ZEYNEP AKGÜL

Ankara-As cities identify the living space of women with the home, they direct men to different areas of social life. Thus, women appear in the domestic /private sphere and men appear in the public sphere. When people talk about “women-friendly cities”, the first thing that comes to mind is “the sidewalks where women can walk freely by pushing strollers or wearing high heels shoes.” But the “women-friendly cities” are actually cities where all the residents of that particular city can equally benefit from the financial, social, and political opportunities presented before them. The most important condition for having such a city is that women should take part in decision-making mechanisms and planning processes and have a voice in policies that directly affect them. However, today, women cannot be represented adequately in management and decision-making mechanisms, and as a result, they face a very serious inequality in participation in urban life.

Prof. Dr. Funda Şenol Cantek is an academic dismissed from Ankara University Faculty of Communication. We talk to her about women’s employment in Turkey, women-friendly cities, gender roles, and public/private distinction. Noting that the confinement of women in the private sphere is beneficial for the male dominance, Prof. Dr. Funda Şenol Cantek says, “A woman is always raised to be a mother and wife in traditional culture. She is expected to know chores, to be moral and honest, and also to be a good mother. The definition of being a mother is also determined by traditions and patriarchal culture in our region.”

·  While cities and buildings are designed, it is believed that “a woman's place is in the home” by traditional families. Why are women tried to put into houses?

The public-private distinction is not a distinction that has arisen in our region. It is a distinction that goes back to Western political history. But in a different way, there was a distinction between inside, outside, primate, or public sphere. The privacy of private space is tightly protected in our culture since the empire period. When a house was going to be built, people asked to not see another window when they open their windows and if there was a tree in the garden they even asked to cut down the tree; because they thought someone could climb the tree to watch them. For this reason, breaking into a house is considered as the most violent crime. As a man, you are responsible for the safety and honor of the women and children inside your harem. During the Ottoman period, there was a tax called koftehor tax. If your spouse cheats on you, you pay a large tax to the government as a punishment. That thought caused much greater pressure of men on women in the private sphere. Because the woman went outside of that private sphere and violated the family's integrity, honor, and morality, it was not only a man’s problem but also a crime to be punished by the state. Today it is not considered as a crime but adultery is a crime.

Nothing is the same now…

The confinement of women in the private sphere is beneficial for male dominance. Establishing and maintaining masculine dominance ensures “social peace and rest!” in a society where men have more advantages and that a segment of people serving for men remains unlocked forever. It also ensures that the service for men continues, that women stay in the background, and that women don’t have the power men have.

A woman is always raised to be a mother and wife

Throughout history, men have monopolized administrative affairs all around the world while women have been responsible for the founding and maintenance of the family. Women are expected to be workers of the private sphere. Women are expected to sustain the private space and provide logistical support for men to be safe and peaceful in the public space. A woman is always raised to be a mother and wife in traditional culture. She is expected to know chores, to be moral and honest, and also to be a good mother. The definition of being a mother is also determined by traditions and patriarchal culture in our region.

·  When people talk about “women-friendly cities”, the first thing that comes to mind is “the sidewalks where women can walk freely by pushing strollers or wearing high heels shoes.” Could you tell us a little bit about what “women-friendly cities” is?

Women friendly cities are the cities where women should take part in decision-making mechanisms and planning processes and have a voice in policies that directly affect them. They are cities where women live in safe and freely. They are not cities where women can walk around by wearing high-heel shoes. If women can take an active part in the administration of a city, if they can develop their citizenship consciousness, if they can demand their rights in the city, if they express their expectations and insist on their expectations to be met, they have a chance to live in a women-friendly city.