Gender imbalance: The case of women’s political participation in Turkey

The primary aim of this paper is to show the links between women’s demographic characteristics and their political participation. Focusing on low female participation in politics, we carried out a survey with 408 women living in Ankara, Turkey. The paper attempts to answer the following questions: What is the level of female political participation? What are the obstacles preventing female political participation? What is the level of female participation in political parties and Non-Governmental Organizations? What kind of links can be made between women’s demographic characteristics and their political attitudes and behaviors? What suggestions could be made to increase female political participation? Findings reveal that women’s active political participation in Turkey is not at the expected level. There are several barriers to their higher involvement. Women are still not independent of their families and are influenced by the politics of their parents and spouse. This can also be seen as a sign of patriarchy. Several suggestions are made to improve the existing situation