The Gender and Women’s Studies Association (Toplumsal Cinsiyet ve Kadın Çalışmaları Derneği – TOCIKAD), based in Ankara, promotes gender equality through research, education, and training. By bridging academic expertise and activism, the association raises awareness and supports collaboration among professionals and institutions.
With our grant support, provided in collaboration with the Support Foundation for Civil Society and One Step Foundation, TOCIKAD is implementing the TOCIKAD Academy: Powerful Steps for Equality project. This four-month, tailored online programme delivers advanced gender equality training to professionals from local governments, unions, political parties, professional chambers, and CSOs, aiming to foster long-term institutional change.
Read our interview with Professor Dr Yıldız Ecevit, the founding president of the association, to learn more about their work.
To help our readers get to know TOCIKAD better, can you tell us about your mission and the work you do?
TOCİKAD was founded in Ankara by researchers from multiple generations who have shaped and contributed to gender and women’s studies in Türkiye over the past 40 years. Today, we have 125 members.
We focus on research, education, practical initiatives, and publications in this field. Our work supports and promotes gender and women’s studies, and we aim to strengthen the field by encouraging collaboration, building networks among experts, and increasing visibility.
One of our core activities is running training programmes that raise awareness of gender equality across different segments of society.
The goal of gender equality training: transformation!
How have the recent economic and social crises in Türkiye affected efforts to advance gender equality?
The crises Türkiye has faced in recent years have had a serious impact on the push for gender equality. Since the 1990s, the influence of public institutions established to promote women’s rights—such as the Directorate General on the Status of Women and the Parliamentary Committee on Equality of Opportunity for Women and Men—has gradually diminished.
The withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention — a vital international agreement for advancing gender equality — marked a significant step back. It also placed a heavy burden on civil society organisations, who have since had to focus much of their energy on protecting hard-won rights, rather than pushing for progress.
Can you tell us about the aim of your project, TOCIKAD Academy: Powerful Steps for Equality, implemented with our grant support?
Whatever the format, the goal of gender equality training should be transformation — of power dynamics, resource distribution, decision-making processes, and the empowerment of both women and men. The ultimate aim is to shift gender relations in a more equitable direction.
Through this project, we aim to provide advanced gender equality training to individuals working in local governments, political parties, professional chambers, unions, and CSOs across Türkiye. The programme is designed to equip participants with the skills and understanding they need to help build gender equality policies within their organisations. In doing so, we hope to foster long-term institutional change and strengthen gender awareness at all levels.
The interest in gender equality training has exceeded our expectations.
To ensure the training leads to meaningful change within organisations, have you used any particular methods or approaches that you’d recommend to other CSOs?
Our team includes some of the most experienced trainers in the field, and we could have easily designed the programme based solely on our existing knowledge. But we chose to take a more participatory and research-based approach.
First, we mapped out previous gender equality training programmes delivered across Türkiye. Then, we conducted interviews with people working in our target sectors—political parties, trade unions, local authorities, professional chambers, and CSOs.
This groundwork allowed us to carry out a needs assessment, which shaped our training content and approach. We believe this has made the programme much more effective and relevant. We would strongly encourage other organisations to also seek feedback from the field and carry out a thorough needs assessment before developing their content.
How would you describe the awareness and approach of public institutions in Türkiye regarding gender equality in recent years? How close—or far—are these actors from embracing the concept of gender equality?
Compared to the past, public institutions today are much less open to discussing gender equality. Unfortunately, they often disregard the efforts of civil society and communities working in this area. Rather than engaging in dialogue, they adopt an exclusionary stance towards these actors.
What are some of the needs TOCIKAD has in order to continue its work and develop new projects in the field of gender equality?
The response to our gender equality training programmes has been far greater than we expected, which shows just how strong the need is in this field. Due to budget limitations within our current project, we’re only able to offer training to 140 participants. But to expand and sustain these efforts, we need longer-term and more comprehensive funding.
TOCIKAD is an oasis.
Finally, how would you describe TOCIKAD to those who might want might be interested in supporting your work?
As TOCIKAD’s founding president, during a meeting with our members, I described the association as an oasis. I think quoting from that speech is the best way to answer your question:
“We are an association made up of academics from at least three different generations, each contributing to the many subfields of gender and women’s studies in Türkiye. We deeply value intergenerational knowledge sharing and mentoring, and we’re building voluntary academic support networks to support this.
Our goal is to position TOCIKAD as a reference and resource centre for universities, public institutions, the private sector, and civil society organisations.
We are firmly grounded in principles of human rights, gender equality, freedom, autonomy, subjectivity, democracy, nonviolence, and peace. We actively stand against sexism and all forms of discrimination, and strongly advocate for political engagement, academic ethics, and accountability.
We see our association as a space where critical academic work and participatory training can thrive freely and independently—truly, an oasis.
