The roles of Turkish women in political parties and political campaigns have changed dramatically in the past decade. Prior to the 2000s, women were largely absent from the political sphere. When they were present, it was typically due to nepotism; women in politics were in a “patriarchal paradox” and owed their positions and power to male family members (Arat 1989). And despite many political parties having kadin kolları (women’s branches), these branches had no significant role for their respective parties. Women’s importance to politics began to change in the early 2000s. Women’s positions in parties and as campaign volunteers began to transform due to the rise of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which turned its kadin kolları into the largest women’s political organization in the world, claiming over 2 million members (2010). The party utilized its women to organize events, recruit other volunteers, and canvass during elections (White 2002, Arat 2005). This meant that women’s descriptive representation increased (Ayata and Tütüncü 2008). However, increases in descriptive representation do not always correspond to increases in substantive representation, the ability to represent women’s interests and pass laws that improve women’s lives (Reingold 2006, Reingold 2010; Wangnerud 2009). In this paper, I argue that as women’s descriptive representation increased, structural transformations in the Turkish political system occurred, lowering the likelihood of women’s substantive representation increasing. Based on evidence collected from conducted from 2008-2015, although women volunteer in great numbers, especially with the AKP’s kadin kolları, they are typically pigeonholed in these “women’s” positions in the Islamist-leaning, male-dominated party, and receive little support from the party if they choose to run for office. And although women from the AKP, CHP (Republican People’s Party), and MHP (Nationalist Movement Party) are running for Parliament in greater numbers than ever before, even if they are elected, the pattern of increased centralization in politics means that they are more beholden to the party’s (male) leadership and lack their own authority to affect change. Finally, females in politics are used as tools by the political parties—women’s clothing, families, and jobs are held up as models to attract voters—but the parties’ models continue to be determined by the male party leaders, not women in power.