Role of Women in Turkish Foreign Policy: Gender-Equitable Future in Turkey – Rahime Süleymanoğlu Kürüm

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The role of women in foreign policy has been
increasingly aspired to and discussed since the early 1990s. However, due to
the different behavioral patterns imposed on women and men by gender norms,
women worldwide still have difficulty finding a place in foreign policy.
Research findings on women’s political representation reported that men
generally focus on security and economic issues and women on issues concerning
the private sphere and women (Acker, 1990). Defense and military issues have
been identified with masculinity, and women’s contribution to this field has
been restricted due to gender norms (Kronsell, 2005). According to widely
accepted stereotypes, masculinity is characterized by being brave and rational and
associated with leadership, warrior, and independence. In contrast, femininity
is characterized by adjectives such as being emotional, subordination, peaceful
and acting naturally.

Although there has been a significant rise in
feminist international relations studies since the 1990s, women could not find
a credible space for themselves in the field of foreign policy and diplomacy in
the 1990s, which was referred to as a “hot peace” environment dominated
by security concerns. However, since the mid-2000s, in parallel with the rise
of soft power, humanitarian diplomacy, and public diplomacy discussions in international
relations, women’s contribution to the field of foreign policy started to be recognized
to a greater extent.

Turkish foreign policy has not been left out of
these discussions and has developed in line with the general trend in the world
(Süleymanoğlu-Kürüm & Rumelili, 2018). I will discuss the rise of women in
Turkish foreign policy and diplomacy in this paper from a historical
perspective and provide suggestions to increase women’s role and effectiveness
and create a more gender-equal Turkish foreign policy.

To understand the rise of women in Turkish
foreign policy, it is first necessary to elaborate on women’s traditional roles
in Turkish diplomacy. When we look at feminist history, just like the European
imperial palaces, the women of the Ottoman court have played a significant role
in diplomacy and acted as a communication channel to access the often-inaccessible
Ottoman sultan. They did so by exchanging letters and gifts with women of the
European palaces and directly communicating with resident representatives of
European powers in İstanbul since at least the 15^th century (Pierce,
1993: 221). Since the Ottoman Empire did not accept resident diplomacy and the
principle of reciprocity until the 18^th century, it did not have
established European representations (Arı, 2004: 52-53). The women of the
palace filled this gap by assuming essential diplomatic responsibilities. However,
with the professionalization of diplomacy with the Congress of Vienna, just
like in Europe, the diplomatic roles of the women of the Ottoman court were
limited due to the establishment of an all-male diplomatic structure, thereby
making diplomacy and foreign policy male-dominated domains (Rumelili &
Süleymanoğlu-Kürüm, 2018: 90).

On the other hand, with the influence of the
feminist movement that emerged in the 19^th century in the Ottoman
Empire and strengthened with the modernization process, women gained the right
to work in paid jobs, become civil servants in 1913, and access to higher
education in 1914. In addition to securing these rights from the Ottoman state,
the early feminist movement encouraged Turkish women to actively demand
political, economic, and social rights in the Turkish Republic, founded in
1923. Turkish modernization in the Republican era perceived the visibility of
women in the public sphere as an essential indicator of modernity.

The new Turkish woman idealized by the modernization
of the Republic should be well-educated, have an appearance that would aspire
to the professions traditionally performed by men, and be active and visible in
the public sphere. In this framework, the first visibility of women, who gained
the right to education and employment, in the field of foreign policy appeared
in 1932, when a woman applied for the recruitment exams of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs for the first time. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was informed about
the issue and instructed that the female candidate should be subjected to the
same recruitment procedures. As such, Adile Ayda, the first Turkish woman
diplomat, took office in 1932. This can be a record that Turkish diplomacy can
be proud of. As a matter of fact, in 1933, only 13 countries had female
diplomats, and one of them was Turkey (Bloch, 2004).

The most crucial obstacle to women’s influence
in foreign policy is the marriage bar applied to female diplomats in many
countries in official diplomacy. Such bar or restriction has never existed in
Turkish diplomacy. However, the first Turkish woman diplomat, Adile Ayda,
resigned only after two years when a decree was issued in 1934 banning women
from being appointed to overseas representation.

While 1934 witnessed this practice, which
undermined the visibility of women in diplomacy, it also paved the way for
women’s presence in the political arena, as women were granted the legal right
to be elected in the same year. It is possible to explain this contradiction
with the incompatibility between the expectations of the modernization process
and the existing gender norms and stereotypes in society and foreign
policy-making practices.

It is possible to take the year 1957 as the real
turning point in the visibility of women in Turkish foreign policy as the 1934
decree was abolished and paved the way for the first Turkish women diplomat,
Adile Ayda, to return to her diplomatic career. However, it took another 25
years for a female diplomat to rise to the level of ambassador when Filiz
Dinçmen was appointed to The Hague and became the first Turkish woman
ambassador. However, the appointment of the second female ambassador took
another ten years, and Solmaz Ünaydın became the second Turkish female
ambassador in 1992. In the interviews she gave to the media, Ambassador Ünaydın
stated that she had difficulties as a woman and that the title of ambassador
was mainly reserved for men who graduated from Galatasaray High School
and Mülkiye (today Ankara University’s Faculty of Political Sciences)
within the Ministry, and that she waited eight years while the men promoted to
the rank of ambassador in 3-4 years. On the other hand, Solmaz Ünaydın also
underlined the personal efforts of Turgut Özal and Süleyman Demirel in
increasing the role and visibility of women in diplomacy (Pamir, 2006;
Süleymanoğlu-Kürüm and Rumelili, 2018: 13).

It is important to note that Tansu Çiller took
office as Turkey’s first female Prime Minister in 1993, one year after Solmaz
Ünaydın was appointed ambassador. Anna Philips (1998) emphasized the importance
of having a role model while underlining the importance of women’s political
representation. Tansu Çiller, who also served as the Minister of State in Charge
of the Economy between 1991 and 1993, continued to serve as the Minister of
Foreign Affairs between 28 June 1996 and 30 June 1997 in the coalition government
formed by the Welfare Party and the True Path Party in the period following his
prime ministership and remained on the political scene.

1998 can be considered another milestone
regarding the visibility of women in Turkish diplomacy. The ratio of female
career employees in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs increased from 13,4% in
1990 to 24% in 1998. After this milestone, the increase in the ratio of female career
employees in the Ministry continued at a slower pace. For example, this ratio
increased by only 2,32 points until 2014, reaching only 26,32%.

The leap in the ratio of women in the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs in 1998 was made possible by a decree issued that year,
abolishing the prohibition of assigning diplomatic couples to the same city. At
the same time, for the first time, three women diplomats were promoted to the
rank of ambassador (Şule Soysal to Belarus, Veka İnal to the Philippines, and
Füsun Çetintaş to Singapore). This decree touched upon an integral structural
inequality in front of women diplomats, who managed to secure a place in the
diplomatic profession and liberated them from the difficult choice of resigning
from their posts to be with their spouses or taking extended unpaid leaves
(Ergin, 1998; Süleymanoğlu-Kürüm and Rumelili, 2018: 11, 14). Not having to
choose between family life and their professions has paved the way for many
women to aspire to a career in diplomacy. The practice of appointing couples in
the same city or overseas representations close to each other has been improved
over the years, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has become more gender
equal. In line with this, the ratio of female ambassadors in Turkey by 2021
reached 25%.

Studies on gender and diplomacy underline that
women try to find a space for themselves with individual-level gender
performances instead of engaging in feminist activism (Süleymanoğlu-Kürüm &
Rumelili, 2022). Many women diplomats in Turkey, in the words of the second
Turkish woman Ambassador Solmaz Ünaydın, “played with the rules of the game”
and acted against the stereotypes associated with femininity by performing
stereotypes such as rationally and not showing their emotions. Such gender performances
opened space for more women, and their visibility is boosted thanks to the rise
of humanitarian diplomacy and soft power in foreign policy, which valorized
stereotypes associated with femininity (Süleymanoğlu-Kürüm & Rumelili,
2022).

In feminist studies, it is argued that marginalized
communities have a greater chance of representing the whole (Jaggar, 2004:
55-57). Women’s visibility in a high-status field of diplomacy in Turkey will
ensure that women’s issues and experiences are considered in foreign
policy-making processes. It should be remembered that quotas still play an
important role in ensuring the meaningful participation of women for a more
gender-equal Turkey. Increasing descriptive representation is likely to relieve
women from engaging with different gender performances to seek individual
success and find a space for themselves. Women who can be themselves are more
likely to reflect on women’s issues in the policy-making process.

Kaynakça

Acker, Joan. 1990. ‘Hierarchies, Jobs, Bodies: A Theory of Gendered Organisations’. Gender and Society 4 (2): 139-158.
Arı, Bülent. 2004. ‘Early Ottoman Diplomacy: Ad Hoc Period’. Nuri Yurdusev (der.), Ottoman Diplomacy, Conventional or Unconventional? Basingstoke and Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan: 36–65.
Ergin, Sedat. 1998. “Dışişleri Kadınlardan Sorulacak”, Milliyet, 22 Şubat, http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/index/ArsivNews. aspx?id=-7352 (Erişim Tarihi 1 Eylül 2016).
Pamir, Balçiçek. 2006. ‘Japonya Büyükelçisi Solmaz Ünaydın: Kadınım diye tam 8 yıl büyükelçi yapmadılar’, Sabah, 28 Ağustos http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2006/08/28/pamir.html, (Erişim Tarihi 24 Nisan 2017).
Peirce, Leslie P. 1993. The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. New York: Oxford University Press.
Phillips, A. (1998). The politics of presence. OUP Oxford.
Rumelili, Bahar ve Rahime Süleymanoğlu-Kurum. 2018. ‘Women and Gender in Turkish Diplomacy: Historical Legacies and Current Patterns’. Karin Aggestam ve Ann Towns (der.), Gendering Diplomacy and International Negotiation. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan: 87-106.
Süleymanoğlu-Kürüm, Rahime ve Bahar Rumelili. 2022. ‘From Female Masculinity to Hegemonic Femininity: Evolving Gender Performances of Turkish Women Diplomats’. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 1 (aop): 1-30.
Süleymanoğlu-Kürüm, Rahime ve Bahar Rumelili. 2005. ‘Diplomaside Kadın ve Egemen Maskülenlik: Değişen Normlar ve Pratikler’. Uluslararası İlişkiler, 15 (57): 3-18.
Jaggar, A. M. (2004). Feminist politics and epistemology: The standpoint of women. In S. Harding (Ed.), The feminist standpoint theory reader: Intellectual and political controversies (pp. 55-66). Routledge.
Kronsell, Annica.2005. ‘Gendered practices in institutions of hegemonic masculinity. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 7 (2): 280–298.
Zarakol, Ayşe. 2011. After Defeat: How the East Learned to Live with the West. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

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To cite this work: Rahime Süleymanoğlu Kürüm, ” Role of women in Turkish foreign policy: Gender-equitable future in Turkey”, Panorama, Online, 02 January 2023, https://www.uikpanorama.com/blog/2023/01/02/rs/

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