Fourteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Based on the Roma women who live in the Aegean region of Turkey my paper focuses on two issues. First, it analyzes the status of women and the gender roles among Roma community. Second, it reviews the participation of Roma women in social and political life. Regarding the first issue, such points as whether women are perceived in the Roma community equal to men, the violence against women and women’s exclusion are emphasized. In regard to the second issue, my paper sheds light on such questions as how active Roma women are in the domestic decisions regarding to the education of their children, the determination of the place to live and the purchase of household. My paper also emphasizes how active Roma women are through the NGOs that they have established. A new perspective has developed in feminism, which is known as the third wave women’s movement. This movement argues that women are not oppressed by men because of their gender only, but also by the women because of diverse reasons. According to them the essentialist understanding of women ignores the oppression of women by women which is realized in different contexts. This debate seems to give us an important window to understand the relationship between Roma women and other groups of women particularly in respect to their participation in social and political activities.