Gender and Women's Studies Center of Excellence

Sabancı University Gender and Women's Studies Forum held a meeting on Thursday, October 15 to announce that the Forum would continue its endeavors as a Center of Excellence. The first event of the Center was a lecture by Professor Yakın Ertürk from the Middle East Technical University Sociology Department and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women on "Fighting Violence against Women in Peace and War."

Sabancı University Gender and Women's Studies Forum will continue its pioneering efforts towards gender equality and awareness as a Center of Excellence. 

The first event of the Sabancı University Gender and Women's Studies Center of Excellence took place at the Cinema Hall on Thursday, October 15.

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Dean Ayşe Kadıoğlu delivered introductory remarks. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences member Ayşe Betül Çelik spoke on the efforts of the Forum to date. Afterwards, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences members Alev Topuzoğlu and Özge Akbulut, Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum Project Director Sevda Alkan, and School of Management faculty member Nakiye Boyacıgiller provided information about joint efforts with the Gender and Women's Studies Center of Excellence.

The keynote speaker was Professor Yakın Ertürk from the Middle East Technical University Sociology Department and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women on "Fighting Violence against Women in Peace and War."

"I witnessed the conscience of Sabancı University students in the face of the massacre"

Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Dean Ayşe Kadıoğlu began by remembering those who lost their lives in the bombing attacks in Ankara on October 10. 

Ayşe Kadıoğlu then explained the supra-faculty nature of the Gender and Women's Studies Forum and said that the Center of Excellence was prepared to expand the work of the Forum even further.

Saying that male-dominant structure was at the heart of the suffocating environment in Turkey today, Kadıoğlu concluded, "As Sabancı University Gender and Women's Studies Center of Excellence, we will continue to embrace each other and work with other institutions."

"Violence against Women in Peace and War"

Keynote speaker Yakın Ertürk began with saying that violence targeted women in times of peace as well as war. She emphasized that the stance of women changed depending on circumstance.  

Ertürk argued that the concept of gender had deviated considerably from its original meaning, and said that analytical concepts lost their substance as they became popular. She said that people used gender to avoid using the word "woman" and to state that women and men are different. Yakın Ertürk drew attention to the significance of the gender concept with regard to feminism.

Yakın Ertürk also discussed how violence against women was brought to the international platform when it appeared to be an isolated form of abuse. Ertürk argued that explaining violence against women by claiming that the perpetrating men were alcohol abusers or unable to resist violent urges needs to stop, and said that one of the subjects in studies on women's status was violence.

Unraveling of the nation-state and women's rights

Ertürk said that violence against women was fed from the same source as other forms of violence, and that violence began when mechanisms of persuasion collapsed.  Ertürk also commented that the unraveling of nation-states in the aftermath of the Cold War had repercussions that introduced violence. Yakın Ertürk said, “When naming types of violence, ethnic differences, urban violence stemming from shifts in class dynamics, and gang violence are singled out. Patriarchal violence goes unmentioned."

Ertürk noted that globalization brought a change in business conduct while the patriarchal system was also changed due to the demands of the women's movement, which exacerbated patriarchal violence, causing violence to be normalized and widespread.

Ertürk said that the unraveling of nation-states provided people access to universal human rights, arguing that the lack of wider adoption of human rights until the 1990s was the result of nation-state structures. She explained that since the establishment of the United Nations, women have been striving to acquire rights that were denied to them on the national level  by resorting to an international platform.

"Laws are important because they are the basis of women's struggle"

Explaining how laws formed the basis of women's struggle, Yakın Ertürk said that when the CEDAW Convention was being prepared, the article on violence against women was what women had to work most to have included. Ertürk said that the gap was gradually closed in the 90s and a provision on violence against women was included in the 1992 recommendations of the CEDAW Committee.

Yakın Ertürk said that the mechanisms introduced and resolutions adopted in the 1990s brought significant freedom of movement. Ertürk mentioned the Vienna Conference in 1993 when violence against women was incorporated, continuing "In fact, informal courts were established. The issue of 'comfort women' was brought up, for example. A declaration on fighting violence against women was adopted. And a rapporteurship was created to check the implementation of the declaration."

Yakın Ertürk emphasized that women improved their own rights by owning up to the human rights system, and that violence against women becoming an agenda item had transforming power. She said that violence against women opened everyday life and a situation that appeared normal to debate.  She noted that the government's appointment of the man as the "head of the house" was a reflection of the patriarchal system.

Yakın Ertürk reminded listeners that the 90s was very important in terms of human rights as well, and that the strategic use of violence against women in wars in Yugoslavia and Rwanda met with great reaction.  Ertürk said that the Rome Statute was adopted in those days and that the security council of the United Nations adopted resolutions on women, security and defense in 2000. Ertürk said this was a turning point, and continued: "It is based on the protection of women against victimization and their empowerment. Turkey has yet to reach that point."

Yakın Ertürk said that until gender analysis was performed, the war on women would continue, and that separating sexual violence from violence against women in war would lead to fragmentation.  As an example she said that Congo was a poverty-stricken country despite all its wealth and that when she was in Congo as a rapporteur, violence against women was turning into sexual violence even though a peace treaty had been signed.

Yakın Ertürk discussed the significance of the 1980s for Turkey. She explained that during the shift to global politics, the women's movement and Kurdish movement began to question the state, and as the foundations of the state hegemony were shaken, this translated to violence.

Ertürk said that human rights were being sacrificed in the name of anti-terrorism and national security, continuing "Reducing violence against women to war and peace is oversimplifying." She said that war was not in men's nature, but was introduced through politics.