Browsing by Subject "Gender"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 65

Open Access
A muslim feminist NGO in Turkey: The case of Havle Women Association
(2023-08) Önal, Zeynep
This thesis focuses on the Islam-based feminist stance of Havle Women’s Association (HWA), its intellectual offerings and unique place in Turkey’s feminist movement. A newcomer to Turkey’s feminist movement, HWA was founded in Istanbul in 2018 and framed itself as “the first Muslim Feminist Women’s Association in Turkey”. The thesis examines HWA as a case study of Muslim - decolonial feminism in Turkey. By engaging with Islamic feminism and decolonial feminism literature, the study aims to investigate whether HWA produces new feminist direction in Turkey, how does HWA formulate its identity towards authoritarian AKP rule, Western stereotyped feminism, and Sunni-orthodox Islam understanding. I claim that by rejecting AKP’s enforced domination about gender roles and political implications, HWA produces an alternative framework for thinking about women’s issues from a Qur’an-based perspective. Parallel to this, the NGO also serves as the first and only initiation to the practice of modern and global Muslim feminist conceptualization in Turkey. Besides, by challenging mainstream women identity formulations, resisting Islam-referenced patriarchy, AKP’s hegemonic domination on gender-related matters and modernization and westernization stereotypes in Turkey, HWA produce an alternative perspective for its working area. Under the light of these, this study discusses HWA as a new intellectual direction for Turkey’s feminist movement.
Open Access
"Acta est fabula, plaudite!" : the role of women in late medieval England : the evidence from wills
(2009) Mağıltaş, Naile
The purpose of this thesis is to provide an insight into the role and place of women in late medieval England through a qualitative and quantitative examination of 403 women’s wills from 1300 to 1500. The sample used in this thesis is collected from different sources to establish a general profile of women from different regions of England as revealed by their distribution of property to wide range of relations formed within and outside the household. A woman’s right to hold property, and in relation to this, her testamentary behaviour were affected by her marital status, class, and most especially, by her gender. Though disadvantaged under testamentary law, women used an official arena such as wills to control the way their modest wealth and property were distributed after death. Medieval women’s wills were almost the only source in which women directly narrated their life stories, and by means of their iv wills, late medieval English women provided for their souls, their family and also their friends. It is apparent from the evidence of their wills that women not only followed the characteristics attributed to their sex but that the act of will-writing also gave most women an opportunity to be autonomous and assertive. Thus, women distributed freely their personal possessions for the well-being of those who were important and dear to them at least when they were close to death.
Open Access
Aging alters the molecular dynamics of synapses in a sexually dimorphic pattern in zebrafish (Danio rerio)
(Elsevier, 2017-06) Karoglu, Elif Tugce; Halim, Dilara Ozge; Erkaya, Bahriye; Altaytas, Ferda; Arslan-Ergul, Ayca; Konu, Ozlen; Adams, Michelle M.
The zebrafish has become a popular model for studying normal brain aging due to its large fecundity, conserved genome, and available genetic tools; but little data exists about neurobiological age-related alterations. The current study tested the hypothesis of an association between brain aging and synaptic protein loss across males and females. Western blot analysis of synaptophysin (SYP), a presynaptic vesicle protein, and postsynaptic density-95 (PSD-95) and gephyrin (GEP), excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic receptor-clustering proteins, respectively, was performed in young, middle-aged, and old male and female zebrafish (Danio rerio) brains. Univariate and multivariate analyses demonstrated that PSD-95 significantly increased in aged females and SYP significantly decreased in males, but GEP was stable. Thus, these key synaptic proteins vary across age in a sexually dimorphic manner, which has been observed in other species, and these consequences may represent selective vulnerabilities for aged males and females. These data expand our knowledge of normal aging in zebrafish, as well as further establish this model as an appropriate one for examining human brain aging.
Open Access
Ahmet Mithat Efendi'de mizahın toplumsal cinsiyeti
(2014) Kekeç, Nuran
Ahmet Mithat Efendi, one of the most prolific writers of the establishment phase of modern literature, depicts an age of political and social transformation, while also producing the first examples of novels and stories. In reflection of his social responsibility consciousness, this writer discusses in his texts the necessity of building a society according to neo-traditional forms, without departing from the principle of “useful information”. Acknowledging the advantages of popularization Ahmet Mithat Efendi takes advantage of opportunities provided by the media, in his production of series of novels and stories which depict his view of ideal social order and his conceptualization of modern identities for both men and women. Through such works, and by using media as a channel, he aims to be accessible to all sectors of society and share his views on ideal traditional-modern femininity – masculinity forms. In other words, while reproducing tradition according to Western criteria, his primary goal is to reorganize gender relations. Features of traditional narration function as a vehicle for the author, onto which he transposes the images of men and women who will lead society. Thus, Ahmet Mithat Efendi, aware of the limitations of his contemporary readership and of traditional forms of narrative, inserted his view of ideal gender roles into fictional texts. The writer employs humor for the purpose of combining his view of a new social order with gender identity in his literary texts. Humorous elements contribute both to constructing the text and to determining an ideal gender perception; people and phenomena, though depicted in humorous ways, display a social acceptance of gender roles. In this context, during the Tanzimat period the behavior of the Ottoman citizen and readers’ perceptions of gender identities are shaped according to Western norms Ahmet Mithat Efendi promotes such influences within his fictional works of and he uses humor as a tool to help convince his readership of his ideas.
Open Access
Audience reception of teen TV dramas : experience of romance and pleasure
(2016-08) Güneş, Hava Sare
Teen TV dramas are one of the mediums that provide people with conventional, socially constructed ideals about love which are culturally related to and presented with gender and morality. This thesis mainly discusses how teenager girls who are the target audience of the shows, interpret the concepts of love, gender and morality as illustrated in teenage tv dramas. It also asks how they experience the romance that is constructed by the moralities conveyed through TV series. The general structure of the study is composed of the relationship between the love discourse, which is developed by both teen TV dramas and cultural environment, and the teenage girls who are the viewers of these dramas in the patriarchal society.
Open Access
Beyond the culturalization of the headscarf : women with headscarves in retail jobs in 2000s Turkey
(2014) Cengiz, Feyda Sayan
This dissertation studies the roles and meanings of the headscarf in the lives of lower middle class, non-university educated women working in private sector retail jobs. The study critically discusses the extent to which the dominant framework of politics of cultural difference, identity and a focus on Islamic/ secular divide in society in Turkey accounts for the connotations of the headscarf in low status and insecure private sector employment. The study problematizes the overemphasis on issues of cultural difference and identity in post-1990 studies on women, Islam and headscarves in Turkey and suggests an analytical framework that accounts for social inequalities rather than cultural difference. Secondly, it problematizes the reification of Islamic group identity in previous literature, and complicates the dichotomous categorization of ‘secular’ and ‘Islamic’ identities as two ‘oppositional’ sources of belonging. The study relies on in-depth interviews and focus groups conducted with saleswomen, as well as participant observation in five cities in Turkey: İstanbul, Ankara, Denizli, Gaziantep and Kayseri. The findings are twofold: (1) In the retail sales job market, women with headscarves are constructed as a labor force more inclined to settle for insecure, dead-end, low-paid jobs. The discriminatory employment policies that disadvantage women with headscarves are embedded in the problems of workplace democracy, and problems of unqualified, insecure women’s labor; (2) Lower middle class, nonuniversity educated women with headscarves formulate the practice of wearing the headscarf as a continuously negotiated practice, with meanings contingent upon class and status cleavages, instead of formulating it as a matter of deep religiosity, identity and cultural difference.
Open Access
Boundaries of gendered space : traditional Turkish house
(2001) Dengiz, Esma Burçin
This work looks at the traditional Turkish house and its two boundaries from the point of gender-space relationship. Acknowledging that gender and space mutually construct each other, this thesis explains both the manifestation of gender difference in the built environment in general, and how the domestic environment in Ottoman architecture and gender mutually construct each other. The two boundaries of the hayat house are analyzed, as regards the body and the gaze of the woman. These are the house-street boundary (street façade and its components, also living areas which are adjacent to the street façade’s interior and exterior) and the house-garden boundary (garden façade and its components, also living areas which are adjacent to the garden façade’s interior and exterior). In this respect, the boundaries of the house are thresholds between the public and the private, the exterior and the interior, therefore they express the binaries that these bring within. By looking at the body and gaze of the woman at these thresholds, the oppositions of these thresholds are illustrated.
Restricted
Buse Kılıçkaya'nın hayatı ve Türkiye LGBTT toplumuna kazandırdıkları
(Bilkent University, 2018) Karahan, Batıkan; Solmaz, Semih; Kıran, İlgaz; Çeviker, Ata İlkay; Karadede, Berk
Türkiye’de başta LGBTT hakları olmak üzere, insan haklarında öncü bir aktivist olan Buse Kılıçkaya’nın hayatı, hayatından deneyimler, tecrübeler ve kazanımlar işlendi. Kılıçkaya’nın doğduğu dönemden bugüne eşit hak talepli mücadelede kazanılanlar, kaybedilenler ve değişen birçok şey Buse Kılıçkaya’nın tanıklığından ele alındı. Bu konular hakkındaki sorunların ve çözümlerin altında yatan temel noktalara değinilip, analiz edildi. Hareketin başlangıcından beri süregelen örgüt içi ve dışı yapılan hatalar veya benimsenen yanlışlardan bahsedildi. İleriye dönük atılabilecek adımlar konu alındı. Makalede, Buse Kılıçkaya’nın algı ve yapıya yönelik kişisel görüş ve yorumlarına da yer verildi.
Open Access
Cognitive and emotional representations of terror attacks: a cross-cultural exploration
(Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2007) Shiloh, S.; Güvenç, G.; Önkal D.
A questionnaire measuring cognitive and affective representations of terror risk was developed and tested in Turkey and Israel. Participants in the study were university students from the two countries (n = 351). Four equivalent factors explained terror risk cognitions in each sample: costs, vulnerability, trust, and control. A single negative emotionality factor explained the affective component of terror risk representations in both samples. All factors except control could be measured reliably. Results supported the validity of the questionnaire by showing expected associations between cognitions and emotions, as well as indicating gender differences and cultural variations. Current findings are discussed in relation to previous results, theoretical approaches, and practical implications.
Open Access
Color‐emotion associations in interiors
(Wiley, 2020-02) Güneş, E.; Olguntürk, Nilgün
Emotional reactions to red, green, blue, and gray colors in a living room were investigated using a self‐report measure. Participants first watched a short video of a 3D model of a living room. Next, they were asked to match the living rooms with facial expressions of six basic emotions. The most stated emotions associated for the red room were disgust and happiness, while the least stated emotions were sadness, fear, anger, and surprise; for the green room, neutral and happiness were the most stated emotions, and anger, surprise, fear, and sadness were the least stated ones; for the blue room, neutral was the most stated emotion, while the least stated emotions were anger and surprise. Neutral, disgust, and sadness were the most stated emotions for the gray room. Gender differences were not found in human emotional reactions to living rooms with different wall colors.
Open Access
Contextual effects on ethical sensitivity and penalty judgments
(Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003) Şımga-Mugan, C.; Önkal-Atay, D.
The aim of the current study is to explore the potential existence of contextual effects on ethical sensitivity and penalty judgments. In so doing, Turkish female and male business students’ ethical judgments for accounting and general business contexts are investigated, along with their penalty judgments in these two settings. The results of this study reveal no significant gender-related differences in ethical judgments on accounting issues, but significant gender differences are observed in general business scenarios. This finding supports the proposition that observed differences of ethical judgments between the genders may be contextual. The results indicate that there is higher ethical awareness for both genders in general business contexts, with females showing stronger ethical sensitivity than males for general business vignettes. In general, males are found to prefer harsher penalties than females for accounting settings and for all penalty choices. Analyses of penalty judgments between the groups of individuals who are more ethically sensitive and who are less ethically sensitive reveals that there exist significant differences between these groups in all penalty choices, with ethically-more-sensitive group participants preferring stronger penalties.
Restricted
“Demirel’in manevi kızı”, hususi doktoru, Türkiye’nin en genç ve ilk kadın Cumhurbaşkanı başdanışmanı: Dr. Aylin Cesur
(Bilkent University, 2020) Gönül, İdil Naz; Kırcal, Melis; Gökçe, Reyhan; Ustalar, Zeynep
Bu araştırma, Süleyman Demirel’in “manevi kızı”, hususi doktoru ve Türkiye’nin en genç ve ilk kadın cumhurbaşkanı başdanışmanı Dr. Aylin Cesur’u konu almaktadır. Aylin Cesur’un tıp dünyasına yaptığı katkılar, kendisinin de başarılı bir kadın bürokrat olması nedeniyle kadının toplumdaki yerinin önemine verdiği katkılar, 9. Cumhurbaşkanı Süleyman Demirel ile olan ilişkisi, Cumhurbaşkanlığı danışmanlık yılları ve aktif olarak sürdürdüğü Isparta Milletvekilliği görevi ele alınmıştır. Bu araştırmayı gerçekleştirmek amacıyla Aylin Cesur ve Aylin Cesur’un Süleyman Demirel ile olan ilişkisi ile ilgili gazete haberleri, Süleyman Demirel’in yazdığı kitaplar ve Süleyman Demirel hakkında yazılmış olan kitaplar incelenmiştir. Isparta Milletvekili Dr. Aylin Cesur ile röportaj yapılmıştır.
Open Access
A descriptive investigation of Turkish high school students’ spatial visualization ability
(2020-07) Toplu, Dilara
The purpose of this study was to investigate Turkish high school students’ spatial visualization ability. Gender, school type, and grade were used as independent variables to describe spatial visualization ability as it pertains to the respective dimensions. Descriptive research was used, and the sample consisted of 555 students from private and state high schools. The study was carried out in Çankaya, Ankara. The “Purdue Spatial Visualization Test - PSVT” developed by Roland Guay in 1976, adapted into Turkish by Sevimli (2009) was used to measure students’ spatial visualization abilities. The data collection took place during the fall semester of the 2018-2019 academic year. The data analyses were conducted by considering students’ total scores of PSVT. Descriptive statistical analyses were conducted to determine students’ spatial visualization levels based on the variables: gender, school type, and grade. An independent samples t-test was conducted to determine whether the mean difference between gender and school types were statistically significant. Welch’s ANOVA test was conducted to determine whether the mean difference between grades was statistically significant. Moreover, Pearson correlation coefficients were computed to find out if there were relationships between the students’ PSVT total scores and their mathematics course grades, also for their socioeconomic status. Analyses revealed that students’ spatial visualization levels were dependent on their gender and school type. It was found that there was not a statistically significant difference between the PSVT mean scores of grades. There was a significant, positive correlation between students’ spatial visualization levels and mathematics grades and socioeconomic status.
Open Access
Domesticity and political participation: at home with the jacobin women
(SAGE Publications Inc., 2022-03-22) Bergès, Sandrine
The exclusion of women from political participation and the separation of private and public spheres seem anchored in human history to such an extent that we may think they are necessary. I offer an analysis of a philosophical moment in history, the early years of the French Revolution, where politics and domesticity were not incompatible. I show how this enabled women to participate in politics from within their homes, at the same time fulfilling their duties as wives and mothers. The republican home, on this interpretation, was a place of power and virtue, a merging of the public and the private sphere where political ideals and reforms could be born and nurtured. This conception of the home was derived in great part from a reading of Rousseau’s writings on motherhood. As the influence of French revolutionary women became more visible, they were severely repressed. The fact that they could not hold on to a position of power that derived naturally from the ideals they and others defended, I will suggest, was caused both by the fact that the framework used to allow women political power was insecure, and by the gradual replacement of republican ideals by liberal ones.
Open Access
Domesticity and political participation: at home with the Jacobin women
(SAGE, 2022-03-26) Bergès, Sandrine
The exclusion of women from political participation and the separation of private and public spheres seem anchored in human history to such an extent that we may think they are necessary. I offer an analysis of a philosophical moment in history, the early years of the French Revolution, where politics and domesticity were not incompatible. I show how this enabled women to participate in politics from within their homes, at the same time fulfilling their duties as wives and mothers. The republican home, on this interpretation, was a place of power and virtue, a merging of the public and the private sphere where political ideals and reforms could be born and nurtured. This conception of the home was derived in great part from a reading of Rousseau’s writings on motherhood. As the influence of French revolutionary women became more visible, they were severely repressed. The fact that they could not hold on to a position of power that derived naturally from the ideals they and others defended, I will suggest, was caused both by the fact that the framework used to allow women political power was insecure, and by the gradual replacement of republican ideals by liberal ones.
Open Access
Early time-locked gamma response and gender specificity
(Elsevier BV, 2006-06) Karakaş S.; Tüfekci, D. I.; Bekci, B.; Çakmak, E. D.; Doğutepe, E.; Erzengin, O. U.; Özkan, A.; Arıkan, Orhan
The aim was to investigate whether gender is a causative factor in the gamma status according to which some individuals respond with time-locked, early gamma response, G+, while the others do not show this response, G-. The sample consisted of 42 volunteer participants (between 19 and 37 years of age with at least 9 years of education). There were 22 females and 20 males. Data were collected under the oddball paradigm. Auditory stimulation (10 ms r/f time, 50 ms duration, 65 dB SPL) consisted of target (2000 Hz; p = .20) stimuli that occurred randomly within a series of standard stimuli (1000 Hz; p = .80). Gamma responses were studied in the amplitude frequency characteristics, in the digitally filtered event-related potentials (f-ERPs) and in the distributions which were obtained using the recently developed time-frequency component analysis (TFCA) technique. Participants were classified into G+ and G- groups with a criterion of full agreement between the results of an automated gamma detection technique and expert opinion. The 2 × 2 × 2 ANOVA on f-ERPs and 2 × 2 × 2 multivariate ANOVA on TFCA distributions showed the main effect of gamma status and gender as significant, and the interaction between gamma status and gender as nonsignificant. Accordingly, individual difference in gamma status is a reliable phenomenon, but this does not depend on gender. There are conflicting findings in the literature concerning the effect of gender on ERP components (N100, P300). The present study showed that if the gamma status is not included in research designs, it may produce a confounding effect on ERP parameters.
Open Access
Economic performance and unemployment: evidence from an emerging economy
(Emerald Publishing Limited, 2006) Berument, Hakan; Dogan, N.; Tansel, A.
Purpose - This article seeks to examine whether or not various macroeconomic policy shocks have different effects on overall unemployment and the unemployment by different levels of education in Turkey. These effects are assessed separately for male and female unemployment. Design/methodology/ approach - To examine the relationship, a quarterly VAR model with a recursive order is employed to estimate the effects of real GDP, price, exchange rate and interbank interest rate on unemployment for the period from 1988:01 to 2003:04. Findings - Main findings indicate that monetary policy does not affect the total unemployment as well as the components of unemployment by educational level and by gender in Turkey. On the other hand, income policies, which include fiscal policies, and unemployment itself, might be the main factors that affect the behavior of total unemployment and its various components. Research limitations/implications - These findings suggest that policy makers should concentrate on non-monetary policies to hamper the unemployment in Turkey. Originality/value - The present study is the first empirical examination of the relationship between various macroeconomic policy shocks and the unemployment both across gender and education levels in a single study. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Open Access
The effects of learning styles and gender on the academic performance of interior architecture students
(Elsevier, 2010-01) Demirkan, H.; Demirbaş, Ö. O.
The study focuses on design education using ‘Index of Learning Style’ (ILS) and explores the effects of learning styles and gender on the performance scores of design students. The ILS is designed to assess preferences on four scales of a learning style model formulated by Felder and Silverman (1988). The findings indicated that the usual methods of interior architecture education address a well-balanced class position in active/reflective and sensing/intuitive scales, a moderate to strong preference in visual scale and a weak preference in global scale. Furthermore, in the two-way analysis significant effects were obtained between the individual interactions of active/reflective scale with the other three scales when the academic performance score was the dependent variable.
Open Access
The European Union’s impact on Turkey’s gender related employment policy since 1999 Helsinki Summit
(2018-07) Karataş, Hatice Müge
Turkey and the European Union (EU) relations began in 1959 with Turkey’s application for full membership. However, the literature on this issue has started to occupy substantial space in European studies as well as international relations since the 1999 Helsinki Summit in which Turkey’s official candidacy was announced. Ever since, the EU has been “Europeanizing” Turkey through different mechanisms. Previous studies in the Europeanization literature have mostly neglected the social aspect of Europeanization in Turkey's accession process. In other words, most of the debate relating to Turkey - EU relations has been revolving around political and security related issues. However, the EU has worked on promoting gender equality to ensure that women and men are equal before the law since its establishment and as one of its founding principles. Thus, social policy as well as gender equality are important study areas which cannot be left behind other ‘hard’ policy areas. The aim of this thesis is to examine the impact of the EU on Turkey’s gender related employment policy. Therefore, this study is centered on the question which asks, “to what extent does Turkey's European Union (EU) accession process have an impact on its gender related employment policy since the 1999 Helsinki Summit?”. This thesis aims to examine Turkey’s position in terms of providing gender equality in employment before and after the 1999 Helsinki Summit and to examine the scope of Europeanization on Turkey’s gender related employment policy. In this thesis, impact refers to changes that created by the EU accession process on Turkey’s legal regulation.
Open Access
Exploring vertical navigation within a virtual environment : a staircase experience
(2012) Memikoğlu, İpek (Sancaktar)
Architectural cues are configured by architects in the initial phase of design process. Local architectural cues within an environment can aid individuals during navigation and influence their spatial orientation. Staircases, as a feature of local architectural cues that provide access to the other floors in a multi-level building can have an impact on vertical navigation. This study focuses on the issue of vertical navigation during virtual navigation by integrating the individual characteristics and the geometric attributes of a staircase pair within two different multi-level desktop virtual environments (VEs). The angle between the cue pairs with respect to the same observation point is altered in order to determine the staircase pair that is more efficient in navigation. Circulation paths, gender differences, navigational abilities and cue pairs are considered to be factors that affect staircase preferences for ascending and descending. For the VE with a 180° difference between the cue pairs, there was a relationship between the ascending and descending staircases. Further analysis indicated that the staircase preference in ascending was either related to the first or last visited rooms on the ground floor. For the VE with a 90° difference between the cue pairs, no relationship was found between the ascending and descending staircases as well as with any other factor. There was no significant relationship between gender and staircase preference except for the descending staircase with 180° difference between the cue pairs and was in favor of females. In addition, there was no significant relationship between the navigational abilities and staircase preferences.