The burned body of Turkish female student Ozgecan Aslan discovered
on Feb. 13 in a riverbed in the Tarsus district of Mersin in Turkey
has enraged people from all walks of life around Turkey.
This has resulted in many demonstrations around the country, where both women and men have expressed their anger and called for justice and equal women's rights in the culturally male dominated Turkish environment.
Female empowerment still lags in most Muslim countries including Turkey. Despite the progress made there in regard to women during the 20th century through the efforts by its first President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey now faces attempts at going backwards again by defining women’s role as mainly domestic.
Even recently elected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that women and men cannot be equal because it “goes against the laws of nature.”
The sheer size of Turkey’s protests, however, are perhaps the most important indication yet of how much Muslim women today are challenging traditional male dominance based on the old interpretations of gender roles within Islam.
Almere-Digest
This has resulted in many demonstrations around the country, where both women and men have expressed their anger and called for justice and equal women's rights in the culturally male dominated Turkish environment.
Female empowerment still lags in most Muslim countries including Turkey. Despite the progress made there in regard to women during the 20th century through the efforts by its first President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey now faces attempts at going backwards again by defining women’s role as mainly domestic.
Even recently elected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that women and men cannot be equal because it “goes against the laws of nature.”
The sheer size of Turkey’s protests, however, are perhaps the most important indication yet of how much Muslim women today are challenging traditional male dominance based on the old interpretations of gender roles within Islam.
Almere-Digest
