GIRL’S EDUCATION IN TURKEY: AN ANALYSIS OF EDUCATION POLICIES FROM A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE
Abstract
In this study, I aim to provide an analysis of gender equality in the Turkish education system by looking at policies and their outcomes on girl’s schooling. My goal is to demonstrate the ways educational policies have been complicit in reproducing inequality and difference between the sexes by examining what issues regarding education and gender have become a part of public discourse, and which issues have not. The investigation of the role of the state in contributing to gendered outcomes in education is operationalized by two data gathering processes. The first is document analysis of policy documents which are the Article 42. Of the Constitution, Basic Law of National Education. Law 1739, and Basic Education Reform Act. No. 4306. The second is the collection of educational statistics and documents that would shed light to the condition of girls’ education in Turkey. The data draws on policies directly related to education to understand how gender equality is conceptualized. The central finding of the study is that the educational policies and practices in Turkey are based on the premises of “formal equality” and “meritocracy” which aims to provide the same opportunities to every member of society. However, the functional view of schooling based on the concepts of “formal equality” and “meritocracy” fosters the belief that males and females are benefitting equally and serve to mask the inequitable distribution of knowledge and skills between men and women. Therefore, educational policies continue to be gender-neutral, far from challenging the gender dynamics that discriminate against girls and women. Article 42. of the Constitution, the Basic Law of National Education. Law 1739., the Basic Education Reform Act. No. 4306 and its extension, 4+Reform, focuses on the expansion and improvement of primary and secondary education, but does not carry any special measures to change the structures and relations that discriminate against girls. No national policies to counter the impact of negative socialization by curriculum and textbook revision have been adopted. Moreover, high female attrition rates especially in the underdeveloped regions of Turkey continue to exist. Gender-streaming is still apparent in the program choices made in vocational and higher education. Turkey depends on macro education policies without any gender differentiation to ensure educational equality.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v7i9.3257
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