ARE WE FAILING AGAIN IN IDENTIFYING FEMALE CANDIDATES
It appeared that political parties failed in identifying female candidates prior to every local election. The fact that there are only 22 female mayors, linked to political parties based on the last local election results, only sums up the desperate situation. The experts, who point out that “a participative democracy” is only possible when women have equal presence in every level of political parties, indicate women should become real candidates not some stalking horses on lists.
Itır Bağdadi, Director of Izmir University of Economics (IUE) Gender and Women Studies Research and Application Centre (EKOKAM), stated that even though there was an increase in female representation in general elections, the female candidates were thrown out of focus in local elections. Bağdadi indicated women achieved the highest representation rate in the history of the republic in the last parliamentary elections. She said, “Women hold a representation rate of 14% at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey currently. However, the situation is dire in local administrations, even to a point of having no presence at local level. Only 0.9 % of mayors elected at 2009 local elections were females. Women make up 4.2% of municipal assembly and 3.3% of the provincial general assembly, when you add these figures you can see that women representation is only 1.2%.”
EKOKAM Director Itır Bağdadi said that the political parties failed when it came to women representation by pointing out that, among the political parties AK Party had only 2 female mayors out of one thousand 445 mayors, CHP had 6 out of 514, BDP had 14 out of 97, and MHP did not have any female mayors among 479 mayors.
“There is discrimination among female candidates”
Bağdadi, who indicated that political parties needed female candidates but included them in perfunctory lists, said, “The female candidates make it on the list sometimes because they are family members of a well-known male in the party. And sometimes, they are shown as candidates because they are the leading academicians, doctors, engineers, architects, or teachers of that region. When this is the case, women entering politics is not really representing every woman in the society. For example, while there is majority number of homemakers, they are rarely seen in politics. While female candidates are educated and successful just as their male competitors, so many times they have to bear the specialties that are not sought for in male candidates. Therefore, parties who claim that they welcome female candidates are not even welcoming every female candidate. They make discrimination among women.
“Women make up one half of society”
Bağdadi pointed out even when they had the same socio-economic level, women were at a disadvantage compared to men, that women going into politics had to have a vision, and they were eliminated simply because of their gender. She said each party had to provide equal representation among citizens. Itır Bağdadi recommended the following to the political parties who planned to nominate females:
"Women should be included in politics not on an election basis, but to maintain continuity. They should be provided trainings that will boost their self-confidence and acknowledge politics better. They should be provided help to decrease the cost of their campaigns. Women candidates should be nominated in regions where they will be elected for sure. Women do not exist from election to election only; they do make up one half of the society. They are a must in politics. We cannot talk about a participative democracy if we do not provide an equal presence of women in every level of political parties.”
