Woman participation in planning at local government scale ?case of Ankara?

Local governments are transforming to a more transparent structure in which human rights are respected as a necessity of the democratization process and in order to realize this transformation, the concept of participation stands in the forefront Local governments which endeavor to provide and increase participation, nevertheless disregard women while making some arrangements for various disadvantaged groups in the society. Participation of woman in local government and planning is necessary, for an equitable use of urban and public space and to increase the claim of women in the city. In this study the views of technical personnel of planning units in municipalities of Ankara metropolitan government is handled from a social gender point of view and issues such as difficulties in working life, representation problems, dimension of participation, perception of urban problems and gender sensitive planning issues are examined. The study starts from the hypotheses that woman ? as technical personnel and planners ? have a different sensitivity and professional view when compared to men colleagues. The aim of the study is to put forward that women are subordinated under men?s sovereign power in the society and that they are subject to social sexism while showing that their problems and demands in urban life differ from that of men. When we examine examples from other countries it?s seen that planning for women and participation have gained importance with feminist movements. However, when we examine Turkey departing from the case of Ankara we see that it?s not possible to talk about a gender sensitive planning and an active participation. In order to provide the basis for an active participation of women in the planning process, it?s necessary to build reference models, to provide for cooperation between municipalities and women organizations emphasizing the importance of participation and of most importance to raise the sensitivity and consciousness of the society in gender equity.