Tracy Gopal, CFA’s Post

"Everything we see in the world is the creative work of women." M.K. Atatürk We will celebrate Atatürk's legacy with this quotes this month. We are grateful to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk for establishing the Republic of Turkey for several reasons: 💪🏻Women's Rights: Atatürk introduced a series of reforms that significantly improved the status and rights of women in Turkey. Before the establishment of the republic, women had limited rights and were often marginalized in society. Atatürk's reforms, including granting women the right to vote and run for office in 1934, improved women's legal status and gave them a voice in the political process. 🎓Education: Atatürk emphasized education for all, regardless of gender. He believed that educated women were essential for the development of a modern and progressive society. Legal Reforms: Atatürk introduced a new civil code in 1926, which replaced Islamic law with a secular legal system. This code granted women more rights, such as the ability to divorce their husbands, inherit property, and have more control over their personal lives. Equality: Atatürk's vision for the republic was one of equality, and he worked to eliminate discriminatory practices against women. He encouraged women to participate in all aspects of public life, including the workforce, politics, and the arts. Secularism: Atatürk's emphasis on secularism helped create a more open and inclusive society where women could participate without being subject to religious restrictions and constraints. Social and Cultural Changes: Atatürk's efforts to modernize Turkey extended beyond legal and political reforms. He aimed to transform society and culture, challenging traditional gender roles and promoting gender equality. Atatürk was a visionary leader and planted strong foundations for a gender-equal future in a very short time. As Turkish women, we continue to build on Atatürk’s legacy- today, tomorrow and forever. 🌟🎨 #WomenEmpowerment #CreativeForce #OwnYourImpact #InternationalDayofNonViolence #TurkishWIN #strongertogether #100YearsOfRepublic #100YearsStrong🚀

Democracy and Turkish Women   Turkish women have had a respected place in society throughout history. Turkish women played an important role in political life as well as social life. In the first Turkish states established in Central Asia, the status of women was salient. One of the best examples of this was that in the state administration, along with the khans, their wives, called hatuns, also had a say. Later on in the history, the status of women has reached to a significant position, for example, thanks to democracy.  In Türkiye, women gained political rights as a result of the development of the concepts of democracy, human rights and equality.   One of the most valuable steps reflecting the importance attached to the value of Turkish women was the adoption of the Turkish Civil Code by the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye. With this law, Turkish women were granted the right to vote and be elected. During the Republican period, Turkish women took more place in social life under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Today, Turkish women play an active role in political, social and economic life. Atatürk defended the civil, political and cultural rights of Turkish women. He fascinated the world with modern revolutions that would ensure women's equality with men.   It is apparent to see the value Atatürk gave to women through his words as well as his behavior. One of Atatürk's quotations about the value he gave to women is as follows: “Everything we see in the world is the creative work of women.”    As it can be seen from the quotation, the importance of democracy for the value of Turkish women has been explained well. Thus, Turkish women took the place they deserved in modern Turkish society. #democracy #womenrights #equality

Well this is a welcome step indeed for women's empowerment. Kawata received numerous messages from women of all ages telling her how her election gave them hope and courage. These kinds of role models for women, and young people in general, show that change can happen. That there is room in politics for younger people who can empathize with their constituents. Even if her victory was unexpected, it is no small matter that the three local political parties including the LDP all backed her, a nonstereotypical politician. The hurdles for women remain high, but step-by-step barriers are being broken. Gender parity in politics may be far off but we are going to see more and more women get frustrated with the status quo and enter politics to effect change. Bravo.

“The optimism around FFP notwithstanding, we are less convinced that any state truly embraces the feminist vision found within African feminisms. While proclamations of FFP as a framework by some in the Global North suggests an emancipatory alternative at a time of great strife and multiple crises globally, African feminisms or indeed any significant feminist alternative demands a deep interrogation of historic structures and relations these countries have with the world.We believe that paying attention to, and integrating the priorities of African women and feminist movements can move us towards a more emancipatory model of the world. We accept that the new feminism impetus within foreign policy discourse and practice signals an opportunity to hold power to account. Discussions on FFP provide the opportunity for us to critique harmful racist, colonial authoritarian and masculinised power in the overall effort to attain gender justice.” https://lnkd.in/ddn6e6Md

Today and tomorrow there is a very important conference in The Hague on Feminist Foreign Policy. Participants from all over the world come together to share knowledge, experience and networks. What is Feminist Foreign Policy? A feminist foreign policy means that equal rights and equality become the main focus of all aspects of Dutch foreign policy. It means protecting human rights and promoting meaningful participation in decision-making by women and LGBTIQ+ people. Do we need a feminist foreign policy? YES!!! Women make up half the world’s population, yet it is rare to find a place where they are equally represented in places where decisions are made (in politics and management boards, for example). As long as the rights of women and girls remain uncertain, they will face discrimination, including in financial and legal terms – unequal access to property, land, inheritances, loans and education, for example. This violates the rights of women and girls, exposing them to poverty, dependence and violence, and it directly affects the participation in #entrepreneurship. 2013 Statement #womenentrepreneurship 10 years ago I addressed my statement at the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York on women entrepreneurship. Now we took an important step as a country to join a group of pioneer countries that are campaigning internationally for gender equality, including Germany, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Canada, Mexico and Chile. In the present times of masculine militarism and wars, we need feminine values and behavior to make the very necessary change. Let women be part of the solution, give us a voice! #feministforeignpolicy #sffp #makehummusnotwar

In honour of International Women's Day, I am presenting a reflection that explores a critical discussion within feminism. While the movement strives for equality, differences in priorities and experiences may create an unintentional gap between women in developed and developing countries. Let's examine this divide and explore pathways towards a more inclusive feminism. This article was written by me for a core module on Analysing World Politics within the MA program in International Relations at the University of Kent. #feminism #internationalwomensday2024

Well this is a welcome step indeed for women's empowerment. Kawata received numerous messages from women of all ages telling her how her election gave them hope and courage. These kinds of role models for women, and young people in general, show that change can happen. That there is room in politics for younger people who can empathize with their constituents. Even if her victory was unexpected, it is no small matter that the three local political parties including the LDP all backed her, a nonstereotypical politician. The hurdles for women remain high, but step-by-step barriers are being broken. Gender parity in politics may be far off but we are going to see more and more women get frustrated with the status quo and enter politics to effect change. Bravo.

"Oreoluwa, why are you wasting your time with all this feminist nonsense? As a woman, your role is to be a good wife and mother," a relative chided me not too long ago. I couldn't help but laugh at the sheer obliviousness of that age-old rhetoric. Hasn't the world moved on from confining women to subservient domestic roles? Apparently not, if you look at the realities women continue to face globally and right here in Nigeria.  As someone deeply committed to advancing women's rights and gender equality, I recently completed the enlightening Feminist Foreign Policy course offered by The Gender Security Project and facilitated by kirthi jayakumar. This transformative experience has provided invaluable insights into reimagining diplomatic relations and international development through an intersectional, human rights-based lens.   A feminist foreign policy centers the experiences of marginalized genders in all decision-making. It tackles deep-rooted patriarchal systems, discriminatory laws and policies that hinder the full participation of women and other marginalized population in all spheres. At its core, it disrupts male-dominated power structures and advances holistic human security for all. For too long, women in Nigeria have faced systemic oppression through harmful traditional practices, lack of bodily autonomy, exclusion from leadership and peace processes, and gender-based violence enabled by a culture of impunity. Implementing a feminist foreign policy can catalyze much-needed change. Domestically, this means rigorously scrutinizing all existing laws and policies through a feminist lens to identify and eliminate discriminatory provisions. The Nigerian constitution nominally protects women's rights, but customary and religious laws often supersede this, entrenching gender inequality. On the global stage, it translates to Nigeria ratifying and domesticating crucial international treaties like CEDAW without reservations. It involves actively participating in UN Women, financing the Women's Peace and Humanitarian Fund, and demanding a seat at the table in peace negotiations, political transitions and post-conflict reconstruction.  With my organization Her Story Nigeria, we have been tirelessly advocating for women's political and economic empowerment. However, a feminist foreign policy backing would provide legitimacy to our work and open new avenues for collaboration with stakeholders actively reshaping power dynamics. I am energized to incorporate these learnings into Her Story Nigeria's advocacy efforts. Achieving substantive gender equality requires dismantling entrenched patriarchal structures through a revolution in our mindsets and policymaking. A feminist foreign policy is a potent vehicle for this radical transformation towards a more just, inclusive and thriving Nigerian society. #FeministForeignPolicy #PolicyAdvocacy #herstoryng

REFLEXIONS International Women's Day The answer to the question "How I celebrate this International Women's Day" is simple: By thanking all those women for all their work at the very beginning decades ago and all the people whose cooperation over the years has been crucial for the development of the said project, in the hope that I can continue to build on the foundations they all laid, well aware of what they challenged most was the biases of men as well as women. I realise the most challenging and the hardest part of the work has already been done, particularly in this part of the world. The real heroes are the people who oppose the extremists within their places, where political turbulence and religious extremism is the norm rather than the exception. As far as I am concerned, I will not be taking part in any of the demonstrations of protest or joy organized in my country because I find it difficult to understand why they mix up subjects, although still important, have nothing to do with the day in question. The picture attached tells the story of women who fought for freedom and democracy. I chose it to reflect the fact that countless women who struggled and suffered under the dictatorship do not feature in public memory at all because some of the current feminists in my country are incapable of doing an exercice of memory that takes reflection, debate, transparence, coherence and responsibility. The feminists I know apply each and every one of the aforementioned skills acquired through hard work and determination without school or very little, by the way, in the struggle to survive and provide the best for their families. Before concluding this chapter, I would like to share with you a quote that says something very telling about how some of the current feminists function: Mediocrity is difficult to dissimulate, except when it coincides with chronic idleness. I am personally relieved and thankful that this time I can keep my distance from the most politically correct manners of the moment. Political correctness has its pros and cons. It enables social cohabitation while also promoting inaction.   Already looking forward to finding new sujects that require daily writing on my behalf. Have an excellent weekend. #UnleashYourConfidence #FindingPurposeInLife

“Nation” and “nationalism” are contested terms. Nationalism involves the identification of a people with a place and a community, to which they refer as a nation and to which they feel a sense of belonging and loyalty, and which confers rights and commands obligations. What forms the core of that identification, how it emerges, the discourse of nationalism and how people are mobilised behind it constitute some of the key questions exercising the minds of scholars of nationalism. For most of our Southeast Asian protagonists, living in the first half of the 20th century, fighting to free the land and society in which they lived from foreign colonial powers was something obvious and worthy of their pursuit. For them, nationalism entailed the responsibility to struggle to liberate the nation from foreign domination and establish their own nation-state. Yet this seemingly straightforward agenda concealed a number of tensions and contradictions that could not be ignored as time went on. Even in the course of the anti-colonial struggle, it was clear that nationalists were divided by class, ethnicity and religion that led them to pursue different visions of the nation. Once the colonial yoke had been thrown off , the nation was openly revealed as lacking solidarity, however hard nationalist leaders worked to conceal it. One of the most intractable problems was the issue of ethnicity and how it was to be negotiated in Southeast Asia’s multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies. Some ethnic groups envisaged the nation as the place where they could preserve and sustain their own cultures and religions, which would otherwise be subordinated or even annihilated in a state dominated by other groups. Relatively few in Southeast Asia saw the nation in liberal terms as conferring rights on its citizens, including multicultural rights. Books on Southeast Asian nationalist movements make very little — if any — mention of women in their ranks. Biographical studies of politically active women in Southeast Asia are also rare. Women in Southeast Asian Nationalist Movements makes a strong case for the significance of women’s involvement in nationalist movements and for the diverse impacts of those movements on the lives of individual women activists. 352p 2013 Nation University of Singapore https://lnkd.in/gcpFFg7g