Why can't women wear the shirt of politics?

There are 36 days left until the elections. The names that will compete in the March 31 local elections have been submitted to the Supreme Election Council (YSK). The proportion of women among mayoral candidates is low once again.

In the 2019 local elections, only 23 out of 1,393 mayors who took office were women. It seems this situation will not change in the 2024 elections either.

We make up half of Turkey's population. Even though we often do not receive equal pay for equal work compared to many men doing the same job, we pay taxes at an equal rate. So why are we not equally represented in politics, which affects our daily lives most profoundly?

Regardless of social class, income group, age, or geography, when we take power into our own hands, we are unstoppable. While we prove ourselves by overcoming many obstacles in the business world, science, medicine, art, and academic life, why are we absent in politics?

While we have the courage to wear a shirt of fire, why can't we wear the shirt of politics?

These thoughts flooded my mind as I read about the decision of İzmit Mayor Fatma Kaplan Hürriyet to withdraw her candidacy at the last minute. While we were already consoling ourselves with the representation of a handful of female mayors, has a successful mayor slipped through our fingers as well?…

I hope Fatma Kaplan Hürriyet changes her mind and runs again. I cannot forget how she called me after the premiere of our documentary “Children Always Tell the Truth,” in which I interviewed Generation Alpha, and excitedly described the cinema workshop she established with the children of İzmit, and what great talents emerge when you instill confidence in children. She spoke about the pride she felt for the talented children of İzmit as if she were describing a mother's pride. I felt her dedication to İzmit in that brief conversation. She also mentioned the difficulties, of course. How they struggle with the obstacles placed by the political power as an opposition mayor… Don't women born in developing countries like ours start struggling with obstacles from the day they are born?

Local politics requires being quick, having empathy, possessing a visionary perspective in decision-making and implementation, and having a mindset that analyzes priorities well. All of these are methods women already use in their daily lives to overcome social, economic, and cultural difficulties. The mind of a Turkish woman is skilled at carving out a secondary path for herself among roads paved with stones. Whatever she does, if she sets her mind to it, she will definitely open that path.

And on the path she chooses to walk, (unlike men) she thinks not only of herself but also of others through sisterhood; she holds others' hands and changes their lives. Unlike men, women have the ability to think about many things at the same time. Because nothing has ever been easy for her. From childhood to adolescence, from young girlhood to womanhood, from school to professional life, in every field where she takes on a role in society, she has encountered various problems that men do not face, developed methods to cope with them, and created secondary paths in her mind.

Local politics and municipal management are exactly why it is suitable for women. Are there no examples? Özlem Çerçioğlu in Aydın, Fatma Şahin in Gaziantep, Elif Köse in Safranbolu, and Fatma Kaplan Hürriyet in İzmit have made a huge difference in their cities with their diligence, visionary perspectives, and creative services.

Every place a woman's hand touches becomes more beautiful.

But for some reason, I don't know if it's because men don't want to share, they don't want to see women in mayoral seats. The male subconscious has been working like this for centuries;

You don't know,

What do you understand about this business,

You're a woman anyway!

It is again the woman who will break this vicious cycle. Even if not in 2024, in the general elections 4 years later…

To accept what exists and not wear the shirt of politics?

Or to take a step?

When that step is taken, change will begin.

It will be such a change that its effect will be felt in the very depths.

When women wear the shirt of fire,

Turkey will be a different Turkey!