1940 -
A feminist activist in Turkey.
Şirin Tekeli is the foremost feminist author and activist of second-wave feminism in Turkey. Born in 1944, she is the only child of two philosophy teachers. She received her high school education in Ankara and completed her college education in political science in Lausanne University, Switzerland. She studied the work of David Easton for her Ph.D. in political science in Istanbul University, where she was employed as an assistant professor. The thesis she wrote in 1978 for promotion to associate professor was on women's political participation, and prompted her feminist activism. Published in 1982 as a book called Kadınlar ve Siyasal-Toplumsal Hayat (Women and political-social life), this study was the first serious and comprehensive discussion of women's marginalization in sociopolitical life written in Turkish and from a predominantly Marxist perspective. Her interviews with Turkish women parliamentarians, which she included in the book, exposed their striking marginality and problems in political life. The book was widely read, moving beyond a narrow academic circle, and had immediate and long-lasting influence in shaping a feminist culture in Turkey.
Tekeli resigned from her position as an associate professor in 1981 and began her career as a feminist activist, translating and editing books. She engaged in organizing consciousness-raising groups and feminist publication circles in early 1980s and initiated the founding of the Kadın Eserleri Kütüphanesi ve Bilgi Merkezi (Women's Library and Information Center) and Mor Çatı Kadın Sığınağı (Purple Roof Women's Shelter) Foundations with her friends in 1990. She worked as a volunteer in the Women's Library between 1990 and 1996 and helped the institution develop into a vital organ of feminist dialogue. In 1997, she responded to the hunger strikes that were staged in prisons by deciding to work for women's entry into the parliament. She founded KADER, Kadın Adayları Destekleme ve Eğitme Derneği (Association to support and educate women candidates) in 1997 and served as its president between 1997 and 1999. The French government presented her with the award of Officier of l'Ordre des Palmes Academiques in 1996.
— YEŞIM ARAT
