A legal and sociological examination of women's shelters

Violence against women was brought to visibility through the second-wave feminist movement. As a result, states were assigned responsibilities to combat violence, one of which is the establishment and operation of women's shelters. The first women's shelter in Turkey was opened in 1990. The first legal regulation regarding shelters was the 1991 "Regulation on the Establishment and Operation of Women's Guesthouses." This was followed by the 1998 "Regulation on Women's Shelters Affiliated with the Social Services and Child Protection Agency." In 2013, a new "Regulation on the Opening and Operation of Women's Shelters" was issued, repealing the 1998 version. While these regulations share some provisions, they also differ significantly. All of them impose an upper limit on the length of stay. The 1991 regulation heavily emphasized "family unity," whereas this emphasis diminished in 1998 and disappeared in 2013, which explicitly prohibited mediation between the perpetrator and the survivor. The 1998 and 2013 regulations include specific rules and security measures that may contradict feminist principles. Notably, the 1991 regulation did not mention children accompanying women, while the later ones introduced rules based on the child's age and gender. Thematic analysis indicates that the 2013 regulation aligns more closely with feminist principles than the previous ones. However, it still increases control over women through rules and security measures and categorizes women in a way that may lead to standardization. Linking the length of stay to a maximum period raises concerns about whether women are given the space to empower and realize themselves. In this context, it can be said that the current regulation also has shortcomings from a feminist perspective.