Papers by Raquel Santos Fernandes
Has a Phenomenon Been Born? Causes, Consequences, and Strategies of Gendering De-democratization in Turkey
Social Politics, 2024
JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relation, 2018
Graduated in Communication Sciences with a specialisation in Journalism from the University de Tr... more Graduated in Communication Sciences with a specialisation in Journalism from the University de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (2010). Certificate in Pedagogical Skills (2010), Intern Consultant in the Communications Department of Barcelos's City Hall (2010) and student of the Erasmus program in Istanbul, Turkey, at Bahçeşehir University (2009). She studies the Turkish political system and the influence of Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the country. She participated in the III International OBSERVARE Congress with the theme "From diplomacy of modernisation to Islamic conservatism: what explains the strategy of Recep Tayyip Erdogan?"
Conference Presentations by Raquel Santos Fernandes
Portuguese Political Science Association Congress, 2023
The gendered dimension of Turkey's de-democratization is institutionalizing norms directly oppose... more The gendered dimension of Turkey's de-democratization is institutionalizing norms directly opposed to gender equality in constant interaction with forms of exclusion/subordination acting on women's experiences. Drawing upon this statement, we outline a critical feminism framework and suggest using it to study gender and politics in Turkey during the process of de-democratization. We argue that non-intersectional frameworks do not explain the gender dimension of de-democratization and discuss how attributes such as ethnicity, religion, and income influence gender dynamics in Turkey. We define critical feminism before connecting it to the theorization of gender regimes and proposing a critical feminist understanding of gender and politics. We produce an analysis of the domains of the gender regime based on a critical feminist understanding and claim that given the intersection of these institutional domains, the only way to reverse gendered de-democratization is to implement a strategy encouraging redistribution, recognition, and representation of all women. The conclusion highlights the value of this theoretical framework in understanding systems of inequality other than those based on gender and proves how Turkey indicates a larger dynamic-democracy requires gender equality, which is incompatible with other forms of inequality, and opposition to it is a core component of non-democratic-leaning regimes. Keywords Women; Turkey; gender regime; critical feminism 1. Lombardo, 2018; Graff and Korolczuk, 2021). Poland's near-total abortion ban; the macho politics of Putin's Russia; Orbán's anti-gender politics in Hungary; Bolsonaro's misogynistic discourse; the US reversal of Roe v. Wade; and the Turkish withdrawal from the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (the so-called Istanbul Convention) are all evidence of how de-democratization produces oppressive and unstable contexts for women. Opposition to gender equality is a core component in promoting non-democratic-leaning regimes, and not only are they related, but they are mutually dependent (Roggeband and Krizsán, 2023). As the lowest-ranked NATO and OECD member state in the Gender Inequality Index and the Global Gender Gap Report, Turkey is a meaningful case study (UNDP, 2022; World Economic Forum, 2022). After a period of Europeanization adapting its domestic legislation to meet European Union (EU) gender equality criteria (the 2003 Labour Code; 2004 Penal Code; 2005 Municipality Law; etc.), Turkey abandoned the prospect of membership and gradually opposed gender equality 4 , claiming it failed to comply with national, cultural, and religious values. Along with the rejection of a secular approach, state-sponsored action of religion in the public space increased (e.g., the 2012 attempt to ban abortion; the 2016 establishing of the Divorce Commission; the 2020 'marry your rapist' bill, etc.), and the country moved away from the principles of democracy. Çalışkan found that Turkey met nine out of eleven of Levitsky and Way's indicators of competitive authoritarianism from 2010-2016-opposition candidates were not banned for political reasons, and electoral fraud was not asserted-and eleven out of eleven after 2016 (Çalışkan, 2018: 13). In a previous article, we referred to this shift from electoral democracy to a competitive authoritarian political regime as "New Turkey" (Fernandes and Carvalhais, 2018). In this article, we focus on the gendered aspect of this de-democratization. We analyze the intersection between opposition to gender equality and de-democratization, or precisely, the way gender relations are shaped within the state's institutions. We apply Walby's theorization of gender regimes (2009; 2020) and claim that Turkey is increasing its private/domestic forms of exclusion (e.g., the restrictions on abortion, incentives to households, position on divorce, etc.) that widen the gender distribution gap, underrepresents and unrecognizes the role and rights of women in the country. But what theoretical basis supports such claims? How can this phenomenon be explained? Are women equally oppressed, or are there factors that impact 4 Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made the first governmental statement opposing gender equality in 2010. He openly stated, "I don't believe in gender equality", while serving as prime minister of the Republic of Turkey. Check his statement in Belge, Burçin.
Gender and Politics in Turkey Workshop, 2022
Currently, the political regime of the Republic of Turkey is confronting a process of de-democrat... more Currently, the political regime of the Republic of Turkey is confronting a process of de-democratisation assumed as such also given its restricted gender policies. Because of its democratic breakdown and populist, nationalist and religious-conservative patterns, the ruling party has been limiting women to a familialist, sexist, and anti-feminist gender regime. This is one of the most discussed topics in Turkish politics and can be studied from many theoretical outlooks, such as identity politics, socialist feminism, and liberal feminism. However, despite the contribution of these perspectives, I argue that critical feminism and Fraser's three-dimensional approach to gender justice are the most suitable lenses for the study of gender and politics in Turkey. Firstly, I argue critical feminism conceives a three-dimensional approach to gender equality. Whereas identity politics defends recognition, socialist feminism protects redistribution, and liberal feminism supports representation, the critical feminist theory coordinates culture (recognition), economy (redistribution), and politics (representation). Secondly, no other approach has common concerns in so many fields, like politics, economy, sexual and reproductive health, education, and violence. Thirdly, I argue that critical feminism does not disregard 'race'/ethnicity and religion. Critical feminism does not reduce gender and politics to the secularism-Islamism cleavage, does not disregard political and economic contexts, does not focus on just one field, and does not observe women as if they were all born equal, lived the same experiences, and had the same opportunities. I use non-positivist research and a feminist methodology and epistemology. I analyse primary and secondary sources and conduct semi-structured interviews, which allow finding relevant issues sometimes ignored by the literature. I try to provide a theoretical framework to understand gender and politics beyond the most common approaches. And by doing so, I propose a broader comprehension of the different gender experiences of women in Turkey.
The Nationalist-Religious Structure of the Turkish Gender Regime
ECPR General Conference, 2021
Populist Framing and Leadership in Turkey
Portuguese Political Science Association Congress, 2018
IPSA World Congress of Political Science, 2021
Taking as departing premise the goal of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Developmen... more Taking as departing premise the goal of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls as one of the fairest and urgency values, we intend to analyze the relationship of the Turkish gender regime, hereby called "New Turkey", with its female citizens, from a feminist and gender perspective. The "New Turkey", as conceived by President Erdoğan, proposes a representative state of society and of its traditional and conservative values, under the promise of more empowerment and full integration of excluded citizens (such as women), into the political decision-making process. However, this project 1 provides a reading of gender issues that is provocative, to say the least. On the one hand, this view is inclusive, but on the other hand, such inclusiveness is equated under quite conservative premises of women as wives and mothers. The result is a particular focus on traditional gender roles that excludes the recognition of women's intimate, economic, and political rights. In that sense, various forms of women's marginalization affect the role of Turkish women as citizens, so we question if female empowerment and gender equality may be deemed complete under such a vision. Considering a three-dimensional approach to citizenship and the theoretical framework of critical feminism, we interpret women's awareness of their citizenship, and how and where they feel represented. 3 Do not confuse Fraser's concept of gender justice with the use of the concept by Turkey's conservative circles. While Fraser proposes the interrelation of representation, redistribution, and recognition to understand the political, cultural, and economic features of gender under-representation, the concept was widespread among Turkish conservative circles to replace "gender equality". Contrary to Fraser's concept that proposes the end of gender structure as a condition for justice, the religious-conservative Turkish understanding considers that social roles are divine and that there is no gender equality, women and men are not equal, they just complement each other. This notion promotes traditional family values and views gender equality as a concept foreign to Turkish-Islamic culture.
Thesis Chapters by Raquel Santos Fernandes
University of Minho, 2016
There is no consensus about what actually constitutes a democracy. Several definitions were formu... more There is no consensus about what actually constitutes a democracy. Several definitions were formulated and subsequently challenged in an intense debate about the variables that influences its quality and its legitimacy. Not being participation, freedom and political pluralism the only variables par excellence of democracy, the preponderance of these indicators in the study of democratic quality of the states must be praised and safeguarded. When in 1923 Mustafa Kemal founded the Republic of Turkey, did it with the ideological basis of a modern nation-state, democratic and secular. Almost a century later, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a devout Muslim, wants to give a new meaning to secularism in Turkey, towards the resumption of the former Ottoman Empire, by the reformulation of a "New Turkey". After 11 years of governance, the criticism of his autocratic leadership and the imposition of Islamist orientation laws in Turkey, hide the old national growth in a redoubling of political and cultural wars between Muslims and secular people. The presented study contextualizes the political development in Turkey since its foundation as a Republican state and the truthfulness of the Erdogan regime, testing the democratic quality of it, by analyzing the role of participation, freedom and pluralism, attending to the political hegemony, to the Islamic authoritarianism and to the demagogy of the Prime Minister, respecting three relevant historical cleavages: a political conflict; a religious conflict and an ethnic and territorial conflict.
University of Minho, 2024
Political regimes are founded on unequal power relations that shape experiences of citizenship. D... more Political regimes are founded on unequal power relations that shape experiences of citizenship. Drawing upon this claim, we focus on gender relations and analyze the structures and institutions that make up the Turkish political regime, or, to put it in another way, its gender regime. This is a post-positivist feminist-inspired study whose main research question is “How do women interpret the political regime in Turkey from a gender perspective?”. The aims are to interpret whether and how the state under Tayyip Erdoğan’s rule proposes an ideal type based on a national-religious structure; to perceive the relationship between women (citizens) and the political regime (state); and to comprehend the conditions surrounding policy, economy, violence, and civil society. The first chapters introduce the theoretical-conceptual frameworks, which are followed by the topic of study. Then, we conducted a grounded theory study, which is followed by an analytical chapter examining each of the institutional domains of the gender regime. We argue that there is a correlation between opposing gender equality and the nature of the political regime. Afterwards, we contend that this political regime, referred to as ‘New Turkey’, sponsors religious actions and institutionalizes non-equal familialist norms. Thirdly, we assert that this has implications for care policies and is consistent with the ruling party’s economic policy. We aim to produce a discussion of gender and policymaking in Turkey; to contribute to theoretical and methodological fields through the development of specific knowledge on gender and politics and the coverage of a broader insight into political science; and to produce new avenues of research on current Turkish politics: the AKP-era changed the republican paradigm, redefined the role of traditional divisions in Turkey, and the party arose as an anti-gender and familialist authoritarian force on the grounds of a national-religious structure too complex to be limited to conventional cleavages. We discuss this ‘New Turkey’ while proposing a strategy for promoting gender equality in Turkey based on the “theoretical model for the situation and prospects of the gender regime in Turkey”.
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Papers by Raquel Santos Fernandes
Conference Presentations by Raquel Santos Fernandes
Thesis Chapters by Raquel Santos Fernandes