Women in political life and the Ak Party women representatives

Although there is no legal barrier to women's political participation in Turkey, the patriarchal social and political structure causes womens under-representation in politics. Given the importance of women's participation in politics as members of parliaments in order to empower women and struggle with patriarchal structures, this thesis aimed to analyze the Ak Party's women representatives, who have been a part of the political party in power since 2002. For this purpose, individual interviews were conducted; their media appearances, interviews and speeches at the The Grand National Assembly of Turkey were examined. And their positions in political life and the ways of their political participations were deeply scrutinized. To conclude, it has been observed that Ak Party women representatives have a significant but limited power in politics. Although the pious and conservative women's visibility has been increased thanks to women's entrance into the parliament, they also underlined many difficulties in political participation. In order to eliminate these difficulties they have underlined the importance of the support of family and social milieu, education and career, economic power, special interest and perseverance for making politics as well as the initiative of the party leader. Keywords: Political Participation, Woman, Ak Party Women Representatives.