Developing women's spaces: evaluation of the importance of sex-segregated spaces for gender and development goals in Southeastern Turkey.(Southeaster Anatolia development project teaching literacy and business skills to women)

Abstract

As part of Turkey's ambitious Southeastern Anatolia development project (GAP), community centers catering largely to women are being established throughout Turkey's southeast, with aims to teach literacy and entrepreneurial skills, build confidence, and to help overcome considerable gender disparities that characterize the region. This paper interrogates the importance of these centers (CATOM) in relation to experiences of those who participate in the centers, state goals, and in conversation with theoretical understandings of gender and space. In particular, we consider the importance of sex-segregated spaces for the women and girls who participate in center activities. Additionally, we critically evaluate the center model to serve as input into planning processes, with particular attention to the relationship between outcomes of the spaces and stated goals and intent of the community centers. We also conclude with a brief discussion of how this work may contribute to advance theoretical understandings of the connections between gender and space, as well as gender theorizations of states.

Ozet

Cok kapsamli bir bolge kalkinma projesi olan Guneydogu Anadolu Projesi kapsaminda genel olarak kadinlara okuma-yazma ve girisimcilik ogreten, ozguvenlerini gelistiren ve Bolge'deki toplumsal cinsiyet farkliliklarinin ustesinden gelmek icin hizmet veren toplum merkezleri (CATOM), Turkiye'nin guneydogusunda kurulmaya baslandi. Bu makalede, bu merkezlerin onemi, katilimcilarin deneyimleri, devletin bu merkezleri kurmaktaki amaci teorik cercevede toplumsal cinsiyet ve mekan kavramlari uzerinden tartisilmaya calisilacaktir. Burada, ozellikle, bu merkezlerde kurslara katilan genc kiz ve kadinlar acisindan cinsiyete gore ayrilmis mekanlarin oneminden, mekanlarin hizmet ettigi ciktilar ile devletin amaclari arasindaki iliskiden bahsedilmekte ve yakin gelecekte acilmasi planlanan pek cok merkez dusunuldugunde merkez modeli icin girdi olusturabilecek elestirel bir degerlendirme getirilmektedir. Sonuc kisminda ise, bu calismanin toplumsal cinsiyet ve mekan arasindaki iliski konusundaki teorik calismalara ne gibi katkilari olacagina dair kisa bir tartisma yer almaktadir.

I. Introduction

Beginning in 1995, the Turkish government, in cooperation with other development partners, (1) established a network of community centers throughout the Southeastern Anatolia region, a region known for its poverty, hierarchical social relations, and considerable numbers of non-Turkish speaking residents. (2) Identified as a possible mechanism to improve the status of women, (3) these centers became operative as part of the large multi-faceted GAP project, a state-led development program intended to promote economic and social development throughout the southeastern region (GAP stands for the Southeastern Anatolia Project, see Unver, 1997; Saltik, 1994 for details on GAP programs and on the status of women in the region, respectively). As such, CATOM centers constitute a central component of recent state efforts to advance 'human centered development', extending attention of GAP planners beyond hydroelectric generation and economic growth to promotion of education, social equity, and participation of local populations. After decades of criticism and learning from gender and development studies in other contexts, Turkish government attempts to integrate women and gender concerns into development planning have been almost solely focused on CATOM efforts. As such, the centers have become largely synonymous with the 'gender' component of GAP development efforts, and therefore represent a central mechanism through which the state endeavors to transform 'women' and 'gender', making women of the southeast 'targets' of developmental discourse and programs (cf. Abu-Lughod, 1998).

While CATOM spaces were initially referred to as 'women's centers', more recently, they are referred to as 'multipurpose community centers' (Cok Amacli Toplum Merkezi), symbolically signaling a shift from a women-only approach, to a more inclusive approach that addresses needs of disadvantaged populations generally (the majority of CATOM centers are located in poor and underserved urban areas). Despite this broadened focus, the centers still cater largely to women, teaching literacy, (4) entrepreneurial and craft skills, and encouraging social interaction in an effort to bring women more fully into public life. In this paper, we critically evaluate the spaces and outcomes of these centers for three reasons. First, in the Turkish case, and potentially elsewhere, centers such as these serve as an interesting model to address gender components of development programs. As we describe in this paper, efforts of the centers appear to be successful in encouraging social interaction and building skills and confidence among young women, suggesting they may be useful in bringing women more fully into development efforts. Second, we believe that there are significant unexamined assumptions about gender and space that underlie the logic and function of the centers. We intend to provide a critical discussion of the centers that elaborates upon these unexamined assumptions and outcomes, especially to highlight connections between gender and space. Third, we believe that this discussion also contributes to a growing literature on gendered understandings of states and state practices, as well as related work on gender and nationalism. In particular, the CATOM case serves as a very deliberate example whereby states endeavor to rework gender relationships, allowing our critical evaluation of the center model to serve as a response to call to understand gender aspects of state planning and practices, enabling richer theorizations of the 'ways gender regimes are shaped, reinforced, and reworked within the state' (Cravey, 1998). This discussion, therefore, serves broader discussions related to ways that women are ambiguously enrolled in projects of modernity 'with all their unintended consequences' (Abu-Lughod, 1998), ways that differential citizenship is played out in emerging and institutional spaces (Brown, 1997), as well as gendered constructions of nationalism, in which women are simultaneously central and marginal to nationalist projects (Kandiyoti, 1991 ; Yuval-Davis, 1999; Mayer, 2000).