Low number of female MP candidates stirs reaction

Nongovernmental organizations and activists struggling for equal representation of women in politics and social life have criticized the low number of women on political parties’ parliamentary candidate lists, describing it as “dishonorable.”

The lists of parliamentary candidates were a big disappointment in terms of gender equality, said Nuray Karaoğlu, the head of the Association for Supporting Women Candidates (KA-DER), criticizing the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) for including only 113 and 147 women, respectively, in the 600-person list.

“Though 50.7 percent of Türkiye is women, this rate is only 17.2 percent for deputies. We are fighting to get the seats that are already ours,” Karaoğlu said. “The demand of women, who struggle in all areas of life, to govern the country equally was once again ignored by men.”

According to the latest report of KA-DER, there may be female MPs in this election from Giresun, Osmaniye, Ardahan, Burdur and Nevşehir, which are among the 20 provinces that have never had female parliamentarians throughout the history of the republic, she added.

“Democratization cannot be done by excluding women. While women struggle with their own problems, they act with the awareness and responsibility of building a better world and future. In other words, the struggle of women is also a struggle of every citizen in the country to make an equal, fair and free social life possible,” said İlknur Üstün, the coordinator of women’s rights organization Women’s Coalition.

Though there were an unprecedented number of women candidates’ applications for the 2023 elections in the history of the republic, the lists are completely dishonorable, activist Mine Olcay also said.

“Today’s civilization is the product of tens of thousands of years of cooperation between men and women. Now, let’s quickly turn from this mistake and lay the foundation for a happier life together,” she stated.

The fact that women, who make up half of the population, cannot participate in the decision-making processes and are not equally represented in politics is a problem of democracy first and foremost, Aslı Pasinli from the Women’s Platform for Equality (EŞİK) said.

“In this period when women’s gains are openly targeted, we should all think about the inequality picture revealed by the lists,” she added.