress should be gradual and careful, since fragile balances are a hallmark of cosmopolitan Saudi society. 

  "Given the existence of a cosmopolitan social structure, it is very natural for change to be gradual," said Ertürk. 

Women study but not active in workforce:

  Developments have been most noticeable in the field of education.

  "Saudi Arabia succeeded in educating its girls behind the veil in separate schools," said Ertürk. "King Faisal opened separate schools for girls in the 1960s and the demand came later." 

  This separation actually encourages women to go to school. Otherwise, many women can't study, according to some arguments in the country. The country's school attendance rate is almost 100 percent, and only around 18 percent of women are illiterate (The figure is approximately 20 percent in Turkey.) The most popular fields for female students are medicine and social sciences. Some departments, such as engineering, are not open to women. The law faculty meanwhile will celebrate its first female graduates this year.

  "This progress in education, however, is not reflected in the workplace. Women's involvement rate in the workforce remains at somewhere between 5 percent and 10 percent," she said.

Sex-segregated structure a problem in employment:

  Ertürk argued that gender-segregated organization of the public sphere has had a negative impact on women's involvement in both the workforce and social life.

  Job opportunities are scarce. Only in hospitals can women and men work together. All public institutions have separate sections for each. State policy dictates such discrimination. The private sector [especially the Chambers of Commerce] holds more promise for women, and they have a larger presence there and have obtained more rights than in the public sector.

  

Urgent need for written law:

  The absence of the written law is another major obstacle before women in seeking their rights in their social and private lives, Ertürk said.

  "A woman's best friend is the rule of law," Ertürk added, "but there is no civil law that regulates women's social and private lives. When they seek their rights, they face the arbitrary decisions and actions of judges and muttawas (government-authorized religious police). Legal limits should be defined."

  

Global conservative policies influential: 

  Besides conservative elements peculiar to Saudi Arabia, developments in that country also reflect worldwide conservative political tendencies, as well as the effects of the Gulf War and Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Ertürk said.

  "These events created new conflicts and had a negative impact on women in Saudi Arabia," she added. "We are living in a more conservative world. The picture here, however, is more black and white."  

  

Situation in Turkey: 

  Turkey is undergoing a new social challenge symbolized by the headscarf, Ertürk observed. In this process, Turkish society has been more dynamic than ever, with developments following a dialectic line.  

  "There are some worrying developments in the country," she said, "but people react. Women take to the streets and make their voices heard. It is all dialectic."

  Women should have the right to cover their heads as they please, and it is a violation of their rights to prevent them from going to school because of a headscarf, as well as for politicians to pursue a policy making them cover their heads.

  "The headscarf issue is a legitimate one, in which individual rights and freedoms are being restricted," she said, "but it fails to qualify as a woman's rights issue, because women's rights advocates reject all forms of external claims over women. It is, thus, a matter of individual rights and freedoms, not women's rights.  Twenty percent of Turkish women are illiterate, and the parliament still has no women's rights commission. These rights should be sought here! "

  

Headscarf a matter of masculine politics:

  She also criticized the way the issue has been handled in Turkey. The question of what the headscarf really means for women and whether it can be discussed within the feminist discourse were never considered in light of Turkey's real circumstances," she said. "Making politics over a woman's body is just as wrong as depriving women who wear headscarves the right to an education in the name of protecting secularism.

  "Turkey tries to discuss the issue within the framework of political discourse and masculine politics," Ertürk added. "The issue has, unfortunately, turned into a political matter, and we don't hear headscarf-wearing women's voice in this process. Turkey has to learn to live with its differences." 

   

© 2005 Dogan Daily News Inc. www.turkishdailynews.com.tr

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