Developing women’s spaces: evaluation of the importance of sex-segregated spaces for gender and development goals in southeastern turkey

As part of Turkey’s ambitious Southeastern Anatolia development project (GAP), community centers catering largely to women are being established throughout Turkey’s southeast, with aims to teach literacy and entrepreneurial skills, build confidence, and to help overcome considerable gender disparities that characterize the region. This paper interrogates the importance of these centers (ÇATOM) in relation to experiences of those who participate in the centers, state goals, and in conversation with theoretical understandings of gender and space. In particular, we consider the importance of sex-segregated spaces for the women and girls who participate in center activities. Additionally, we critically evaluate the center model to serve as input into planning processes, with particular attention to the relationship between outcomes of the spaces and stated goals and intent of the community centers. We also conclude with a brief discussion of how this work may contribute to advance theoretical understandings of the connections between gender and space, as well as gender theorizations of states.

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ÇATOM ,

Southeastern Anatolia ,

Woman ,