When it comes to gender equality, the World Economic Forum ranks Turkey 127th amongst 136 countries. In the last 3 years, more than 500 women have been murdered due to male jealousy and intolerance for women’s self-determination. This number continues to rise and leaves no hope for the girls of the next generation.
In 2006 the Turkish Government pledged to protect women and in 2010 created their National Action Plan for Combating Domestic Violence Against Women. Women are still unable to get the help that they deserve, while the legal institutions continue to favor their murderers.
The panel will give their views on the implications of practices in gender equality and violence against women.
Aysan Sev’er (Ph.D.) is Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of Toronto. She is the recipient of numerous national and international awards for her work on violence against women. Her most current research focuses on extreme forms of violence against women. She is the founding editor of the /Women’s Health & Urban Life Journal/. She is the author of numerous academic books including /Women and Divorce in Canada /(Canadian Scholars’ Press, 1992), /Feminist Frontiers /(Canadian Scholars’ Press, 1997), /A Cross-Cultural Exploration of Wife Abuse/ (Mellen, 1998); /Skeletons in Family Closets/ (with J. Trost, WLU Press, 2011). Her book entitled /Fleeing the House of Horrors/ (UTP, 2002) received the Canadian Women’s Studies Book Award in 2004. Her most recent book is published by Mellen Press (2013) and is entitled /Patriarchal Murders/. Her first novel /Mothers, Daughters & Untamed Dragons /is published by Demeter Press (2012). Aysan Sev’er is also the author of close to a hundred academic articles, academic book-chapters and non-academic commentaries.
Sedef Arat-Koç is an associate professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration, and a member of the School of Graduate Studies at Ryerson University, contributing to graduate programs in Immigration and Settlement Studies, Policy Studies and Communication and Culture. She received her B.A. at Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, her M.A. at the University of Waterloo and her Ph.D. at the University of Toronto. Before joining Ryerson University in 2006, Dr. Arat-Koç taught in the Department of Sociology and the Women’s Studies Program at Trent University, and served as the chair of the Women’s Studies Program. Dr. Arat-Koç’s research focuses on women in Canadian immigration policies and practices; and Turkish society and politics in a period of neoliberalism and post-Cold War geopolitics. She is presently working on the impacts of “neo-Ottomanism” in Turkish foreign and national policies.
Idil Atak is an assistant professor at Ryerson University’s Department of Criminology. She is a research associate at Hans & Tamar Oppenheimer Chair in Public International Law (McGill University) and a regular researcher at Chaire de recherche en immigration, ethnicité et citoyenneté (UQAM). Idil served as a legal expert for the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara, then as deputy to the Permanent Representative of Turkey to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.
Moderator: Mustafa Koc is a professor of Sociology at Ryerson University. He is also associated with the Ryerson Centre for Studies in Food Security and the Centre for Immigration and Settlement. He was among the founders of the Centre for Studies in Food Security, Food Secure Canada and the Canadian Association for Food Studies. He has published and spoken extensively on food security and food policy, immigration, globalization and peace. Dr. Koc is the recipient of the Provost’s Interdisciplinary Teaching Award at Ryerson University in 2014.
