Seventy Mayoral Candidates Sign 'Commitment Letter for Women-Friendly Municipalism'

Chair of the Association for Support and Training of Women Candidates (KA.DER), Nuray Karaoğlu, has said that some candidates refrain from signing the commitment letter.

Evrim Kepenek

Seventy Mayoral Candidates Sign 'Commitment Letter for Women-Friendly Municipalism'

Click to read the article in Turkish

Ahead of the March 31 local elections, the Commitment Letter for Women-Friendly Municipalism, prepared by the Association for Support and Training of Women Candidates (KA.DER), has been opened for mayoral candidates to sign.

The letter consists of ten articles, including forming a Provincial Women's Rights Coordination Committee, forming a Women-Men Equality Commission in the metropolitan municipal councils, forming a Women's Solidarity Center within the metropolitan municipalities.

"The aim is women-friendly cities"

KA.DER Board Chair Nuray Karaoğlu says that the Commitment Letter for Women-Friendly Municipalism was based on the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals and Woman Friendly Cities project.

"The fifth of the 17 goals in the Sustainable is 'Ensuring gender equality, empowerment of women and girls'. The KA.DER Commitment Letter for Women-Friendly Municipalism which has been prepared by localizing this goal aims designing policies sensitive to gender in local areas, monitoring and evaluating, and making gender equality mainstream."

"First signatory kept his word"

For three elections, the KA.DER has been having mayoral candidates sign its letter of commitment. Saying that the first signatory was Burhanettin Kocamaz, a candidate for the Mersin Metropolitan Municipality in the 2014 elections, Karaoğlu underlined that he kept his word after being elected.

"Some candidates refrain from signing the letter"

Karaoğlu says that in order to have the commitment letter signed, they try to communicate with province, district and town mayoral candidates, without distinction between the parties.

"To this time, around 70 mayoral candidates have signed the commitment letter. Our efforts to have the candidates from all across Turkey sign the commitment letter. But, unfortunately, some mayoral candidates refrained from signing the KA.DER Commitment Letter for Women-Friendly Municipalism."

About KA.DER

KA.DER was founded in İstanbul in 1997.

KA.DER is a women's organization which advocates equal representation of women and men in all fields of life.

KA.DER sees equality between women and men in all elected and appointed decision making bodies, where decisions concerning the society and the individuals are made, as a matter of democracy.

Women in Turkey have established their presence in different fields of social life. However, in top management positions and especially in politics, women are still too far away from being equally represented. KA.DER was established in March 1997 with a mission to eliminate inequality, to provide participation of all citizens in decisions, and to bring women's experience and resolution ability into social and political arenas. KA.DER strives to increase the representation rate of women in all decision making bodies, both elected and appointed.

Considering the political arena's determinative feature on social life, KA.DER defines ensuring equal representation, primarily in politics, as its main objective.

KA.DER has 4 branches and 4 representations across the country. KA.DER head office is located in Istanbul.

Source: ka-der.org.tr

(EMK/VK)

Evrim Kepenek

@kepenekevrimm

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