Discussing women's representation in local politics in Turkey: The case of female mayorship

Women's Studies International Forum 58 (2016) 41–50

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Discussing women's representation in local politics in Turkey: The case of female mayorship Berrin Koyuncu L. ⁎, Ahu Sumbas Hacettepe University, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Hacettepe University, Beytepe Campus, 06800 Ankara, Turkey

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history: Received 28 January 2016 Received in revised form 3 May 2016 Accepted 13 June 2016 Available online xxxx Keywords: Representation Female mayorship Local politics Mayor Gender inequality Turkey

a b s t r a c t The purpose of this article is to explicate women's political representation in female mayorship in Turkey's local politics on the basis of the empirical data gathered from in-depth interviews with female mayors elected in 2004 and 2009 local elections. The objective is to construe women's representation in local politics with the concern that due to the “positional power” of a female mayor, women's representation in a municipality is not congenial to women's representation in the parliament. The contention of the article is that women's representation in female mayorship can be explicated by symbolic, accessible, and just representation. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Descriptive representation matters because of what it symbolizes to us in terms of citizenship and inclusion — What it conveys to us about who does and who does not count as a full member of society. [Phillips 2012: 516]

1. Introduction The extensive body of literature on gender and politics has concentrated on the subject of women's political participation and representation. The initial concern here is to attract attention to underrepresentation of women in politics, particularly in legislative bodies, which constitutes a serious legitimacy problem for a functioning democracy.1 Supporting this concern, “the politics of presence” theory of Phillips (1995) is based on the claim that women's interests are better represented by women themselves and equality concerning political representation is a requirement due to power and gender inequality reasons. The assumption here is that women have

⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (B. Koyuncu L.), [email protected] (A. Sumbas). 1 See Caiazza, 2004; Celis, 2008: 71–93; Childs & Lovenduski, 2013: 489–513; Kenworthy & Malami, 1999; Norris, 1985; Paxton, Hughes, & Painter, 2010; Sapiro, 1981; Sawer, 2000; Saxonberg, 2000.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2016.06.003 0277-5395/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

different interests from men and if the number of women in politics increases, representation of women's interests will also increase (Leyenaar, 2004: 2–3; Caiazza, 2004; Sapiro, 1981).2 It should be noted that most empirical studies on the issue of women's political representation (both descriptive and substantive) have dealt with national representation in legislative bodies by counting the number of roll call voting or earmark requests for women's issues submitted by women representatives.3 Based on these studies, it can be asserted that women's political representation is generally regarded as a matter of their access to national politics and decision-making process as female parliamentarians; their representation in local politics is mostly ignored. However, a broader perspective of politics and political representation requires questioning and examining underrepresentation/representation problems of women in local politics as female 2 Leyenaar mentions three categories of women's objective interests. These are interests concerning matters of gender equality in politics; interests concerning matters of gender equality in labor; and interests concerning biological differences between men and women (2004: 3). This study is related to this first category, regarding political representation and participation of women. 3 For conceptual and case studies on women's descriptive and substantive representation in parliament (legislative representation), see Ansolabehere & Jones, 2010; Ayata & Tütüncü, 2008; Bauer & Britton, 2006; Bühlmann & Schadel, 2012; Celis, 2006; Devlin & Elgie, 2008; Kenworthy & Malami, 1999; Krook, 2010; Lee, 2015; Matland, 1998; Rai, 1997; Russell, Mackay, & McAllister, 2002; Sawer, 2000; Sawer, Tremblay, & Trimble, 2006; Saxonberg, 2000; Schulze, 2013: 138–158; Tremblay, 1998, 2012; Wängnerud, 2009.

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B. Koyuncu L., A. Sumbas / Women's Studies International Forum 58 (2016) 41–50

mayors and members of local councils.4 It is vital to do so due to the “positional power” (Weldon, 2003) of female mayors; as the head of municipalities,5 female mayors can act as “critical actors” and make a difference (Bowman & Keanery, 1993) in terms of adopting policies, and prioritizing women's interests and concerns. As Phillips contends, underpinning the “politics of presence” is the idea that women do not need somebody to speak for them but one of their own speaking for them, sharing broadly their experiences (Phillips, 1991, 1995). The purpose of this article is thus to explore what women's political representation as female mayors denotes in local politics of Turkey on the basis of data gathered from in-depth interviews with 34 female mayors elected in the 2004 and 2009 local elections and the activity reports and publications of municipalities they ruled. Such a study deserves attention for two reasons. Firstly, though there are valuable studies on women and local politics in Turkey, there is rare work with a specific focus on women's representation in female mayors' experiences.6 Secondly, the highly male-dominated character of local politics in Turkey both in qualitative and quantitative (with around 1% of representation being female)7 terms makes it vital to examine women's representation at this level. Despite the significance of women's underrepresentation in Turkey's local politics, the goal here is not to examine the factors behind this underrepresentation. Rather, the intention here is to construe women's representation in local politics with the concern that due to the “positional power” of a female mayor, women's representation in a municipality is not congenial to women's representation in the parliament. This is especially notable for the political presence of a female mayor in terms of justice and spatial accessibility because local governance and politics are designed as micro-scaled politics to provide local-based facilities in Turkey. Thus, the contention of the article is that, based on the empirical data derived from the field research in Turkey, women's representation in female mayorship can be explicated by a) the symbolic value of representation; b) accessible representation; and c) just representation. This article consists of three parts. In the first part, a brief overview of literature on women's political representation is discussed. In the second part, the design and methodology of the research is introduced. In the third part, findings of the field study concerning the empirical data based on the experiences of female mayors in Turkey elected in 2004 and 2009 local elections about women's representation in local politics are provided. The article ends up with remarks on the limitations and prospects of discussing women's representation in local politics in the case of female mayorship in Turkey.

2. Contextualizing women's representation Indeed, the literature on women's political representation aiming to trace whether women's existence in politics makes a difference for women is inspired by Hanna Pitkin's pioneering conceptualization of representation wherein she defined four types of representation: formalistic, descriptive, symbolic, and substantive (1967). The most attractive part of this conceptualization for feminist scholars derives from a distinction between descriptive and substantive representation; whereas substantive representation or “acting in the interest of the represented, in a manner responsive to them”, is valued over descriptive 4 For a few studies on women in local politics, see Alkan, 2009; Childs & Cowley, 2011: 1–19; Evertzen, 2011. 5 The organizational structure of a municipality in Turkey is composed of three organs as the mayor, the municipal council and the municipal committee. There can also be various commissions and local councils working under the municipal organization formed in accordance with the needs of the municipality. 6 For a number of significant studies on women in local politics in Turkey from different angles, see Alkan, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009; Arıkboğa, 2009; Bora & İşat, 2006; Bozkurt & Bozkurt, 2014; Cindoğlu, 2011; Çaha & Çaha, 2012; Koyuncu Lorasdağı & Sumbas, 2015; Negiz, 2008; Negiz & Üçer, 2012; Senol, 2009; Tokman & Kendirci, 2006. 7 For the official statistics about local elections in Turkey, see http://www.migm.gov.tr/ Dokumanlar/cinsiyetlerine_gore_secilmis_sayilari.pdf.

representation, “standing for a group by virtue of sharing similar characteristics such as race, gender, ethnicity; not acting for them” (Pitkin, 1967: 209). Thus, most recent studies on women's political representation are dominated by attempts either rethinking substantive representation (Celis, Childs, Kantola, & Krook, 2008; Mackay, 2008) or finding out the complicated relationship between descriptive and substantive representation (Celis, 2009; Childs, 2006; Childs & Lovenduski, 2013); whether an increase in descriptive representation of women automatically leads to an increase in substantive representation of women and/or vice versa.8 In the final analysis, a clear-cut linear relationship cannot be supported due to the “integrated character of representation” (Schwindt-Bayer & Mishler, 2005). Weldon (2002) and Mackay (2008) went beyond these discussions by attracting attention to the limits of scrutinizing women's political representation only in individual representative terms. In her “thick conception of substantive representation, Fiona Mackay develops “a wholesystem approach” and questions the studies focusing solely on female representatives to see whether they act for women. Rather she proposes to thicken the conception of substantive representation by taking into account “the actors, relationships, interactions, institutions, and norms” in which the representation process takes place while not disregarding the significance of parliamentary spaces and representatives (Mackay, 2008: 125, 131). On the basis of our findings, we agree with her arguments that the capacity of female representatives can be limited to institutional and political party factors, and it is very hard to talk about a fixed and unified female identity and to claim that all female representatives need to be feminist (Mackay, 2008: 127). But still, we believe that the presence of women in politics to express themselves is a need because as Phillips underlines, “descriptive representation is not just a tool for achieving better substantive representation”; it is critical as a symbol for showing who counts as a citizen (Philips, 2012: 517). In this vein, although descriptive representation is not sufficient on its own, its essence cannot be overlooked. Additionally, although Mackay claims to take a broader view in her schema and we believe, taking parliaments and legislative activity as institutional factors affecting women's representation is essential, still, women's representation here is restricted to national representation. As Weldon (2002) points out, discussions of democratic representation should include different sites of political representation and we believe that local politics is one such site at which women's representation should be scrutinized. Thus, when investigating the implication of women's representation in female mayorship, we based our analysis on the Phillips' and Fraser's conceptualization of women's representation that might provide valuable insights for understanding the pivotal role of women's representation in local politics. When we take a look at the issue of women's representation in Turkey, there have been significant numbers of studies particularly since 1990s. These studies have mostly examined the place and role of women particularly in the general elections, parliament and in political parties and revealed the obstacles women faced in national politics (Arat, 1985; Çakır, 2005; Tekeli, 1979; Talaslı, 1996; Terzioğlu, 2010; Matland & Tezcür, 2011; Ünal Erzen, 2011; Yaraman, 1999). There have also been important works on women's national representation in Turkey which aimed to analyze the demographic profiles and the political activities of the female parliamentarians to see the main perceptions and obstacles for the inclusion of women into national politics (Arat, 1989, 1998a, 1998b; Ayata, 1995, 1998; Aydemir & Aydemir, 2011; Çakır, 2013; Dinç, 2002; Kasapoğlu & Özerkmen, 2013). In addition to these, one can come across works targeting to attract attention to develop necessary policies to increase the participation of women at the national level (Bilhan & Tek, 2011; Çağlar, 2011; Sancar Üşür, 1997; Sancar, 2008). 8 For detailed discussions on women's political representation, see Alexander, 2012; Bühlmann & Schadel, 2012; Celis & Childs, 2008; Childs & Lovenduski, 2013; Curtin, 2012; Fraser, 2004; Jones, 2014; Mansbridge, 2005; Murray, 2008; Phillips, 2012; Uhlaner, 2012.

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There are also valuable studies on women and local politics in Turkey though they remain limited when compared to the number of studies on women's representation at the national level. Among these works, some paid attention to women's descriptive underrepresentation at local level in Turkey (Alkan, 2005; Arıkboğa, 2009; Cindoğlu, 2011; Negiz, 2008; Senol, 2009; Negiz & Üçer, 2012). These works are generally based on field studies carried out in specific municipalities or cities (Arıkboğa, 2009; Bozkurt & Bozkurt, 2014; Negiz, 2008; Negiz & Üçer, 2012). There are also other significant studies on women and local politics in Turkey discussing the gendered structure of local politics in Turkey rather than the issue of representation or female mayors (Alkan, 2004, 2006 and 2009; Bora & İşat, 2006; Tokman & Kendirci, 2006). In this respect, it is hoped that shedding light on the experiences of female mayors in Turkey regarding women's representation at the local level may make a small contribution to women's representation literature by explicating the implication of their representation at the local level. 3. The research This article is based on the findings of a research project supported by TÜBİTAK (Turkish Science and Technology Research Institution) for 18 months, from May 2011 to November 2013. The research endeavored to explore the roles of female mayors elected in 2004 and 2009 local elections in Turkey in combating gender inequality at the local level. Related to this key goal, one of the research aims was to find out what women's representation in local politics stands for from the viewpoints of female mayors based on their experiences in mayorship. It is vital to deal with female mayors in Turkey because being one of the significant and influential political positions in terms of representation in Turkey's local government system, female mayorship deserves to be paid attention to as one of the crucial sites of women's representation. It is also necessary to carry out such a research due to the male domination in Turkey's local representation. Although the history of women's rights to elect and to be elected in municipal elections in Turkey went back to 1930,9 before attaining the right to vote in parliamentary elections in 1934, compared to around 15% national representation of women in Turkish Grand National Assembly, women's representation in local politics around 1% female mayors (around 120 female mayors) for 18 municipal elections out of 31.500 mayors in 85 years seems to be negligible. A slight increase achieved in the political participation of women as female mayors in the elections held in the 2000s can be explained by the gender quota policy of the pro-Kurdish political parties (in the line from the DTP to the BDP)10 which occurred as a result of the mobilization and politicization of Kurdish women in 1990s by becoming members of political parties and establishing women's organizations in the Southeastern part of Turkey (Ertürk, 2006: 94; Açık, 2014: 119). Within this process, Kurdish women were attributed a key role in the “national liberation” movement; Kurdish women's and Kurdish people's liberation were associated. A new “liberated” identity was constructed for them to lead the “democratic development and national cause” (Gunes, 2012: 143). This new identity consisting of both ethnic and gender aspirations inevitably resulted in the emergence of feminist consciousness among activist Kurdish women that contributed to both the development and reinforcement of the gender policy of these pro-Kurdish parties. At this point, the increasing visibility of the Kurdish women in the political/public sphere should be evaluated on the basis of the “symbiotic coexistence” of the Kurdish women's and Kurdish nationalist movement.11

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Table 1 The percentage of women holding mayorships in Turkey since 1930. 1930–1989

1990–1999

2000–2004

2004–2009

2009–2014

2014–

0.1–0.2%

0.1–0.5%

0.5%

0.56%

1%

2.86%

Table 1 demonstrates the underrepresentation of women as female mayors in Turkey. The research employed a qualitative research method, based-on faceto-face semi-structured in-depth interviews with female mayors and investigating activity reports and publications of the municipalities governed by these mayors. It is believed that such open-ended interpretive data collection and analysis better represents the participants' perspectives and experiences (Unger & Crawford, 1992; Weiss, 1995). At this juncture, it should be noted that the research is restricted to the views and experiences of these elected female mayors as women representatives; and to their policies such as women's councils, positive discrimination in employment, and gender-sensitive services. It examines neither the changing political habits of local women in politics nor the thoughts of these local women after the election of female mayors. Thus, the findings of this study are limited to female mayors as the goal is to display what women's representation in female mayorship denotes in local politics. This research is believed to have the potential to be extended to include male mayors and make a comparison to see to what extent the achievements of these female mayors can be attributed to their individual efforts or the policies of their parties. The sample of the research consists of 40 female mayors elected in 2004 and 2009 local elections in Turkey (total number of female mayors elected in these elections is 44 but as four of the female mayors were reelected in 2009, the number of female mayors to be interviewed is 40). The authors managed to interview with 34 of these 40 women. Although this study has no intention to be based on a representative sample, it should be underlined that interviewing with 34 female mayors is significant when the total number of female mayors since the establishment of the Turkish Republic remains at 120, including 2014 local elections. To provide information about the sample profile, out of 40 female mayors, 38 of them were elected from small-sized, less-populated town and district municipalities. The authors achieved to interview 34 mayors; two of which were elected for provincial mayorship and 32 of which for town and/or district mayorship. These female mayors display a heterogeneous group of women having different backgrounds in terms the geographical differences of the municipalities they govern, the political parties they were elected from, and their engagement with the women's movement. The research data revealed that political party affiliation12 and engagement with women's movement are the most prominent factors influencing the nature of women's representation as female mayors. Thus, we indicated the related affiliations in the quotations within this article by the abbreviation of party names and the engagement with women's movement as WM. We observed that due to their concerns on gender equality, the pro-Kurdish parties and their gender policy are effective in the decisions and activities of female mayors who are affiliated with these parties encouring more women into the “positional powers”.13 It is also vital to note that the Party has a Women's Assembly whose members are closely involved in women's movement, and it was this Assembly that decides about women's issues and selects women candidates who are regarded to be more eligible to represent both Kurdish and women's interests (G16, BDP). The related number and party distribution of female mayors included in the sample size are illustrated in the following Table 2.

9

This right was granted by the Municipal Law No. 1580 enacted on April 3, 1930. The DTP (Democratic Society Party) and the BDP (The Peace and Democratic Party) were pro-Kurdish political parties in Turkey which had taken part in the 2004, 2009 and 2014 local election. The BDP succeeded the DTP in 2008, following the closure of the party. 11 For main sources on nationalism and gender, see Yuval-Davis, 1993; Altınay, 2013; Jayawardena, 1986; Mayer, 2012. For detailed discussions on the role of Kurdish Women in Kurdish nationalist movement, see Açık, 2014; Çağlayan, 2014; Gunes, 2012; Al-Ali & Pratt, 2011; Yüksel, 2006. 10

12 For the articles on the relation of women's representation, party politics and ideology, see. Caul, 2010; Erickson, 1997; Kittilson, 2006; Russell et al., 2002. 13 In the recent local elections in 2014, the mayors of 40 municipalities are female and 23 of them are members of the BDP. A novelty of these elections is the BDP's decision to extend their gender quota policy to co-mayorship, a system criticized by the ruling AKP for not having any formal foundation in the legal regulations of Turkey, and that resulted in a hundred percent increase in the number of female mayors within the BDP.

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B. Koyuncu L., A. Sumbas / Women's Studies International Forum 58 (2016) 41–50

Table 2 The number and party distribution of female mayors elected in 2004 and 2009 local elections in Turkey.

BDPa (the Peace and Democratic Party) AKP (the Justice and Development Party) CHP (the Republican's People Party) DP (the Democratic Party) SHP (the Social Democratic Populist Party) DYP (the True Path Party) TOTAL

2004 local elections

2009 local elections

7

14

2

4

5

6

–

2

3

–

1

–

18

26

a

In this article, we take the female mayors elected from DTP (Democratic Society Party) under the BDP as a successor political party. On May 2014, BDP was combined with the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

The interview questions were designed to be open-ended to render female mayors free to share their experiences regarding their presence as local representatives. Interview questions are gathered under three groups. The first group consists of questions aiming to explore their views and experiences concerning their influence as female mayors and local politicians on promoting women's interests at the municipal level. The second group of questions is designed to explore female mayorship's contributions in terms of women's inclusion and accession into the political process at the municipal level in Turkey. The third group of questions investigates the contributions of female mayors' representation through gender-sensitive local services and policies in terms of accessible and just representation. All interviews were conducted in Turkish by the authors. They were all audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim with the field notes of nonverbal and paralinguistic communications. The informed consent of the participants involved in the research was obtained to record the interviews. To protect the privacy of the interviewees, each mayor was labeled by a letter “G” with a specific number. The interview data were analyzed by using interpretative phenomenological analysis. This is an approach that emphasizes an insider's perspective with the researcher interpreting transcripts (see Birkbeck University of London, 2009). It helped us to examine the relationship between the female mayorship and women's political representation in the male-dominated Turkish local politics since this data analysis allows the researcher to explore the participants' experiences and make sense of the meanings of their experiences and viewpoints (Smith & Osborn, 2003). In the participants' accounts, we found three important themes that are relevant to women's political representation in local politics. These are: symbolic, accessible, and just representation.

4. A qualitative analysis of women's representation at the local level in Turkey As we highlighted in the introduction, women's representation at the national and the local level are not congenial. This fact renders an analytical framework to explicate women's representation in the case of female mayorship in Turkey necessary. It is asserted that developing such a framework on the basis of the empirical data can enrich the discussions on representation. In this respect, we developed this framework by inspiring from Phillips's and Fraser's conceptualization of women's representation and contextualize it into the local politics as: 1. Female mayorship denoting symbolic representation 2. Female mayorship denoting accessible representation 3. Female mayorship stirring up just representation

4.a. Female mayorship denoting symbolic representation There are three forms of women's symbolic representation; media representation of female politicians, role model impact of female politicians, and women as political symbols (Childs & Lovenduski, 2013: 491). In this article, female mayorship denoting symbolic representation is examined from two angles. First, we argue that the presence of women as representatives includes potential for the improvement of women's descriptive representation in two related ways; being a rolemodel for the young women to take part in politics (Phillips, 2010: 185) and challenging the settled claims that women are not fit to rule. Though we agree with Phillips' contention that role-model is the least interesting dimension of representation (2010: 185), we find this dimension important to mention about because interviews elicited that the most significant and extensive influence of female mayors in Turkey's local politics is being a role-model for women, particularly for the young ones who have aspirations to participate in politics. The following quotations from the interviews support this argument. In the past, you could never hear of a girl living in this small municipality dreaming of being a mayor in the future. It could be the dream of a boy. But now there are a lot of girls in our town who want to be mayor when they grow up and now they know they are able to. (G 22, AKP, not WM) My daughter objected to my candidacy in local elections. According to her, the mayoral position was not fit for a mum. However, after a month passed, I heard that she declared her candidacy in the school elections… I was shocked, but I was also proud of her… This actually reveals my contribution as a female mayor. (G 8, CHP, not WM) After seeing my mayorship, women began to believe in themselves. They were saying that they were asking themselves, if the mayor was a woman and she achieved as a mayor, why couldn't they? Parents also encourage their daughters who want to be mayors in the future by pointing to my case as an example. (G 6, AKP, not WM) The girls started to dream of being a mayor in the future. When their mother asked them what they wanted to be when you grew up, they responded they aimed at being a mayor. It was really nice to see this transformation. (G 12, CHP, not WM) Teachers often organize career days for students at schools and invite female mayors to give a speech. In doing so, I believe that we portray role models for young women to be female mayors. I believe this to be the most important contribution of my presence as a female mayor. (G 16, BDP, WM) Therefore, it can be claimed that the presence of female officeholders/politicians may create a snowball effect in the sense that, “the relationship between women's presence in politics and women's belief in women's ability to govern is a virtuous cycle of mutually reinforcing changes in women's empowerment as political leaders” (Alexander, 2012: 460). Particularly, due to their low number, the existing female mayors in Turkey can be regarded as “tokens”; in the sense that the impact factor of their presence as role-models, both in negative and positive terms, becomes stronger in this political context. As one of the female mayors emphasized, a female mayor's failures and achievements both are overrated compared to a male mayor (G 14, CHP, not WM). Related to this role-model contribution, the presence of female mayors can challenge the traditional perception regarding women's inability to rule (Alexander, 2012; Cheng & Tavits, 2011; Huse & Grethe, 2006; Mansbridge, 1999). Changing attitudes toward women's ability in politics/to rule could lead to future advances in the number of

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women interested in politics; and accordingly an increase in the adoption of policies related to women's concerns. Women presumably see a female representative- mayor- who is “like them”, “speaking like them”, “voicing for them”, and thereby these increase engagement, interest and efficacy, especially for women as members of an underrepresented group in politics (Uhlaner, 2012: 538). While the number of women in positional power increases, the widespread negative perceptions of women's place in politics begin to transform through increasing properness of their place in politics. The descriptive representation of women may produce both descriptive and substantive impacts in the content of symbolic and psychological influence of the politics of presence on attitudes (Mansbridge, 1999, 651; Alexander, 2012: 437; Celis, 2008). One female mayor shared her experience in that regard as follows: There were serious discussions within our party when the party declared my candidacy for mayorship in our municipality. The claim raised by the male party members was that, with a female candidate, it was not possible to get the mayorship. They all stated that they were not against woman and they just aimed at receiving the mayorship of the municipality. Indeed, beneath their consciousness, they believed that a female candidate did not have a chance to be successful in the elections because they were not fit to govern. (G 13, BDP, WM) Secondly, improvements in women's descriptive representation destroy the psychological barriers in society, particularly in the minds of women to get actively involved in the political activities. As Alexander (2012: 440) and Karp and Banducci (2008) stressed, woman become more engaged and participatory when they see women running for and occupying political positions. After my candidacy for mayorship, I observed that the number of women engaged in political activity has increased. They realized that women can also hold these positions… Before, the political party's bureau was so highly male-dominated that most women thought that they had no place there. (G 22, AKP, not WM). As I behold in our town, women living in small municipalities do not dare to join political activities because they have rarely come across women in local politics. I feel that my presence inspired them to take part in politics. (G 6, AKP, not WM). In that sense, a female candidate/mayor may increase turnout of the group members in part by enhancing the sense of representation (Uhlaner, 2012: 538). As female mayors argued, women constituents were more likely to support candidates of their own sex in the elections and more likely to engage in participating elections if there is a female candidate. I hired a bureau during my candidacy period to meet with constituencies, particularly with women. In the beginning, very few women visited the bureau. Day by day, I observed that as women began to get more interested in local elections, their support for me increased. And on the last day just before the elections, the bureau was full of women. Then I realized that if I were to be elected, it would be possible by their support. (G 8, CHP, not WM). I feel that it was the women's support and votes that brought my success in the elections. They preferred me by a large a margin due to my gender identity. They felt that, being a woman and sharing their experiences, I would understand and voice their claims. (G 24, CHP, not WM). During the period of 2004 elections, female constituents supported me by claiming that it would be possible to come to a female mayor's door to talk about their problems. (G 4, AKP, not WM).

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To sum up, the findings of the research demonstrate that the presence of women in political positions, here in mayorship, incites women to engage in politics, constitutes role-models, challenges the existing perceptions against women's political involvement, and strengthens the support of women constituencies (Caiazza, 2004; Celis, 2006; Alexander, 2012; Phillips, 1995; Sapiro, 1981; Kittilson & Schwindt-Bayer, 2010). 4.b. Female mayorship denoting accessible representation Inferring from the field data, female mayorship denoting accessible representation is scrutinized on the basis of its two dimensions: the political accessibility of female mayors and the spatial/physical accessibility of the municipality. Indeed, the significance of women's representation in terms of political accessibility in creating pathways for other women is stressed in the literature (Caul, 2010; Kunovich & Paxton, 2005; Cheng & Tavits, 2011). At this juncture, what we regard noteworthy to highlight is the spatial dimension of accessibility as the most remarkable achievements of women's presence, particularly meaningful in the local context. As Pitkin states, the idea of representation requires “machinery for the expression of the wishes of the represented” (1967: 232). Therefore, a proper democratic political representation should be based upon an inclusive and reflective act of voicing and expressing demands and interests of the citizens. However, it may not be possible for all citizens to have adequate and equal access to the representative mechanisms; such as in the case of marginalized and suppressed political interest groups, including women. That is the idea behind Phillips' “politics of presence” theory, wherein she claims that women need their own representatives sharing their experiences to easily reach and freely express their demands and wishes. In Turkey, municipalities have been regarded as one of the male-dominant places in terms of governing and servicing priorities (Alkan, 2005, 2009). It is not only the municipality's officers, but also the constituents visiting municipality to ask for local services, who are men. Hence, based on our research, it can be claimed that female representation in local politics, here female mayorship, denotes accessible representation by providing channels for women to access both the physical building and services of municipality, and the mayor herself. It is asserted that, stemming from this accessibility; female mayors can grasp the full picture about the demands and problems of their constituents including women. The following quotations support this assertion. Women feel that they can easily reach the female mayor to tell their problems because she will better understand them as a woman. (G 19, BDP, WM) The previous mayor was my husband. During his mayorship, women did not feel comfortable in getting in touch with him to tell their wishes since he was a man. They now feel more comfortable and confident to contact me as a mayor. It is quite crucial for them to establish close relations with the mayor because in small-sized municipalities, a mayor is the first to ask for his/her assistance: an attorney, a doctor, a hospital, and a court… (G 12, DYP, not WM) Problems of women and men are changeable according to local context and their experiences. For example, in my constituency, men spend the whole day outside where the habitus of women are circumscribed by the neighborhood and their home. Before my mayorship, they did not know where the municipality building was because they regarded it as a male sphere. But now, they can easily have the access to the municipality and to me to present their demands. (G 15, CHP, not WM) What is specific to being a female mayor is to establish close relations with women and this makes them feel safe… I open the

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doors of the municipality to women. Before, it was a place that belonged to men. Now, they have easy access to the municipality and its services. (G 22, AKP, not WM) Based on these data, it can be claimed that the indisputable contribution valid for all female mayors from different political parties is their spatial and political accessibility. The concrete impact of this twofold accessibility is the transformation of women into political subjects who are able to make their claims and interests voiced and heard in local politics. Most women haven't been able to voice their demands in the local political sphere. After I came to power, women felt free to visit the municipality to express their problems. Currently, 70 % of visitors to the municipality are women. (G 6, AKP, not WM) The relations of women with local governments have been problematic in Turkey. I observed that female mayors managed to overcome this problem. Now, women can freely come and share their problems. They gain self-confidence to come to municipalities because they know there is one of them, a woman, in the mayoral position. For this reason, they support us. (G 15, CHP, not WM) “Tea time meetings” and “neighborhood meetings at home” are the activities specific to female mayors to create channels for women to get into contact with them and give voice to their concerns. We have organized meetings with women that a male mayor has never thought of doing. If you are a female mayor, the doors of all houses are open to you. (G 14, CHP, not WM) Through neighborhood visits, I believe we provide them a platform to talk about the problems specific to women; that can be the transportation problem or violence against women. (G 16, BDP, WM) As a consequence, it can be claimed that the female mayors provide accessible representation by opening and enriching communicational channels between female mayors, municipality and women. In doing so, accessible representation at the local level leads to easy access for women to utilize municipal services and to better expression of women's interests. Representation is not only a matter of ensuring equal political voice for women in already constituted political communities… it requires reframing disputes about justice that cannot be properly contained within established polities (Fraser, 2005: 305). 4.c. Female mayorship stirring up just representation As Childs and Lovenduski indicate, political representation takes place in institutions and the place of women and women's advocates in these institutions where decisions are made matters (2013: 500–1). Thus, moving from Nancy Fraser's conceptualization of representation defined in relation to justice,14 we here argue that female mayorship in Turkey has the potential to stir up just representation. Fraser claims, “individual problems become matters of justice if and when they cumulate into a pattern that can be traced to a systemic cause” (Fraser, 2004: 378). Hence, based on this understanding of justice defined in relation to social structures and institutional frameworks, we contend that female mayors in Turkey can challenge the male-dominated institutional framework of local politics by paying regard to systemic gender inequalities that tend to overlook women's needs in local facilities and services.

14 Phillips' argument about justice and representation is that men monopolize representation and it is not just. For an extensive discussion on gender parity and justice, see Phillips, 2010: 185–6; Fraser, 2004, 2005.

In that sense, we assert that women's representation at the local level (as female mayorship) has the potential to serve as a stepping stone to ensure the inclusion of women's voices and thereby bring gendersensitive priorities into decision-making and implementing process. In fact, such inclusion may prepare a fertile ground for stirring up just representation. In the following part, we trace this contention in the individual and the institutional level impacts of female mayorship in providing local services. At the individual level, it is found that the individual initiatives and efforts of female mayors can be regarded as attempts to reframe already existing political and institutional structures at the local level. The application of gender-sensitive working-schedules for female representatives in the municipal councils constitutes an example for such an attempt.15 To include these women in the municipal decision-making process, some of the female mayors made adjustments to the meeting time so that women councilors who were unable to attend these meetings due to their gendered responsibilities as mothers and wives can participate to the process. Although such arrangements could be criticized for reinforcing gender stereotypes concerning women's roles in the family, we regard them as initial steps for women and men to question the gender inequalities that are taken for granted and allocate no space for women within local politics. There are four female municipal councilors with children. Thus, while we are organizing the municipal meeting date and time, we are sensitive in paying attention to that female councilor's available time. (G 25, BDP, WM). Another gender-sensitive policy of female mayors at the individual level to overcome institutional gender inequality is the adoption of positive discrimination for women in providing access to decision-making bodies, such as appointing female vice-mayors to the positions, which had always been held by men. The research data reveal that female mayors appointed six female vice-mayors within eight municipalities for 2009–2014 local elections period. After I became a mayor, I realized that it was necessary to increase the number of women in the municipality because men were occupying all positions in the municipality, including mayors, vicemayors, and directors. I believe that local services such as water, zoning, public cleaning and waste management are also affecting women. Thus, municipalities should have female directors and female vice-mayors who can decide and control local services according to women's needs. (G 22, AKP, not WM) We want to include women in all parts of the decision-making process by enabling them in the political and administrative positions. Women are not only secretaries anymore; now there are female engineers, female directors, and female vice-mayor in my municipality. In this way, we render both women's political will and opinions heard in the political arena. (G 26, BDP, WM) The adoption of positive discrimination for women in employment to municipal work is another gender-sensitive strategy of female mayors at the individual level to combat against systemic gender inequality within local politics. They are decisively employing women officers to promote the participation of women within the municipal space both as a service-provider and service-taker. For instance, the number of women officers has increased in more than half of the

15 The municipal council is the part of the executive local body in Turkey whose members are the subject of local elections. All local decisions are taken by the municipal council under the mayor as the head of the executive body. Moreover, the structure of local government in Turkey is based on a strong mayorship system and therefore mayors are responsible to develop and exercise substantive policies and designate significant administrative decisions.

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municipalities ruled by a female mayor. The following words of female mayors pinpoint the significance of such gender-sensitive policies. We prefer to hire a woman employee rather than a man if they have the same qualifications. Additionally, we try to appoint more women for chief positions… When I was elected, I saw that there were no women chiefs or directors in the municipality. There are now two women chiefs and two women directors working here. (G 16, BDP, WM) There were not any women officers in the municipality before I was elected. I got the first step to hire a female engineer at the municipality. This step evidently created a positive atmosphere to establish dialogue with other women in the city… And people now realized the difference women create in municipality. [(G 2, CHP, WM)] Appointing or hiring female directors and officers for critical municipal positions are significant strategies employed by female mayors to render women's participation visible in quantitative and qualitative terms in local governments. It increases the number of women officers in municipalities, and thereby attempts to change the prevailing patriarchal understanding of local politics in Turkey. These individually employed strategies, as an easy, quick, and effective way to respond to women's demands, strive to remove the deficiencies of allegedly gender-blind public mechanisms which are not intentionally but inherently working against women at the institutional level. For instance, in one of these municipalities, by the appointment of a female director to the directory of city planning, previously ignored services such as playground and green areas had been constructed. In various international and national platforms and by different agencies, such as the Beijing Platform for Action (United Nations, 1995), the United Nations, KSGM16 Gender Equality National Action Plan (2008–2013), Local Agenda 21, the significance of institutionalization in achieving gender equality and increasing women's political involvement at the local level is underlined. This significance lies in the belief that institutionalization of local services can render these gender-sensitive policies more effective, accessible, deliverable, stable, and sustainable for women. As Fraser (1996: 235) stated, all systems are designed for the needs and priorities of men, not women. Supporting this argument, we found out that the existing local political system in Turkey primarily serves men, and gender inequality in local government understanding and services have been unnoticed and rarely voiced. Hence, there have not been serious attempts to develop gender-sensitive institutional mechanisms and strategies that pay attention to women's specific needs and interests. However, on the basis of Fraser's justice conceptualization, we argue that for participatory parity, just representation requires women to feel and be accepted as full citizens, as subjects whose needs should be satisfied and who should actively participate in local government decision-making process. In that regard, it is necessary to build up institutional supports and regulatory mechanisms/structures to reduce women's marginalization, eliminate androcentrism and promote equality of respect to make women more involved in the public sphere. The findings of this research present hints about the achievements of institutional mechanisms adopted specifically by female mayors to attain just local governance responsive to female citizens. Within the scope and content of this research, local women councils, commissions on gender equality, and women solidarity/counseling centers can be regarded as such institutional mechanisms encouraging women's political involvement and institutional agencies specifically serving women. At this point, it should be stressed that most of these institutional mechanisms are provided by the female mayors from the 16 KSGM stands for the Republic of Turkey Prime Ministry General Directorate on the Status of Women.

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BDP who had been also actively involved in women's and Kurdish nationalist movement which has a claim to achieve gender equality by the emancipation of Kurdish nation and Kurdish women. We found out that 7 of 36 municipalities with a female mayor have local women councils.17 Local women councils constitute a kind of bodies/institutions necessary to increase women's involvement in politics by providing a platform for women to voice their opinions through carrying women's problems into the public sphere. We form a woman council in the municipality. All women working here and female members of the municipal council are included in it. While we are talking about the budget for the following year, we discuss there what should be done for women to develop strategies for their realization and allocate sources for such services. (G 26, BDP, WM) Both the elected and appointed women within the municipality come together within the local women council to discuss the women's problems and needs in the city and municipality. The existence of local women council is not optional anymore; a local women's council became an obligation for our municipalities now. (G 19, BDP, WM) However, it should be kept in mind that, besides their contributions for women's political engagement, these mechanisms constitute a threat for women by restricting their political involvement only to women councils. Commissions for women and gender equality are another institutional mechanism adopted by female mayors to promote gender equality and empower women. One of the female mayors (G 16, BDP, WM) who initiated the establishment of a gender equality commission in her municipality explained the necessity of such an institutional mechanism by stating that those commissions could help the municipalities to appropriate a gender-sensitive outlook, by unraveling the previously ignored women's problems and needs and bringing them to the attention of the members of municipal council. 8 of 36 municipalities within the research sample have such commissions working effectively to express the needs and problems of women and carry them to the decision-making and implementing processes at the municipal council.18 For example, the members of the Commission for Gender Equality in Diyarbakır/Bağlar researched women's problems living in Bağlar by going to the streets and local bazaars. They prepared a report and presented it to the municipal council, advising it to take effective steps for their solution (Diyarbakır/Bağlar Municipal Council Meeting Agenda, April 6, 2015). The Commission for Women and Gender Equality of Diyarbakır/Eğil Municipality attached to the municipal council was founded to develop more gender-sensitive policy understanding in municipal work.19 Likewise, the Commission for Women and Gender Equality of Tunceli Municipality organizes seminars for the staff to form gender-sensitive understanding within the municipality (Tunceli Municipality Activity Report 2004-2009, 2009-2014). In that vein, a female mayor stated the mission of this commission in her municipality as follows: Commission for women and gender equality in our municipality meets once a month to figure out the specific women's problems and needs in the city, and thus advice the municipal executive body to plan gender-sensitive local services. (G 32, BDP, WM) The data of the field study demonstrated that 12 out of 36 municipalities governed by a female mayor have established women 17 These municipalities are Aydın, Diyarbakır/Bağlar, Diyarbakır/Bismil, Hakkari/ Yüksekova, Mardin/Kızıltepe, Mardin/Nusaybin, and Van/Bostaniçi. 18 These municipalities are Tunceli, Diyarbakır/Bağlar, Diyarbakır/Bismil, Diyarbakır/Eğil, Hakkari/ Yüksekova, Mardin/Derik, Mardin/Nusaybin, and Van/Bostaniçi. 19 http://www.egil.bel.tr/baskan.htm

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solidarity/counseling centers.20 These centers are founded by municipalities to carry services on education, gender equality programs, vocational trainings, and socio-cultural organizations specifically for women in the town, and to provide counseling for women's psychological, legal, medical, and economic needs. The eventual aim is to embed gender equality approach in all kinds of municipal work. Bozgan emphasized that the number of women solidarity/counseling centers and women councils in municipalities governed by female mayors has increased since 2000s in Turkey (Bozgan, 2011: 787). This increase can be attributed to their roles in the accomplishment of gender equality at the local level. Such activities are gender awareness raising campaigns, seminars, and meetings. For instance, the Women Center of Diyarbakır/Bağlar (Kardelen Women Center) organizes various activities and seminars to develop gender awareness and gender equality such as the “2008 Local Government and Women Conference and 2011 International Women Conference” (Diyarbakır/Bağlar Activity Report, 2004-2009). Moreover, the interview data exhibited that the service orientation of the municipalities with women solidarity/counseling centers has become more directed toward women's empowerment. Three of the female mayors expressed how these centers have contributed to improving gender-sensitive local services in their municipalities as follows: We have women solidarity centers in order to create a womenfriendly municipality. This center organizes training programs for women, gender awareness activities, gender equality programs and so forth. For instance, the staff of the centers often visits women at home to inform them about their legal rights and the municipal activities. Thus, we can reach more women in our city. (G 26, BDP, WM) The needs and problems of women in the cities should be seriously taken into account by municipalities. In that vein, what we achieved is the institutionalization and professionalization of municipal services for women with the help of women counseling centers. (G 19, BDP, WM) All gender-based services of the municipality, such as vocational trainings for women, legal and medical supports for women, women's economical empowerment, are offered by the assistance of women counseling centers at the municipal level. (G 32, BDP, WM) In conclusion, female mayorship denoting just representation should be promoted due to its achievements at both individual and institutional levels. At this point, we need to introduce a caveat that concerns the temporal character of these individual initiatives of female mayors in the sense that the realization of such individual strategies is bound by their ruling terms. This restriction conveys the potential threat of unsettled and unsustainable gender-sensitive policies. It is believed that, in the case of local politics in Turkey, just representation requires a sustained gender-sensitive institutional setting where women's specific needs become more visible and public. In that regard, distribution of sources and services of the municipalities will be redesigned so that existing systemic and institutional inequalities for female citizens can be removed. Our research revealed that the achievements of just representation can be strengthened by gender-sensitive female mayorship because, even in the existence of institutional structures, female mayors can act as the precipitating actors to exert political 20 We should here note that though women solidarity centers, women counseling centers, or women centers are founded by municipalities for the same purpose with similar functions, their names can change according to the preference of municipalities. Such centers exist in Ağrı/Doğubeyazıt, Aydın, Diyarbakır/Bağlar, Diyarbakır/Bismil, Diyarbakır/ Lice, Hakkari/Yüksekova, Mardin/Derik, Mardin/Kızıltepe, Mardin/Nusaybin, Şanlıurfa/ Virabşehir, Tunceli, and Van/Bostaniçi municipalities.

will in the implementation of just representation at the municipal level. In that sense, this political will, at either an individual or institutional level, can be regarded as a form of substantive representation. 5. Conclusion In this study, the goal was to explicate women's political representation as female mayors in Turkey's local politics through their experiences on the basis of data gathered from in-depth interviews with 34 female mayors elected in the 2004 and 2009 local elections. In providing empirical data, the objective was to substantiate our argument that points at the inextricability of descriptive and substantive representation of women, by eliciting the significance and necessity of descriptive representation for substantive representation and the latter for the former. Depending on the research data, we contend that female mayorship is not only significant and necessary for symbolic, descriptive, and substantive representation of women; but it is also essential in enabling accessible and just representation that constitute kernels of participatory parity to overcome the existing and structured maledominated character of local politics in Turkey. About prospects of women's representation in female mayorship in Turkey, firstly, as coherent with the literature on women's representation, we observed that the presence of women in politics challenges the established beliefs on women's inability to rule and creates rolemodels for women having aspirations to get engaged in politics. Thus, we claim that women's descriptive representation in the case of female mayorship in Turkey invigorates symbolic representation and vice versa. Furthermore, we would like to underline that, as Phillips (2012: 517) argued, the presence of women as female mayors matters because of what it symbolizes in terms of women's inclusion and recognition in the domain of local politics. Secondly, over and above this, the findings of the research spotlighted two fundamental aspects of women's representation in local politics other than symbolic, descriptive, and substantive representation. These are accessible and just representation, which we argue, do not display the exact character and effects as they have in national politics (parliaments and legislatures). On the basis of the empirical data derived from the interviews with female mayors in Turkey, we found out that, through accessible representation, female mayorship opens a path for women in terms of political and spatial/physical accessibility of both mayors and municipal structures. The other preeminent contribution of the research is to apply the link between representation and justice borrowed from Fraser (2004, 2005) into the local politics and women's representation as just representation. In doing so, we assert that, stemming from individual and institutional attempts of female mayors in Turkey, female mayorship has the potential to provide the necessary ground for establishing gender equality and participatory parity at the local level. About limitations of women's representation as female mayors in Turkey, there is a need to attract attention to two systemic obstacles that should be overcome for improving such aforementioned potentials and prospects of female mayorship. One of them is the lack of an institutional gender-sensitive approach for attaining sustainable just representation. We observe that most of the accomplishments of female mayors in that regard remain as individual initiatives developed as immediate responses to the current problems of women. Hence, there is an urgent need for institutionalization of gender-sensitive policies and activities employed by these female mayors so that the services and policies reliant on a female mayor become permanent and standard, and so that the current local political system that treats men as citizens and operates in their favor begins to take account of women as citizens as well. At this point, the second obstacle for both the improvement of potentials of female mayorship and the attainment of institutionalization of gender-sensitive local politics is the gender-blind (but actually male-gendered) and conservative approach of the government and

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political parties in Turkey. The gender policy of the BDP constitutes an example to see to what extent a political party21 can frame the gender policies of mayors and municipalities at the local level. Our research shows that the gender quota policy and gender-sensitive party priorities of the BDP prepared fertile ground for mayors and other party members to embrace gender-sensitive local services and policies. Here agreeing with Deniz Kandiyoti (2004: 45, 49) who draws attention to the contradiction of the nationalist liberation movements in terms of the role and status of women in those projects in the post-colonial societies, we found out that the potentials of these female mayors in terms of better representing women's interests are limited by their strict ideological affiliation to the Kurdish nationalist project. While being actively involved in the Kurdish nationalist movement has liberated and empowered the Kurdish women by helping them to struggle against both the patriarchal Turkish state and the patriarchal Kurdish men (both public and private patriarchy), it at the same confined this empowerment to the boundaries of the Kurdish nationalist discourse. It should be highlighted that the specified achievements of female mayorship in Turkey cannot be attributed to all of the female mayors within the scope of this study. They can vary according to their life experiences and social positions and their consciousness regarding women's issues and willingness to bring gender equality. It is evident that female mayors who have had long-established close relations to women's movement are more sensitive to women's interests and more likely to produce women-friendly policies to eliminate gender inequalities. In conclusion, it is believed that this article, in attempting to explore what women's representation in local politics denotes, contributes to the literature on women's representation in two terms. First of all, this study brings attention to the significance of local politics at the juncture of gender and politics. Related to this contribution, the expectation is that explicating women's representation in local politics in the case of female mayorship in Turkey can shed light on discussions on women's representation by unfolding how accessible and just representation become remarkable in the local level. Acknowledgements We want to thank to the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) for their financial support for the 1001 research project numbered 111K450. We are also grateful to female mayors and municipal staff who were very eager to help us in the field work of research. We owe special thanks to Elizabeth Frierson and the anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments on the manuscript. References Açık, N. (2014). Redefining the role of women within the Kurdish National Movement in Turkey in the 1990s. In C. Gunes, & W. Zeydanlioglu (Eds.), The Kurdish question in Turkey: New perspectives on violence, representation, and reconciliation (pp. 114–136). London and New York: Routledge. Al-Ali, N., & Pratt, N. (2011). Between nationalism and women's rights: The Kurdish women's movement in Iraq. Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 4(3), 339–355. Alexander, A. (2012). Change in Women's descriptive representation and the belief in Women's ability to govern: A virtues cycle. Politics & Gender, 8(4), 437–464. Alkan, A. (2004). Yerel Siyaset Kadınlar için Neden Önemli? Birikim 179, (Accessed 28 February 2013) http://kasaum.ankara.edu.tr/files/2013/03/ayten-h.yerel_siyaset_ kadinlar_icin _neden_onemli. pdf Alkan, A. (2005). Yerel Yönetimler ve Cinsiyet: Kadınların Kentte Görünmez Varlığı. Ankara: Dipnot Yayınevi. Alkan, A. (2006). Belediye Kadınlara da Hizmet Eder! Kadın Dostu Belediye Hizmetleri: Neden, Nasıl? Ankara: KA-DER Yayını. Alkan, A. (2009). Gendered structures of local politics in Turkey. Digest of Middle East Studies, 18(1), 31–56. Altınay, A. G. (2013). Vatan, millet, kadınlar. Ankara: İletişim Yayınları. Ansolabehere, S., & Jones, P. E. (2010). Constituents' responses to congressional roll-call voting. American Journal of Political Science, 54(3), 583–597. Arat, Y. (1985). Obstacles to political careers perceptions of Turkish women. International Political Science Review, 6(3), 355–366. 21 For the impact of political parties on women's representation, see Caul, 2010: 159– 166; Kittilson, 2013: 536–53; Lovenduski, 2010: 81.

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