"March 8, International Working Women's Day" is realized with a series of events held in Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University (NEVÜ).
The “8 March International Women's Day”, which will be organized by Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University (NEVÜ) Women's Studies Application and Research Center (NÜKÇAM) on March 8-12, 2021 and held online due to the pandemic this year, started with the opening speeches.
Rector Aktekin: Women are Subjected to a Treatment They Do Not Deserve, in Terms of Both Physical and Emotional Violence
NEVÜ Rector Prof. Dr. Semih Aktekin said, “Our world has been going through interesting and difficult times for about a year. Our social life, family life and business life have changed due to the pandemic conditions, and unfortunately statistics show that, as in many areas, the cost and the cost of the problems in this process have partially reflected on women. Unfortunately, statistics show that domestic violence and divorce rates have increased to a certain extent during this period. Again, the images of violence against women reflected in the media are the same. Especially women are subjected to a treatment that they do not deserve in terms of both physical and emotional violence by ex-wives and people from their close circle. Of course, this hurts us all. However, it is not enough to worry about this and to bring it up on a certain day. It is necessary to seek long-term solutions to this issue, to ensure the transformation of mentality as well as its social and sociological transformation, and to solve this problem in the long term by raising new generations well on this issue.
One of the ways to do this is, of course, education. But education alone is not always enough. We know that some of those who use violence against women are officially educated individuals in quotation marks. So it would be deceiving to think that formal education alone will solve this. Undoubtedly, violence against women has many psychological, economic, sociological and cultural dimensions. Nowadays, there is especially violence from alcoholism, drug abuse and so on. Therefore, in this sense, sociologists, psychologists and policy makers should seek the necessary solutions ”.
Aktekin: In Our Beliefs, Culture and Tradition, Women Have Always Given the Place They Deserve
Emphasizing that women always have an important place in culture and tradition together with the Turkish-Islamic belief, Rector Aktekin said, “Of course, when we say women's day and women, violence should not only be remembered, it is a dimension of this event. We must also look in the positive direction. Since the first man, Allah did not create man alone, Hz. Adam and Hz. He created Eve together. So life is common. From the formation of the history of humanity to the present day, women are the founding factors of human civilization along with men in every sense. In our civilization, as a woman, in the Central Asian Turkish culture in the past, women have always seen their deserved place both at the administrative level and at the social public level. In our belief, we are the children of a culture and civilization that says "Heaven is under the feet of mothers". When we look at the tradition of Anatolian lore, there are many messages from Hünkâr Hacı Bektaş Veli to Yunus Emre and Mevlana emphasizing that women and men are equal and influence in social life, and that women have the same rights and responsibilities as men.
In this sense, in recent years, we see that women in our country have made many contributions in all areas of life as a result of this social responsibility. Especially when we look at the university level, we see that the number of women doing master's and doctorate degrees has increased in recent years and even surpassed men, and the number of our women and scientists working academically at new universities has increased to a great extent. Likewise, we see it in bureaucracy, politics, trade and business world and this is the positive aspect of the event ”.
Aktekin: We Are Equal As Human Beings
Rector Aktekin stated that the sovereign powers make attempts to redefine the roles of men and women together with the genderless society and that they should be careful against them. "We are equal as human beings and in this sense we must be conscious of cultural manipulations."
Aktekin said, “On the other hand, the ruling powers in the world have projects of cultural change, transformation and community building. There are attempts against the essence of human beings such as genderless society or redefining roles of men and women, changing different roles from the ancient tradition and culture of humanity. You need to be aware of them. In order to defend the rights of women, it is necessary to stay away from the regulations that will open the door to de-sexization or some artificial interventions that are against the nature of human beings and that will harm the nature of the human being. In our culture, women are women, men are men. Woman as woman and man as man are venerable beings. Therefore, gender equality does not mean to simulate, race and compare the genders. Everyone is valued as a person in their own gender and our culture says this. We have a very rich tradition regarding this process, with our own social values and cultures. It is necessary to produce solutions, especially based on this tradition, ”he said.
Aktekin: A Strong Family is the Foundation of a Strong Society and a Strong State
Rector Aktekin stated that the responsibility of strengthening the family is not a responsibility to be placed on the shoulders of women alone, adding that strengthening the family will be with the man and woman, and that a strong family is the foundation of a strong society and a strong state.
Aktekin said, “Again, in the modern world, especially the force of economic conditions and the sociological change process led to a number of changes and transformations in the family structure, perceptions changed. In this process, it should not be forgotten that the family is the basic structure of the society and that future generations cannot be raised healthy without strengthening the family institution. Therefore, in order to strengthen the family, both men and women should take their responsibilities together and strengthen the family. A strong family is the foundation of a strong society and strong state. In this sense, it is useful to review the policies. Again, especially when it comes to strengthening the family and preventing the oppression and victimization of women, it is necessary to give priority to policies that prioritize justice and social justice and prioritize equality in terms of economic and social policies. Because when we look at the victimized women, we see that some of them are of economic origin. Especially when men feel economically weak, he tries to take the pain out of the person who can afford it while physically. Therefore, here again, the woman becomes a victim. In this sense, policy practices that strengthen social policy and social justice will also be reflected in women. In other words, the empowerment of women in the field of employment and work and the feeling of men feeling better through policies prioritizing equitable justice will also be reflected in the social peace and therefore on women ”.
Aktekin: We Are Doing Our Part as Universities
At the end of his speech, Aktekin said, “In recent years, our state has many practices that prioritize our girls and women to read and encourage them to gain skills in line with their own abilities. As academicians, we see how our girls develop themselves in the student profile that comes before us, how active and successful they are in culture, art, science, sports and similar fields in order to stand on their own feet as individuals. These are all pleasing developments and in this sense, we, as universities, are doing our part.
On this occasion, I thank once again to everyone who contributed to the organization of this program, and I congratulate all of our women with you, our valuable participants, ”he said.
Our NÜKÇAM Manager Çalışkan: It is Necessary to Ensure Equal Participation of Women and Men in All Areas of Life.
Speaking at the opening of the event, NEVÜ Women's Studies Application and Research Center (NÜKÇAM) Director Dr. Lecturer Zehra Çalışkan said, “As it is known, throughout the history of humanity, women and men have not been able to share the world equally and the consequences of this inequality have affected women the most. However, in order to achieve prosperity and peace and sustainable development in the world, it is necessary to ensure that women and men participate equally in all areas of life.
In this context, one of the first movements women started to achieve their human rights was the struggle initiated by a group of female workers working in a textile factory in New York, USA on March 8, 1857, demanding equal pay for equal work. Unfortunately, 129 women lost their lives in the fire that broke out in this struggle. This event was the beginning of the sensitivity that started to develop towards the problems faced by women. In memory of this struggle, "United Nations Day for Women's Rights" was accepted by the United Nations in 1977.
The most important development is the "Prevention of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)" agreement, which was accepted in 1979. With this agreement, it is aimed to eliminate the laws and traditional approaches that prevent fundamental rights and freedoms in political, social and cultural fields based on equality of women and men. Later, in line with the decisions taken at the 4th World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995, Research centers on women's issues in universities started to be established. At our university, this unit was established in 2010.
Developments regarding women's human rights in our country have accelerated with the Republic period. In the first ten years after the proclamation of the Republic, legal and structural regulations that enabled women to gain the status of "individuals with equal rights" in family, education, social life and politics were rapidly implemented.
As a result, the creation, establishment and maintenance of a livable world is possible with the individuals' own hands and their minds. There are many problems waiting to be solved and it is known that positive steps are taken every day around the world. However, it cannot be said that it has reached a desired point yet.
While repeating our demand for equality for women who work in all areas of life, I end my speech with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's words "Everything we see in the world is the work of women."
On the clarinet of Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University (NEVÜ) Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Performing Arts Dr. Lecturer Anıl Çelik and Res. Asst. See. Furkan Başalan attended the music concert "Dedicated to Our Women".
After the music concert, Niğde Ömer Halis Demir University Niğde Zübeyde Hanım Health High School Obstetrics - Gynecology and Diseases Nursing Department faculty member Prof. Dr. She gave an e-conference titled “The Effects of Cosmetics on Women's Health” by Semra Kocaöz.
At the end of the first day event, certificates of appreciation were presented to the participants.
