İmpact of the membership process for European Union on women's rights in the Turkey

Throughout the known history, women in societies all over the world have always been put in the background and kept in the background of benefiting from rights. In early times, girls; buried alive, seen as a slave of a man and deprived of the right to inheritance. There are even some cultures that pry to God for not giving birth to women. The reason for this is neither the weakness of the woman nor the superiority of the man. Reason is the prediction of roles according to gender in the society in which the person is born. In other words, it is the understanding of gender. The roles of women are generally weak, vulnerable and calm in front of men. In a society, when a woman becomes aware of her power and aspirations, she will strive to gain her rights. As a matter of fact, the women started her fight with the Industrial Revolution and are still fighting today. Some authorities have also supported women's efforts to gain their rights. These authorities can be listed as states, supranational organizations, non-governmental organizations and women's groups. One of these supranational organizations is the European Union. Turkey, is in the joining process to the European Union since 1957. In order to provide criteria for membership, Turkey is making efforts to harmonize the European Union's acquis communautaire. The aim of this thesis was created by examining women's rights and social policies in the European Union Acquis women played an active role in changing the perception of women's rights in Turkey it is to determine the effect of the accession process to the European Union.