The position of women's branches of political parties in political life: The Denizli case

Feminist ideology and movements have taken an important place in the effort to engage women in the political sphere. This situation is XIX. by the end of the century, women in the Ottoman Empire were also affected in political, social, economic and intellectual fields. With the transition to the Republican regime in Turkey, a new image of women has been created in line with the norms of the modern world, while the area covered by women in the social sphere has expanded. The transition to multiparty political life in Turkey and the women's representation crisis in the following period have been one of the major problems of the political field. The first step to overcome the crisis of women's representation in politics was taken by the Republican People's Party (CHP) by establishing women's branches within the party. Considering the number of women parliamentarians in the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM), it is observed that the crisis of women's representation in politics continues today. The study focused on the structures of the women branches of political parties in Denizli, which are similar to the population of Turkey within the framework of its demographics and have a say in women's policies with two women ministers for nearly three years of the last ten years. In this context, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), CHP,Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and Felicity Party (SP) question the position of women's branches in Turkish political life in the example of Denizli. The study concluded that women's branches of political parties generally prevent the crisis of quantitative representation of women in political parties. Furthermore, the observation that male politicians in political parties are instrumentalization women's branches to achieve their goals was among the findings of the study. In addition, it was observed that the women's branches of the political party remained functional during the process of producing and putting policies towards women into practice.