Women's Substantive Representation: The Case of Opposition Women Representatives in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM)

2022-10-3
Gültepe, Tamay
The representation of women’s issues and interests in legislatures is raised as a significant issue in feminist political research on the determinants and implications of women’s inclusion in political institutions. This thesis research aims at analyzing the substantive representation of women in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) by focusing on the representative acts of opposition women MPs. The gradual increase in the numbers of women MPs (Members of Parliaments) in the last two decades in the TBMM has taken place in the context of a conservative gender climate under AKP (Justice and Development Party) governments (2002-Present). This thesis analyzes the legislative acts of women MPs from the major left-wing opposition, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), which project pro-women agendas and discourses. The main research question of How do opposition CHP, and HDP women MPs raise women’s labor and employment issues and articulate their interests in the TBMM? is addressed through the frame analysis to analyze the discourses of the the opposition MPs in their plenary speeches, legislative proposals, motions of the written questions, motions of parliamentary inquiry, and commission speeches. The findings indicate that the opposition women representatives from both parties represent practical and strategic gender interests relevant to women’s subordination in employment in their legislative acts owing to their leftist political identities. At the same time, their different frames in their discourses on these practical and strategic gender interests reflect ideological identities and the parties’ distinct feminist perspectives.

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Citation Formats
T. Gültepe, “Women’s Substantive Representation: The Case of Opposition Women Representatives in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM),” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2022.