trade associations: for example, there are trade
associations for women publishers, teachers, nurses,
and lawyers (Rostami Povey 2001, 44–71). In
1998, Jamìla Kadìvàr, a journalist and a member
of parliament (2000–4) established the Women
Journalists’ Trade Association and in 2002 pub-
lished Íid-yi zan (Woman’s voice). In the first
edition of this publication, LaylìFarhàdpùr, a jour-
nalist and a member of the association, discussed
gender wage differentiation amongst the media
workers, women’s long hours of work, their ab-
sence at the management level, and the impact of
the closure of the media in 2000–2 on women’s
employment (Farhàdpùr 2002). On 8 August 2003,
this association together with two other media
unions – the Journalists’ Trade Union and the In
Defence of Freedom of Media Association – organ-
ized a successful strike of all media workers in sup-
port of the democracy movement and to protest at
the death of Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian
journalist who died in custody in Iran during the
pro-democracy movement in the summer of 2003.
The establishment of women’s trade associations
from the late 1990s demonstrates that Iranian
women workers find it difficult to create conditions
that furnish their democratic rights within existing
unions. So in their own way they are challenging
the male dominated trade unions. This may lead to
the formation of more women’s trade unions or
women workers may force male dominated institu-
tions to recognize women’s full participation in
trade unions. In the meantime, some women’s non-
governmental organizations are providing an array
of support groups available to women outside the
formal workplace (Rostami Povey 2004). They are
not replacing the trade unions and they do not
organize women as workers. Nevertheless, despite
their limited activities, they function as an alter-
native civil society organization, finding it easier
to construct democratic rights through women’s
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(2004), 254–66.Elaheh Rostami PoveyTurkeyTurkish women enjoyed a wide range of civil and
political rights and were granted new opportunities
by the republican regime as early as the 1920s. Even
though much progress was made compared to the
Ottoman period, the new regime proved to be lim-
ited in the full realization of women’s liberation.
The inferior position of women in organized labor
both in numbers and influence demonstrates their
prevailing subordination in Turkish society. The
membership of females in labor unions today is var-
iously estimated to be between 6 and 10 percent of
total unionized workers. Their position in the
union administrative bodies, on the other hand, is
one of outrageous underrepresentation, far below
the numbers proportionate to their membership.
Despite the fact that recent years have marked a cer-
tain level of progress in terms of integration of
women members into the unions, their involvement
is still largely confined to the women’s committees,
bureaus, and workplace representation.
The story of women workers’ experience with
workers’ organizations in Turkey is by and large an
unexplored topic. Although the establishment of
the first workers’ organizations comparable to
labor unions goes back to the early twentieth cen-
tury, women’s position in the union movement
attracted scholarly attention and became an issue
only after the 1980s with the rise of the feminist
movement in Turkey. Apart from the very small
amount of research conducted in the 1970s, mem-
oirs and works on the history of strikes and on the
working class in general are the major sources of
evidence for women’s status in organized labor dur-
ing the pre-1980 period. The limited statistical data
and research, however, show that women have
played a minor role in the union movement in
Turkey with the exception of a few “heroines,” and
these exceptions were mostly masculinized activists
concerned with general problems of workers rather
than women-specific issues.
Along with the low level of industrialization, and
the structural weakness of workers’ movements and