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Attracting Women Voters to Islamist Parties: What Policies Produce Party Support?
Abstract
One of the most significant, yet under-studied, transformations in contemporary politics is the rise of women in Islamist political parties. Initially, women were marginalized within such parties and the parties campaigned on denying women enfranchisement. However, in most Islamist parties now, women are active as parliamentary representatives, volunteers, and as supporters. But what strategies do Islamist parties use to attract women voters? This research uses Turkey as a case study, focusing on the Islamist Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) strategies to attract support from women in the June 2015, November 2015, June 2018, and (as currently scheduled) May 2023 parliamentary elections. Through interviews with party officials and content analysis of published campaign platforms officials over four parliamentary election cycles, I demonstrate how the party shapes its policies and campaign tactics to deliberately appeal to women voters. Specifically, this research identifies three key ways the party attracts women’s votes. First, the party deploys women as candidates and volunteers specifically to visit with and ask for the votes of women who would not talk with men (including male politicians) they are not related to. Second, the party routinely capitalizes upon issues concerning veiling to attract the votes of women. Thirdly, the party emphasizes support for families (but not individuals or individual women), reaffirming the idea that the party’s policies will support women as wives and mothers, but not in other roles. By focusing on attracting women’s votes through these issues, it means that the party does not have to focus on public policy issues that involve service delivery, such as providing domestic violence shelters, increasing state-supported childcare centers, or enforcing protections for women in the workplace.
Discipline
Political Science
Sociology
Geographic Area
All Middle East
Islamic World
Mediterranean Countries
Turkey
Sub Area
None