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“Parliamentary Research Commission Formed on Purpose of Researching Elements Affecting Family Integrity Negatively and Divorce Cases and Detecting Required Measures to be Taken to Strengthen Family Institution” established in January 2016 was announced with the name “Protecting the Integrity of Family” by the AKP. After three months, the commission proclaimed the 479 – page – report on issues of marriage and divorce which can be considered highly controversial when thinking about its function, either defending the unity of family or neglecting the rights of women and children. Since the news is clearly associated with more than one themes such as family, kinship and gender, and the state power, I claim that this is a very useful contemporary example from our country which is giving me a great opportunity to analyze, in a humble way, in terms of several anthropological concepts and ideas we have learned during the semester. In this essay, I will try to demonstrate in what ways the news can be associated with our class discussions and texts, and in what ways it can be used in an anthropology course.
At first, looking at the title of the news, “Turkey –Women Challenge Report of ‘Protecting the Integrity of Family’ Commission on Issues of Divorce, Religious Affairs Directorate Mediation on Violence Issues, Legal Age of Marriage +” is giving explicit implications about how the commission report is narrated in the news. Considering the report as a challenge for women, it looks like it represents the opponents’ point of view about the report. Hence, if the news is used in an anthropology course, it might be useful to make the students think about family structure through the term ‘integrity of family’ –patriarchal and traditional or modern -, decision making mechanisms about familial affairs –family members or the state itself-, violence against women and legal policies against violence in Turkey, argumentatively.
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At the beginning of the news, it is mentioned that the women that are saying “Our life is ours, we don’t recognize the report of the divorce commission!” gather to protest in Antakya, also they hold simultaneous protests in many cities against the report of the Divorce Commission. This case can be used for making connections with the feminist critique of 1960’s world turning upside down. Since these women are raising a feminist consciousness by coming together and sharing their personal affairs, experiences and views about domestic violence, marriage and divorce, they become a part of political movement against the commission’s proposed laws through the streets or social media, it would bring second wave feminist movements, whose concept is “The personal is the political.”, to the mind of students. Furthermore, statements of women’s rights groups against the report might give the students a chance to make a class discussion about presence of women’s rights in a patriarchal society having traditional norms, what is personal and what is political when it comes to adequate provisions which should not underestimate serious social problems such as murders or violence but should ensure gender equality in society.
When we are looking at the age of marriage section of the news, it reminds me Veena Das’ article “National Honor and Practical Kinship: Unwanted Women and Children” whom we read and discussed that how the state practices its power over women’s sexuality and their reproductive function since similar connections can be made through the news and the themes of the state power over family, kinship and gender. In Veena Das’ article, while identifying abducted women and sending back them to their families is considered as a state responsibility to restore the honor and purity of new nation of India, from Pakistan’s point of view, it becomes a matter of national honor as well. Through arranging forced marriages, it seems like the state absorbs the undesirable members of the family who are abducted and sexually abused women and maintains the family prestige again. Similarly, in the news, AKP parliamentarian and chairwoman of the commission report, Ayşe Kesir mentions about identifying girls who are younger than 15 and having sex with adults and turning this illegal
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violence”, in an anthropology course whose one of the aims is making the students thinking about multiple ways in which gender matters. Patriarchy as a social order in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women is dominating over when it comes to the state as well as other public spheres. The unfortunate fact that women are more likely exposed to physical violence and domestic abuse and they have less access to formal power, can be demonstrated via the news. Through thinking about the statements of one of the lawyers advocating women’s rights, Diren Cevahir Sen, it would be useful bringing the question, under which circumstances does a woman escape violence against the legal constraints making by the patriarchal state, up for discussion.
In the next section of the news about divorce, according to the commission, divorce cases should be held secretly to protect the privacy of the family and the time period for alimony should be limited, while women’s rights organizations believe that this practice would make women more vulnerable. Examining this contemporary case of laws favoring men, students would notice that in what ways patriarchy and institutional sexism subordinate women. Besides, as the news mentions about, it is worth noting that female labor force participation in Turkey is quite low. It means that the unemployed women would suffer deeply in the post-divorce period. Looking at the several reasons of the low rates of women unemployment, at the one hand, since raising children, caring the sick and the elderly is considered women’s task traditionally, married women are still forced to play their role as a caregiver even when they want to work and earn money. On the other hand, when going into the business world, the wage gap, being worthy of low paying and low prestige jobs become a crucial issue for women. When talking about these inequalities, I believe that the news about the commission report might be helpful to expand the context of gender stratification.
Finally, the last section of the news draws the attention towards the fact that the commission’s proposal might stimulate not only more rapes and pedophilia due to the
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arrangement of early age marriages but also violence and abuse against women in and outside the home. Living in the traditional patriarchal societies, the issue of divorce becomes a natural challenge instead of being an ordinary legal action for women particularly those who are young, uneducated and disadvantaged. In an anthropology course, it would be an impressive example to look at the idea of protecting the integrity of family from a different aspect, and in what ways it is considered to be a challenge for women.
To conclude, I claim that using this news item in anthropology classes would be quite useful to make students thinking about the anthropological concepts deeply in terms of making interrelations of family, kinship and gender, and the state power, and also analyzing power relations and inequalities in the society.
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