Women In General Health Law: A Feminist Enquiry

The purpose of this qualitative study is to evaluate the provisions related to women in Umumi Hıfzıssıhha Kanunu (UHK) (General Health Law) from a feminist perspective. For this purpose, words that evoke/ encompassing women in the law were examined; the results were grouped, and a content analysis was conducted regarding how the UHK) addresses the subjectivity of women.The law refers to women in twenty-four articles, using fourteen different expressions such as woman, wet-nurse, common woman, girl, childbirth, mother, childbirth assistance, nursing woman, woman to be married, woman involved in prostitution, woman practicing prostitution, and pregnant woman a total of thirty-seven times. In some articles of the law, women and men are considered equally; in some articles, however, the female subjectivity is subjected to classification within the framework of the period’s societal norms, being divided into moral categories such as “woman,” “girl,” “brothel woman.” In conclusion, it can be said that the UHK was written from a masculine perspective of the period, reproducing gender norms existing in society through the law. Considering the historical context of health policies and related laws, there is a need for feminist critiques regarding their impact on women’s rights and welfare.