Feminist Bir Politika Tahayyülü: Kadınların Yerel Yönetimlerde Temsili

Abstract

Political sciences, playing a significant role among the scientific branches which shape social Studies, became a widely argued field with the women's ongoing fights for their political rights. Government policies and political party policies have a great impact on the multiplying of relationships that create gender discrimination. Women's effective participation, in terms of quality and quantity, in decision making processes averts these government and political party policies creating gender discrimination in politics. For this reason, there are lots of region-wide and nation-wide scientific studies carried out in order to increase the demands of participation and representation of women in politics. Through this research, the reasons of women's limited representation of both quantitative and qualitative sense in decision making mechanisms of local administrations are aimed to be identified; and at this point a feminist policy with the strategies is also aimed to be revealed, which can be developed to solve this problem, in the political battlefield. In this context, specially in Ankara Province, as the representatives of three political parties in Turkey, the Municipality of Kahramankazan (AKP), the Municipality of Etimesgut (MHP) and the Municipality of Çankaya (CHP) are chosen and the interviews are held with the women working as members of municipal councils and with the women holding directing positions of managing departments of these municipalities. In order to reach the experiences of these women taking part in decision making mechanisms, as one of the quantitative research techniques, the in-dept interview method is used. At the end of the interviews, these results have come out: Women should be supported by their families and their social environment to increase their political representation. They should co-operate with women’s NGOs in order to be a part of an organizational operation for women’s rights. The social perception should be changed and the political parties must implement a quota system to increase the number of women. At the present situation, it is concluded that the women working in municipalities do not have enough setting, condition and consciousness in order to carry out a feminist policy.