Enacting intersectional multilayered citizenship: Kurdish women’s politics

Abstract

Focusing on the institutional aspects of the Kurdish women's movement in Turkey since the 1990s the article shows how it established a consciousness within the Kurdish national movement that gender equality is a cornerstone of democracy and ethnic rights. We frame this through theories of enacting intersectional multilayered citizenship and identify three key interventions: autonomous women's assemblies, women's quotas in pro-Kurdish rights parties and the cochair system where all elected positions within the pro-Kurdish parties are jointly occupied by a male and female. These have achieved a better representation of women in formal politics, rendered gender equality and sexual violence legitimate subjects of politics and contributed to establishing an aspiration for a more dialogic political ethos. While the women's movement's close affiliation with the Kurdish national movement has been highly effective, it also in part circumscribes gender roles to fit its agendas. ARTICLE HISTORY

The Status of Women in Kurdish Society and the Extent of Their Interactions in Public Realm

“…Apart from the exile of many Kurdish nationalists to Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt, the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923 created a problematic issue for Kurdish nationalism in general and Kurdish female emancipation in particular. This was due both to patriarchal structures in society and to the particular political movement in Turkey, characterized by “assimilationist policies” (Erel & Acik, 2020, p. 480). Considering such oppression, the “Kurdishness” of the Kurdish question was consistently ignored by the Turkish state until the end of the 1980s.…”