Converging/Diverging Frames: A Case of Islamist Women’s CSOs in Turkey

This study examines the case of two Islamist women’s CSOs, AKDER and the BKP, whose agency transformed under the combined impact of the removal of the headscarf ban and the increasing authoritarian gender climate in Turkey. Based on data garnered from interviews conducted in 2012 and 2018, it seeks to understand the frames of gender, gender equality, motherhood and work-life balance that are conceptualised by these two CSOs through the employment of a critical frame analysis. In so doing it endeavours to understand and compare the change and continuity in the issue framing of these two CSOs as regards to the feminist movement in Turkey from 2012 to 2018. It argues that in the new gender climate in Turkey, while the BKP has maintained its position with regards to the frames of gender equality, motherhood and the work-life balance, AKDER’s current issue framing is more in tune with the religio-conservative worldview promoted by the ruling regime in Turkey, demonstrating a clear retreat from its position in 2012.