Women This Week: Thousands of Women Gather Despite Protest Ban in Turkey

Women in Istanbul Advocate for Equal Rights 

In defiance of a government prohibition, thousands of women took to the streets in Turkey on International Women’s Day to demonstrate women’s rights. For the second year, police were deployed to block access to the Istiklal pedestrian avenue—where Women’s Day marches have been held since 2003—allegedly to protect national security. Participants were met with tear gas as they protested issues, including the government’s response to the February 2023 earthquake as well as its decision to leave the Istanbul Convention in 2021. The protestors also sought to draw attention to the rising number of women victims of femicide. One protester commented, “We are not harming anyone, but unfortunately, we are faced with police violence every time,” she said. “Our only concern is the emancipation of women; we want free spaces in a world without violence and better economic conditions, especially for women.” 

UNICEF Releases Grim Statistics on Eradication of FGM 

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released figures this week showing that efforts to eradicate female genital mutilation (FGM) by 2030 are falling far short of where they need to be. The report indicated that more than 230 million girls and women alive today are survivors of female genital mutilation (FGM). This number represents a 15 percent increase since 2016 in over thirty countries. Although progress has been made in many African countries, work to eliminate the practice would need to be almost thirty times faster to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target date to eradicate FGM by 2030. “Female genital mutilation harms girls’ bodies, dims their futures, and endangers their lives,” said executive director Catherine Russell. “We’re also seeing a worrying trend that more girls are subjected to the practice at younger ages, many before their fifth birthday. That further reduces the window to intervene. We need to strengthen the efforts of ending this harmful practice.” 

Ireland Rejects Changes to Antiquated Gender and Family Issues in Constitution 

Referendums aimed at addressing gender issues in Ireland’s Constitution were rejected this week by voters. In the first proposed change, the government asked citizens to expand the definition of family to add “durable relationships” to the existing language that it be “founded on marriage.” The second change sought to replace article 41.2, which says that the state will “endeavor to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labor to the neglect of their duties in the home.” The proposals were rejected by a margin of 67.7 to 32.3 and 73.9 to 26.1 percent, respectively. Opposition groups warned that the language was confusing, to which an associate professor at Limerick’s law school commented, “There seemed to be very little interest in the government in listening to the concerns of people on the wording,” she said, “And maybe a certain amount of arrogance in that they believed that people might get carried away on a wave of feminism on International Women’s Day and simply pass these two referendums.”

Naimah Haynes is the intern for the Women and Foreign Policy Program and contributed to the research for this blog.