Hopes dim for improved rights for women in new constitution

Source: 
Today's Zaman
Publication date: 
Feb 25 2013
As Parliament works to draft a new and civilian constitution, expectations are low among women’s organizations that the document will grant broader rights to the country’s female population.
 
According to the draft constitution, which has yet to be completed by the Constitutional Reconciliation Commission in Parliament, there is consensus among political parties on a principle to ensure gender equality and protect women from discrimination. However, members of the commission have stark differences over quite a few topics concerning women, including employment opportunities, political equality with men and nursery schools in places of business.

According to Çiğdem Aydın, chairwoman of the Association for Education and Supporting Women Candidates (KA-DER), the draft constitution seems not to be a “remedy for women’s demands and expectations” as it does not contain concrete statements to ensure gender equality.

We would like to see concrete statements to ensure equality between men and women in every field

“We would like to see concrete statements to ensure equality between men and women in every field. However, the draft document does not contain such statements. Political equality is a sine qua non for KA-DER. We want men and women to enjoy equal opportunities in politics and this right to be guaranteed by the constitution. Yet, looking at the draft document, we also see that gender inequality in the social and employment fields remains in place,” Aydın stated in an interview with Sunday’s Zaman.

The chairwoman also said KA-DER demands that civil society be strengthened in the new constitution, but the draft document shows that this demand has not been met, either. In the draft document, political parties agreed to ensure that women benefit from reproductive health services for free and that pregnant women as well as women who have recently given birth are protected under special provisions in their business places.

However, parties failed to reach a consensus to include a statement in the new constitution that the state is responsible for removing all drawbacks that may prevent women from entering work life. The parties did not agree to impose a quota system for women in politics, either.

The Constitutional Reconciliation Commission comprises three members from each of the four political parties represented in Parliament. It met for the first time in mid-2011 and started gathering ideas from various segments of society pertaining to their demands for the country’s new constitution.

Based on those inputs, however, it could only begin drafting the articles themselves in May of 2012. The commission members representing the different parties have different opinions over quite a few topics, and their disagreements have already been reflected in the pages of the draft. The articles on which at least two parties have an agreement on are typed in green, whereas the additions or changes defended by only one party are typed in red.

The existing constitution was drafted following martial law in 1982 after a bloody coup d’état two years earlier in 1980. The document is often the focus of harsh criticism as it fails to provide for broader rights and freedoms.

Burçin Esin Koç, chairwoman of the Women’s Rights Association Against Discrimination (AK-DER), told Sunday’s Zaman that the association submitted a list of their suggestions about the new constitution to the commission in Parliament. The suggestions mainly focus on the principle of ensuring constitutional guarantee for all citizens not to be discriminated against due to their attire.

The principle is aimed at fighting against a de facto ban on the use of the Muslim headscarf by female staff in the public service. In Turkey, state offices do not hire headscarved women. Covered women are also denied employment in most private companies despite the lack of a law that prohibits the use of the headscarf in private businesses. They are not elected to Parliament, either. A scarf ban was imposed for many years on university campuses, and it ended only in 2010. To the dismay of many, the draft constitution does not contain a statement to get rid of the headscarf ban.

“The choice of attire should be left to citizens when they enjoy their fundamental rights and freedoms. Unless clearly stated in the law, regulations and decrees should not restrict people’s right to decide on their attire,” AK-DER states.

Koç, however, did not express any expectation that her association’s demands about improved rights for women would be met in the new constitution.

On an earlier occasion, during the 50th Turkey-EU Association Council Meeting held in May of last year, the EU welcomed Turkey’s efforts to draft a new constitution and recalled that further efforts toward fully meeting the Copenhagen criteria are also required as regards rights of persons belonging to minorities, women’s and children’s rights, anti-discrimination and gender equality.

Reluctance about special chapter on women

Sunday’s Zaman also asked Ahmet İyimaya, a deputy from the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and member of the Constitutional Reconciliation Commission, about women’s rights in the new constitution.

The deputy said members of the commission have not reached an agreement over whether a separate chapter should be included in the new constitution that details women’s rights. The document, instead, contains articles for the protection of the family, the right to have access to health services and measures to be taken against discrimination, according to İyimaya.

“Women rights in the new constitution may be compiled under three principles. First of all, it is possible to introduce positive discrimination provisions to the document. Secondly, women’s rights are an indispensable component of the principle of equality. A human is the origin of all rights and freedoms. Last but not least, belonging to a different gender [than men] cannot be an excuse for being discriminated against,” İyimaya stated.

Levent Köker, a professor of constitutional law at Atılım University, is also of the opinion that women’s rights need not be mentioned under a separate chapter in the new constitution. “I believe amendments to articles of the current constitution to ensure gender equality would be enough. The existing constitution states that the state is responsible for ensuring gender equality. Deputies may underline the principle of positive discrimination for women under the chapter of social and economic rights for citizens and leave the rest to the law,” he noted.

The professor also said detailing women’s rights under a separate chapter in the new constitution would make the document look like the program of a political party. “It is not necessary to mention in detail topics that may be detailed in laws. For me, it is enough to underline gender equality and the principle of positive discrimination for women in the new constitution,” Köker added.

Speaking about his party’s proposals about improved rights for women in the new constitution, Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Atilla Kart said the CHP seeks to include concrete statements in the new document to ensure gender equality in all fields. “In our proposals to the commission, we have expressed the significance of improved educational opportunities for female students, political equality between men and women and more opportunities for women to establish and participate in the activities of labor unions.

“We have also expressed the importance of providing equal opportunities for women with men in employment. In addition, we have asked the commission to include statements in the new constitution to specially protect pregnant women at their business places as well as women who have recently given birth,” Kart added.

 BETÜL A. DEMİRBAŞ

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