Results from the Survey on “Public Perception of Gender and Women in Turkey” Conducted in 2022 Are Announced

Violence, Unemployment, Lack of Education… Women’s Problems Increase Exponentially

The results from the Survey on “Public Perception of Gender and Women in Turkey” conducted in 2022 for the eighth time this year were shared with the public at a press conference led by Prof. Dr. Mary Lou O’Neil, Director of the Gender and Women’s Studies Center, which conducted the survey, and Assoc. Prof. Aslı Çarkoğlu from the Department of Psychology, on March 29, 2022, Tuesday.

The field work for  this survey, conducted every year since 2015 was  carried out by Frekans Araştırma from June-July, 2021 to January-February, 2022. For this survey, 2499 people of 18 years and older in 23 provinces representing the urban population of Turkey were interviewed.

NO SLOW DOWN IN THE PROBLEM OF “VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN”

The most frequent answer to the question “In your opinion, what is the biggest problem that women face in society?” is “violence” this year similar to to previous years. There has been remarkable increase over the years in this problem, which has always been on the top since the beginning of these series of surveys: In 2021-22, , more women place this problem on the top of the list compared to the men  70% of the women places “violence” on the top, while 63% of the men consider that it is the biggest problem women face in society.

On the list of “Women’s largest problems in society”, the problem of “violence” which is far above the others is followed by unemployment (7%), lack of education (5.4%), street harassment (5.1%), family pressure (4%), gender inequality (4%) and, social pressure (2.4%).

With  respect to  personal responsibilities, most  men think that they do their share concerning the problem of violence against women (77-78%), while most women are of the opinion that men do not do their share in this respect (62-56%).

GOVERNMENT DOES NOT TAKE SUFFICIENT MEASURES

Based on the answers to the question “Do you think the Government of Turkey is taking enough precautions to protect women from violence?”, the survey participants seem to be of the same opinion that the government does not take sufficient measures to protect women (87%). 83% of the men think that the government does not take sufficient measures, while it seems that compared to men, more women consider the measures taken by the government as insufficient (87%).

There is a decrease in the support for the decision to withdraw from  the Istanbul Convention. Among  women, the percentage of those who do not support the decision to exit the convention is higher (54.8%). Most of the survey participants think that this decision to withdraw from  the Istanbul Convention will be bad for the future of women (58%).

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IS SUFFICIENT FOR DIVORCE

Over the years in which the survey has been conducted, the percentage of those who support the opinion that domestic violence is a sufficient reason for divorce and, it is not something that could be ignored for family preservation has increased. This percentage was 63% in 2016 and, now it is 77% in 2022. Concordantly, the percentage of those who are of the opinion that “Men can resort to violence to preserve order in the family” has  dropped from 14% to 4% over the years.

As education levels increase, the percentage of those who support the opinion that domestic violence is a sufficient reason for divorce and, it is not something that could be ignored for family preservation increases.  (Elementary School: 69%, High School 73%, Higher Education+: 77%). In addition, the opinion “A divorced woman’s honor is no business of her ex-husband” is supported by more than 70% at all levels of education.

DECREASE IN ATTITUDES AGAINST ABORTION

When it comes to  abortion rights of women , it seems that there has been a decrease in the attitudes against abortion among participants  in the last two years. The percentage of those that are of the opinion that “Abortion is a woman’s fundamental right and cannot be prohibited” was 43.6% in 2016, 56.2% in 2021 and now it is 51.7% in 2022. Considering men and women separately, it seems that there is an increase in the attitude that “abortion is a woman’s right and cannot be prohibited” while there is a decrease in the percentage of those who are of the opinion that “abortion should be banned because it is a sin”.

WOMEN AND POLITICS

Although approxiamately one-third of the male participants and, one-fourth of the female participants  were of the opinion that “Politics is a man’s job”, the support from both women and men is rising for the increase in the number of women in politics and, the priority of women’s rights and problems in the politics agenda. The percentage of those who would like to see more women in political parties is 60-67% in the last two years among  men, while it is 79-77% among  women. More than half of the participants are of the opinion that the increase in the number of female politicians is an indication that women and men have equal conditions. .

EQUALITY OF WOMEN AND MEN?

Is it possible to say that there is equality for women and men in Turkey?  Do women and men have equal rights and opportunities in Turkey? The support for the idea that “Women and men have equal rights and opportunities in Turkey” seems to decrease among both women and men. The percentage of men who support that there is equality of women and men in our country decreased from 38% in 2015 to 22% in 2022. The percentage of the women who are of the same opinion has decreased from 20% to 11% over the years.

Please visit the following link to view  the report  on “Public Perception of Gender and Women in Turkey 2022”:

https://gender.khas.edu.tr/en/survey-public-perceptions-gender-roles-and-status-women-turkey