The role of historical legacies in the critique of and opposition to gender equality: the case of Turkey

Gender equality is a polysemous and multi-layered concept. Its meanings evolve and change across time and geographies, depending on its ideological underpinnings and historical legacies, as well as the ways in which it is discursively articulated and institutionally designed. As such, the meanings and claims embedded and associated with gender equality are also open to contestation. Where individuals challenge gender equality, they not only challenge gender equality per se but also challenge the various meanings it has come to embrace. This article focuses on two alternative discourses that have emerged around gender equality and feminism in Turkey, namely "gender justice" advocated by pious women’s groups and "jineology" advocated by the Kurdish women’s movement. It investigates the ways in which these groups and discourses engage with the historical legacies of gender equality and feminism in Turkey, mobilizing intersectional, post-colonial and post-feminist perspectives. This article argues that although these alternative discourses have only emerged in the 2000s, their critique of and opposition to gender equality is rooted in the historical legacies and polysemy of gender equality and feminism.