Equality, Protection or Discrimination: Gender Equality Policies in Turkey

European Union (EU) gender Directives are filtered through distinctive national social policy regimes, and differences in political and cultural attitudes toward gender and women’s place in society influence the interpretation and implementation of such Directives. This article discusses the impact of the EU’s gender equality agenda on the traditional gender roles in Turkey and considers how Turkey’s relations with the EU affect the way in which gender policy is drawn up in Turkey. Until now, the Turkish welfare state has rested on the ideal of women’s main role in society as mothers and wives. This has manifested itself in the low female participation in the labor force and other structural inequalities between women and men within Turkish society. This article further argues that gender equality polices, in themselves, are insufficient to bring about a change in traditional gender roles and, in some cases, may even work against women. Such policies are destined to occupy the status of legal texts or reach only a small fraction of women, unless supported by policy measures to transform the existing patriarchal norms and roles within Turkish society.