Women’s Studies Int. Forum, Vol. 17, Nos. Z/3, pp. 241-248, 1994 Copyright 0 1994 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 0277-5395/94 $6.00 + .OO Pergamon TOWARD A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY The Women’s Movement in Turkey in the 1980s YESIM ARAT Department of Political Science and International Relations, Bogazici University, Bebek, Istanbul, 80815. Turkey Synopsis-This article explores how the women’s movement in Turkey contributed to the process of democratization in the 1980s. The movement did not merely give more women the opportunity to participate in politics through grass roots organizations, but also helped create the political milieu conducive to the establishment of a political democracy. The movement extended the political space allotted to civil society. In the context of a statist polity, feminist women organized independent of and in opposition to the state. They generated power through civil society as they established femi- nist institutions. Their movement was a secular front against Islamic revivalism, one that mostly tolerated and even influenced the Islamists. Consequently, by the end of the 1980 decade, political parties which worked to consolidate political democracy in Turkey had heard women’s voices, even though their response was far from satisfactory. In September, 1980, a military coup took place in Turkey. After a 3-year rule during which the military aimed to restructure the parameters of politics and depoliticize the polity, power was turned over to the civilians. The 1987 and 1991 elections helped to consol- idate democratic rule in the country. During the same decade, a women’s move- ment emerged in Turkey. In the context of an international order where feminist move- ments had already made their spectacular im- pact and where women in the West were de- bating whether or not their movements were in decline, Turkish women began to organize to protest women’s predicament (Arat, 1991; Sirman, 1989; Tekeli, 1986, 1990, 1992). Ed- ucated, mostly professional, middle-class women organized consciousness raising groups, petition campaigns, protest walks to highlight women’s problems, wrote in papers and published two feminist journals, insti- tuted a Women’s Library and a foundation against the Beating of Women. About one hundred women who called themselves femi- For an explanation of Kemalism, see Tekeli (1992, p. 142). The author thanks the Middle East Research Compe- tition of Ford Foundation for supporting this research. nist were involved in organizing these activi- ties. The number of participants ranged from 10 to 20 in consciousness raising groups, to 16 thousand who signed the most recent peti- tion against violence toward women. While Turkish society struggled to democratize, Turkish women discovered the implications of their gender identity. As these women pro- moted their gender interests, they partook in the democratization of their polity. This article aims to explore how the wom- en’s movement in Turkey contributed to the process of democratization in the 1980s. “Women’s movement” refers to the collective activities led by women calling themselves feminist. Women who sought to expand the opportunities they had as women, at times consciously, at times inadvertently, at times with serious setbacks, helped establish a more democratic polity. Before I explore this process, I define the concept of democracy and democratization as used in this article. Then I sketch the context of women’s rights and democracy to move on to the 1980s. zyxwvutsrq DEMOCRACY AND DEMOCRATIZATION The concept of democracy as self-rule is elab- orated by social scientists who use the term 241