| inbluevt | Date: Saturday, 2013/07/13, 9:40 PM | Message # 1 | DMCA |
|
|
Private
Group: Blocked
Messages: 1024
|
STANBUL, Jul 13 2013 (IPS) - Among the many issues bringing protestors together at Gezi Park, the
now-iconic site of struggle in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, is the demand for women’s liberation.
Coming from many walks of life and expressing a myriad of ideals and values, the women of the Occupy Gezi Movement have nevertheless voiced a collective desire: to fight the undercurrent of deeply entrenched patriarchal values and reclaim autonomy over their own bodies and lifestyles.
These demands are now coalescing around proposed legislation from the country’s Health Ministry that will call on pharmacies to limit the sale of oral contraception known as the morning-after pill only to those with a doctor’s prescription, a practice that is uncommon for most drugs available to the public here.
Under Turkey’s conservative-leaning Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, women are encouraged to have at least three children to help maintain population growth rates.
Feminists and women’s rights groups representing almost 400 people say the new legislation is part of government attempts to impose traditional values onto their lifestyle, and will only reinforce
stereotypes about the “ideal” Turkish woman, while stigmatising those who stray from this image.
“I can’t go to the family doctor (for my contraceptive needs) because it is a secretive issue for me,” said Merve Kosar, a 26-year-old Istanbulite who relies on the pharmacy to replenish her supply of the
drug.In Turkey, most non-narcotic drugs are available for purchase over the counter. Insisting on a prescription from a family doctor, who can report to other members of the family, places added pressure on women to conform to conservative mores.
More
Message edited by inbluevt - Saturday, 2013/07/13, 9:44 PM |
|
|
| |
Main 
