The fifth edition of the Women and Justice Summit is scheduled to commence in Istanbul on Nov. 4. The two-day event will be hosted by the Women and Democracy Association (KADEM), a leading nongovernmental organization focusing on women’s rights.
This year’s event will be held under the theme “Cultural Codes and Women” and will bring together experts on the issue from around Türkiye and the world. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is also expected to make a keynote speech at the summit, along with Minister of Family and Social Policies Derya Yanık.
KADEM said in a statement on its website that participants will discuss the norms associated with womanhood established by various cultures in modern times and share the life experiences of women who were included or excluded in the process of establishing these norms. The NGO highlighted that the summit will discuss three main questions: How are the norms that negatively affect the present and future of women built and disseminated? What types of life skills do women develop against such norms and what methods do they use to survive? What can be done for women to lead a productive and satisfactory life that is free from all kinds of oppression?
“Many cultures around the world produce perceptions around womanhood with some deemed appropriate and others inappropriate. Standards of judgment, codes of conduct and expectations are born out of such perceptions. How are these formed and which purposes do they serve? What type of interactions can be seen between similar definitions of womanhood in different geographies or different ideals of womanhood in the same geography? To what extent have women’s rights movements been able to produce solutions for problems related to these?” the statement added.
At an event on Monday to promote the summit, KADEM officials said they were hoping to start a debate on certain basic questions, including the perception of womanhood, what purpose it serves and the "woman" models globalized culture presents. "The ideal womanhood concept changes at times and sets out standards women are expected to achieve. In traditional societies, urban women 'belong' to the home and modern urban women are expected to be well-groomed wives, a mother sacrificing for her children and a woman with a successful career at the same time. The question here is how women's lives and preferences are shaped by those expectations and whether local cultures' contribution to the identity of individuals is disappearing in the face of those uniform appreciation (of globalized culture)."
Ministers from Libya, Palestine, Azerbaijan, Algeria, Germany, Hungary and Singapore are expected to attend the summit.
Among the participants of the summit are professor Merve Safa Kavakçı, Afghan women’s rights activist Fatima Gailani and Dr. Tesnim Khriji Chirchi from Ibn Haldun University. Dr. Sharifa Noaman Al-Emadi who serves as executive director of Doha International Family Institute, biotechnologist Dr. Hayat Sindi, founder and CEO of the Ledby Foundation Dr. Ruha Shadab, Gürmen Group board member Yasemin Gür Solmaz, Valeurs Ajoutees Publishing Director Marlyse R. Ndjenga, King’s Counsel Sultana Tafadar, World Hijab Day Organization CEO Nazma Khan and social entrepreneur Ebru Baybara Demir. Other participants include award-winning journalist Rowaida Abdelaziz, motivational speaker Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, journalist and filmmaker Rizwana Hamid, filmmaker Waad El-Kateab, actor Reshad Strik, Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa professor Ayşe Taşkent, presidential advisor Hümeyra Şahin, director-producer Samah Safi Bayazid and designer Ayşe Akova.
The Women and Justice Summit is a biannual event that was first held in 2014, using its title as the theme of its first summit. The last edition in 2020 focused on "Staying Human in the Digital Age."
