The rise and fall of support for the Istanbul Convention: Understanding the case of KADEM

Abstract

This article focuses on the Turkish Justice and Development Party's (AKP) government-linked non-governmental organization for women's rights, the Women and Democracy Association (KADEM). Drawing on social movement scholars specializing in the Middle East and North Africa region, the article argues that women within Islamist movements exploit changing discursive and non-discursive opportunity structures within the male-dominated establishment and/or transformations in the wider political structure. To analyse Islamist women's critical agency, the article suggests an issue-based examination of women's political activities within Islamist movements. Taking the example of the Istanbul Convention and the Islamist backlash against it in 2019 and 2020, the article discusses how women in the AKP frame their defence of women's rights and gender. Islamist women do not always choose to defend gender interests if it means withdrawing from their movements' larger political interests. The Istanbul Convention was a rare yet critical moment when Islamist women were not co-opted by but rather contested male-governed Islamist movements. To understand how and why Islamist women stand up for their gender interests, it is crucial to recognize and analyse the structural dynamics behind female contestation.

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