Protecting the Woman or the Family?: Islamist Women's Organization KADEM and its Approach to Violence against Women in Turkey

Violence against women is a hot topic in Turkey. The results of nation-wide surveys, media reports, declarations of women’s rights organizations all point to the prevalence of male violence. They also show that women are mostly exposed to violence in the family. While feminist movement aims empowerment of women as individuals and demand policies against gender inequality; as a conservative party, AKP emphasizes patriarchal values and tells women to be good spouses and mothers. The party gives priority to the unity of family while aiming to prevent its breakdown at all costs. In this paper, I will be analyzing the pro-government conservative-Islamist women’s rights organization KADEM (Women and Democracy Association) which was founded in 2013. From a larger perspective, with the debates on gender justice versus gender equality that it has brought to public and its claim on ‘breaking the hegemony of certain discourses in women’s studies in Turkey’, KADEM can be read as the attempt of the conservative right to create its own women’s movement against the secular, feminist one. But in this paper, I will be mainly focusing on KADEM’s take on violence against women and seeking answers to these questions: How does it approach to the question of violence directed against women which is also part of the broader concept of gender-based violence? What kind of policies or strategies does it propose? In connection to these, what is its discourse on family? What kind of a ‘bargain’ (Kandiyoti, 1988) does it offer for men and women and which gender roles does it recommend for the family? Is the approach of KADEM any different than the government? If yes, to what extent? Does it, like the government, dictate women to be good mothers and wives in all conditions or does it offer strategies for autonomy and empowerment?