Changing paradigms of gender roles and sexuality in education in Turkey: new directions, gaps and suggestions

Official URL: http://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b1648998 (Table of Contents)

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the policies, projects and scholarship addressing gender and sexuality in education in Turkey. It aims to develop a database for gender and sexuality related policy and governmental/non-governmental initiatives, and construct a critical framework for identifying the gaps, weaknesses and further directions. In the current literature, there exists neither a database of organizations focused specifically on gender and sexuality in education nor a comprehensive analysis of all the initiatives in Turkey within this scope. This study shows that, in the field of education policy, philanthropy and NGO work, since the 1990s, there has been several shifts. This thesis analyzes this emerging field, addressing its strengths and weaknesses. The database and analysis provided in the thesis show that most of the gender-related education policies and initiatives (governmental as well as non-governmental) focus on either the enrollment difference between girls and boys or textbook content that show discrimination against women and girls. This study analyzes the existing government and non-governmental initiatives and identifies the major gaps, such as the lack of focus on men, boys and masculinity, sexuality, LGBTI issues, ‘patchwork’ families, fairy tales, and animals through a gender lens.