Only Men to Speak at Gender Symposium as 'Expert Women Could Not be Found'

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The Gender Inequality Problems Symposium will be held on September 21 in the capital Ankara.

Prof. Dr. Burhanettin Can, Prof. Dr. Mücahit Gültekin ve attorney Muharrem Balcı will speak at the event and Prof. Dr. Ali Seyyar will be the moderator.

While Can and Gültekin will read statements on their studies on gender and Balcı will speak about women's right to receive subsistence money.

Hamdi Sürücü, the chairperson of the Conscious Teachers' Association, told bianet that they could not find a woman researcher when asked why all the participants are men.

"We could not find a woman researcher who works in the gender field. Actually, we did not look if they are men or women when we were planning who will be the speakers. We called our colleagues whom we know to have studied in this field," he said.

Sürücü asserted that Law No. 6284 which women see as the guarantee of their life security and İstanbul Convention are imposed on Turkey by the European Union.

He further claimed that the convention aims to break the family structure and antagonize men and women against each other and Turkey should withdraw from the convention. Those who defend the convention aim to earn money out of it, he added.

Notably, all 23 people in the association's board of directors are also men. (EMK/VK)