Women’s access to political rights in Turkey: A historical analysis based on the example of Fatma Sakir Memik

This study examines the process of women obtaining and exercising their political rights in Turkey within a historical context, evaluating this process through the life and struggles of Dr. Fatma Sakir Memik, one of the first female members of parliament in the Republic. The fact that women gained the right to vote and be elected in municipal elections, village headman elections, and general elections in the 1930s should be considered an important achievement within the social structure of the period. However, the legal attainment of these rights did not directly lead to women being able to effectively exercise their political rights. Fatma Sakir Memik has attracted attention with her sensitivity to public health as a doctor, her participation in social aid activities, and her active politics as a member of parliament for Edirne for three terms. In parliament, she spoke on issues that needed to be resolved at the time, such as flooding of the Meric River, combating malaria, nationalization of railways, and the rights of healthcare personnel, adopting a populist and solution-oriented political approach. The study examines the obstacles to women exercising their political rights in terms of gender roles, the public/private sphere divide, economic inequalities, and the sexist attitudes of political parties, and reveals that structural changes are needed to achieve practical equality in political representation.