Women jazz instrumentalists in Turkey within the context of gender

In this work prepared as a master's thesis in Istanbul University State Conservatory Musicology Department, women jazz musicians in Turkey have been examined within a gender studies context. The purpose of this research, of which its theoretical frame was formed with a socio-musicological approach, via female musicians who are active in jazz music in Turkey, is to research and form a descriptive analysis by asking questions like how gender roles affect women's careers, what steps female musicians have to go through in a sector dominated by men in order to be seen, the advantages and disadvantages of being a female jazz musician and which roles are attributed to women in jazz. Due to the fact that women jazz musicians who play instruments are a minority, the scope of the subject has been limited to "women jazz instrumentalists in Turkey", and in depth interviews were conducted with selected sources within this context. The boundaries of the research subject were determined by conducted interviews, and utilizing the feminist theory, qualitative research methods were used. Within the literature search; academic publications and periodicals, dictionaries and various media materials regarding the subject were made use of. The transcriptions obtained from the audio recordings from the one-on-one interviews have also formed an important part of the thesis as reference. With this research, which was prepared to supplement the academic literature that is limited to only a few examples when it comes to women musicians, an attempt at writing the history of jazz and jazz in Turkey specific to women was made before setting the basis of the research, therefore an effort was made at forming a systematic reference about female jazz musicians that was previously not found in a thorough academic research before in Turkey. The people selected for the examination of their status in the field of jazz were seen as a starting point for the research of the subject, and following the transcription of their interviews, an attempt was made to determine the causes and conclusions of gender inequalities within jazz music in Turkey. Using the implications and the results gathered during the research, there was an intention to place an emphasis on the recognition of women jazz instrumentalists beyond what's known. In conclusion, in this thesis, in order to provide support to studies of musicology with a feminist approach, up to date observations were made with the examination of women jazz instrumentalists in Turkey within a gender context. Keywords: Turkey, Women, Jazz, Instrument, Gender.