Social gender inequality: Woman and space

It is mentioned in many studies that the phenomenon of equality, which has been frequently brought to the agenda in recent years, especially the equality of men and women, which is the main subject of this study, has not been as successful as the reflections in urban space. According to this type of research, although the discourse of "City for all" has taken its place on the agenda, women's use of urban space, freedom of movement in space, relationship with space, and visibility in space are often overlooked. As a result of the researches carried out within the scope of the study, it is seen that there are very significant steps towards improving the social and economic life of women who have been taken in the world and in Turkey at the point of gender equality. However, the subject that was neglected in these steps was the relationship of women with urban space. Although there are some formations to strengthen the relationship between urban space and women, such as the Women-Friendly City programs, it is seen that they are quite inadequate in practice. From this point of view, in this study, it is aimed to understand the place of women in urban space practices, women's use of urban public space, their participation in space, their relationship with space from the eyes of both women and men, and to reveal the current situation on this issue and raise awareness. For this reason, the fact that the visibility of women in public space is less than that of men was taken as the main hypothesis of the study and constituted the starting point. Some of the factors that can affect this hypothesis are the opinion that women should be at home with the assumptions coming from the past accumulation and cultural structure, the inability of women to find the time to take place in public space within the framework of their responsibilities as a result of identification with family and motherhood, and the lack of city plans and space arrangements to allow women to use The reasons also formed the assumptions of the study. In order to test/confirm the determined hypothesis and assumptions based on it, a survey was conducted with a total of 354 people, separately with male and female participants, using the random sampling technique in Keçiören, Ankara. In the survey interviews, the opinions of male and female users on the subject were taken, and at the end of the study, a gender map showing the public spaces predominantly used by male and female users was revealed. As a result of the study, in the light of all the findings obtained, the hypothesis that the visibility of women, which is the starting point of the study, in urban space is less than that of men, has been confirmed. However, the point that should be emphasized is that this situation is not related to urban space arrangements and spatial/physical practices of the city. The low visibility of women in urban spaces is mostly related to cultural acceptances and domestic roles given to women by society. It can be said that the point related to spatial practices is only the part related to security. The visibility of women in the space will increase even more by creating a safe environment and enabling women to participate comfortably in the space without fear of crime. Finally, it would be appropriate to underline that the results of this study should be evaluated only for the Keçiören district, specific to the location, due to the dynamic structure of the urban space, its constant change/transformation, and the heterogeneous structure of its population. Increasing and most importantly implementing the Women-Friendly City Programs with "place-specific approaches" will further strengthen the relationship between women and space.