University students protest ‘pyjama ban’ on women at a public dorm in İzmir

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A public dormitory in İzmir, the Cihannüma Higher Education Credit and Hostels Institution (KYK) dormitory, has banned women students from wearing pyjamas outside their rooms. Women university students have protested this ban: "Dorms, universities and streets are our living space. We don't give you the right to mess with our clothes. Know your place!"

İKÇÜ içerisindeki Cihannüma KYK Yurdu, kadın öğrencilerin oda dışında pijama giymesini yasaklamıştı. Biz de yurdun önünden pijamalarımızla seslendik:

Kadınların kıyafetlerine karışacağınıza yurtlardaki ve kampüslerdeki tacizleri engelleyin! Biz kadınlar ne istersek onu giyeriz!+ pic.twitter.com/UrIf79tasM

— Kampüs Cadıları (@KampusCadilari) October 18, 2021

The İzmir Cihannüma KYK Dormitory is located at the campus of Kâtip Çelebi University in the Aegean province. The dorm administration has banned women from wearing pyjamas outside their rooms and around the dormitory building on the grounds that "it was not moral."

Women university students from the "Kampüs Cadıları" (Campus Witches) platform have denounced the ban by protesting in front of the dormitory in pyjamas. The women have stressed that the dorm administration does not have the right to meddle in what they wear.

"We will not answer to morality watchdogs in our dorms. Set up mechanisms to prevent male violence at the campus and in dorms instead of preventing women from wearing short clothes," the women have said.

Raising concerns that there is gender inequality as well as restrictions on women's rights at dorms, they have added, "Both public and private dorms have been following policies of inequality against women for a long time. While the time limit is symbolic at men's dorms, our families are phoned when young women come to dorms after 11.30 pm." (CA/EMK/SD)