Beyond the 'Gender Paradox': Acts of Citizenship and Women's Movements in Turkey and Tunisia

Despite the fact that women’s movements (WM) have been one of the most persistent claimants of equal citizenship rights over a century, studies focusing on the MENA region up to 1980s usually explain their exclusion through what is called the ‘gender paradox’; whereby women become excluded from political processes once after a regime stabilizes. This study aims to contribute to the debates of women and citizenship rights in Turkey and Tunisia by aiming to understand how the autonomous feminist movements in both countries influenced the gendered citizenship regimes starting from 1980s. More, it seeks to understand the circumstances and spaces in which feminist groups mobilize to make claims on rights and what determines their strategies. To do so, the research contextualizes citizenship and gender debates in Turkey and Tunisia comparatively from 1980’s whereby an independent WM from national movements was born. The research is based on personal stories of activist women gathered through semi-structured interviews by the researcher who were involved in this process. It also includes a historical review of moments of conflict and rupture between citizenship regimes and women’s rights claims in the international, regional and local levels in two countries to identify moments of rupture and change and to understand how diverse women’s movements and their interaction with each other, international and domestic players have an influence on women’s citizenship rights As such, this paper will explore the reasons why Turkey and Tunisia’s gendered citizenship regimes and WM trajectories show striking similarities even though the two countries show differences in their experiences with democratization, modernization and economic development which are typically seen as enablers of full citizenship rights. The paper ultimately proposes to contribute to a better understanding of ‘differentiated’ citizenship for women.