Women's Political Representation in Iran and Turkey: Demanding a Seat at the Table - Paperback

by Mona Tajali (Author)

How have women in many Muslim-majority countries been able to achieve surprising success despite the significant constraints imposed by conservative gender ideology and authoritarian political parties and systems? Through a comparative focus on Iran and Turkey, Mona Tajili examines the activities and strategies of women's rights groups across the ideological spectrum. She explores how various groups have negotiated with political elites in order to bolster female political representation and identifies the conditions that stimulate greater support to ease women's path to political office. Studying how women's groups manoeuvre within these structures is important to help our understanding of the gendered politics of autocratic regimes.

Back Jacket

A comparative study of women's political participation and representation in contemporary Iran and Turkey The conservative gender ideology espoused by the ruling elites in contemporary Iran and Turkey delegates women mostly to the domestic sphere, and prioritizes their roles as mothers and wives. Despite this conservatism, women in both countries have been demanding greater access to the political field, and have even had notable achievements in recent years. Placing women's rights activism at the centre of its analysis, this book explores how women in Iran and Turkey manoeuvre the institutional structures and ideological barriers in their respective contexts to demand a seat at the political decision-making table. It argues that the recent increases in women's political representation are best understood in terms of the strategic interactions that take place between women's rights groups and political elites, both of which depend on the support of the electorate. Key Features - Provides an institutionalist analysis of women's political underrepresentation in Iran and Turkey through an examination of each country's electoral system, political party structure, government framework and state gender ideology - Based on over 140 in-depth interviews with past and present women politicians and candidates, party elites and women's rights activists in Iran and Turkey between 2009 and 2019 - Gives voice to the experiences and approaches of women's activist groups and political parties across the ideological spectrum - from the Justice and Development Party and Association for the Support of Women Candidates (KADER) to the Zeinab Society and Islamic Women's Coalition in Iran

Author Biography

Mona Tajali is associate professor of international relations and women's, gender, and sexuality studies at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, Georgia. She has authored (with Homa Hoodfar) Electoral Politics: Making Quotas Work for Women (WLUML 2011), and several scholarly articles on gender and politics in the Middle East. Since 2007 she has been collaborating with the research wing of Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) transnational solidarity network and since 2019 serves as a member of its executive board.