DÖKH (en)

DEMOCRATIC FREEWOMEN MOVEMENT

Democratic Freewomen Movement (DÖKH) is a movement founded by thousands of Kurdish women activists who work in various spheres including civil society organizations, women organizations, youth organizations, political parties and local governments in Turkey. 

DÖKH defines the most essential contradiction of the 21st century as gender inequality and conceives racism, nationalism, militarism, sexism, devastation of nature, and exploitation of labor that are the products of male-dominated power relations and statism as the grounds for struggle.

In a world lacking women’s will power, DÖKH claims to lead a system in benefit of humanity through creating its own system, thought and practice. For this purpose it establishes an alternative system that is based on authentic and autonomous organization in all spheres of life. The philosophical and sociological theory that undergirds the principles of authentic and autonomous organization is as follows:

1. DÖKH defines history as a system struggle between the agents of democratic modernity (women, labor movements, ethnic structures, religious movements, intellectuals and oppressed classes) and the statist civilization. The system of domination could not be overcome if the oppressed do not establish their alternative systems. Therefore, on the plane of historicization DÖKH approaches establishment of an alternative system as its main subject of struggle.

2. DÖKH believes that sovereignty is primarily constructed in the mental sphere. When mythology, gender roles, theology, philosophy and science are mentally constructed in a way that favors male-domination, society would be fertile to exploitation and the enslavement and inequality would be conceded. As a response to the need for a new epistemology that could resolve women's problem, DÖKH suggests “jineology” as a concept that means the science of women. For women’s direct access to and interpretation of the knowledge about themselves and the construction of their own value systems, jineology offers systematic scientific knowledge production about women economy, women history, women philosophy, women politics, women sexuality, and women sociology. 'Women’s liberation ideology' that aims to overcome men's paradigm and its sexist productions through formation of women's paradigm puts in force the principles of freedom, independence, public-spirit, aesthetic, free will, free thinking and capacity to be organized. For this purpose DÖKH runs women academies, women journals and women publications.

3. Formation of an alternative system is the main pillar of DÖKH’s struggle. The women's movement, which refutes any statist or power-centered system, is based on a non-state form of social organization. It supports formation of democratic autonomous systems for all ethnic, religious, and social groups under the democratic nation model at the top of which there would be a democratic confederal structure which would enable the unity of all differences. Formulating its struggle against the nation-state model and male-dominated power structures on these basis, the women's movement builds the women’s democratic autonomous system in society. The democratic autonomous systems that are the expression of self-determination and self-governance of the difference establish the spaces of freedom. 

a. The Democratic Freewomen Movement organizes authentically and autonomously. DÖKH is organized as women's city assemblies in 25 cities, while holding a supra-assembly of 300 people and an executive branch of 31 people. DÖKH holds annual women's conferences with the methods of election and delegation from organizations (40%) and people (60%). The main components of DÖKH are as follows: political parties, women assemblies and women MPs, locally elected women politicians, unionized women laborers, women activists in civil society organizations, women associations and institutions, cooperatives, women workers in press and publications, women working in the sphere of art and culture, women in academia, and women activist from people’s delegates. 

b. Within the last 8 years the Democratic Freewomen Movement has developed co-presidency system for Kurdish political and social formations (Democratic Society Congress, Peace and Democracy Party, and municipalities) where gender quota of 40 percent is applied. As a result of such policies, there are in Kurdish political sphere 13 women MPs, 14 women mayors, 18 women city general assembly members and 193 women municipality assembly members. Membership to Kurdish institutions of the men with more than one wife is not accepted. In local governments women budgeting is underway. Positive discrimination for women is applied as an employment policy. For the male municipality workers who use violence against their wives, women law is enforced that prescribes either termination of the worker’s employment contract or transfer of the worker’s wage to his wife.

c. For the development of an alternative system, DÖKH has established women's city assemblies in 25 cities, 27 women centers in Peace and Democracy Party municipalities, 3 shelters for battered women, 17 women cooperatives, 9 women associations, Peace Mothers’ initiatives in 12 cities, a women press agency called JINHA, and women council organizations within the Peace and Democracy Party and Democratic Society Congress. It publishes a women journal and runs women academic programs in 3 academic centers. In all other mixed organizations, it supports formation of women’s authentic and autonomous councils. All women candidates of national and local elections are determined by DÖKH women's council and activists.

With the belief that the democratic, ecologic and sexual liberationist paradigm will be a solution to the problems of humanity, DÖKH struggles for gender equality and is organized in every layer of society to develop the maxims of equality and freedom.

DÖKH is aware of the importance of organized women movement in struggling against the mechanisms of sovereign, racist, nationalist and militarist ideologies that suppress women. With this consciousness DÖKH has started its struggle for democracy, equality, freedom, peace and justice. For this purpose in 2003 DÖKH has taken the decision to unite Kurdish women working in social, cultural, political, etc. spheres under one umbrella in order to interrelate different projects and render women’s labor more visible. DÖKH has combined its energy, power and labor with women in civil society organizations, independent women associations, and also with women in other segments of society to struggle against male-dominated social system.

DÖKH believes that all inequalities stem from the inequality between women and men and aims to combine Kurdish women’s accumulation of experience and knowledge with that of world women's movements. In the 21^st century organized women strengthen the struggle for democracy, equality, freedom, peace and justice.

Members of Democratic Freewomen Movement refute the social history that writes the history of women’s resistance to inequality as a history of “those confined at home.”

DÖKH has a significant role not only for Kurdish women but also for all women's movements in Turkey. DÖKH gets in touch with several women organizations and movements in Turkey concerning women’s problems at every level and develops solidarity and collaboration. This solidarity and collaboration has contributed the women rights’ struggle to gain momentum and brought dynamism into women's movements in Turkey.

AIMS and PRINCIPLES:

• DÖKH approaches women struggle strategically, addresses 'women's liberation ideology' for the solution of social problems.
• DÖKH defines fundamental tenets of women freedom movement as liberated women identity and women’s independent organization.
• In the struggle against male-dominated system, it bases on women originated organization model which is refined from male-dominated rationale and its organization model.
• Against the rationale which masculinizes nations, classes, and race; DÖKH approaches the women problems pertinent to their belonging to suppressed sex, nation, class, and race from the perspective of women's freedom movement.
• DÖKH conceives democratic solution of the Kurdish question as the basis for social peace and democratic unity of peoples.
• DÖKH is against statist-hierarchal structures.

o   Adopts democratic, ecological society and sexual liberationist paradigm.

o   Aims to disclose people’s democratic will.

o   Adopts organization around democratic communal values.

o   Aims independent women's organization within democratic confederal organization.

·         DÖKH adopts the line of democratic struggle against all kinds of attacks on women, violence and violation of rights; exercises its right to legitimate defense.

o   DÖKH takes heed of the rights of all women regardless of their region, class, nation, belief, sexual orientation, and ethnic origin.

o   DÖKH’s struggle permeates every sphere of society such as social, political, legal, economic, cultural etc, in order to ensure equality as opposed to sexism, nationalism, inequality, hierarchy and violence inducive ideologies of the male-dominated system.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

DÖKH is organized in assemblies around five fields in order to institutionalize its projects and get more efficient and effective results:

Ideological Field Assembly works for establishing intellectual infrastructure of women's freedom movement and developing women's liberation ideology among the members and activists of DÖKH.

Political Field Assembly works for disentangling politics from its masculine character and strengthening women’s achievements in politics through ensuring women being organized in political sphere and taking active role in politics.

Social Field Assembly on the one hand struggles against all problems -violence at the outset- that women encounter in their social life, on the other hand works for creating an egalitarian, liberationist, and democratic society.

Young Women's Field Assembly works for young women acquire women's perspective and getting organized around women liberation ideology.

Women's City Assemblies, the essential working field of the assembly is to establish women’s own organizational mechanisms and to promote their active involvement in governing structures. It works for advocating women to take place in local decision-making mechanisms.  

FUNDAMENTAL AREAS of STRUGGLE

VIOLENCE

• Perceives physical, psychological, economic and cultural violence against women as a product of gender inequality, and struggles for gender equality.
• Puts pressure on the judiciary to enforce and implement legal provisions that will prevent honor crimes.
• Struggles for changing oppressive social value judgments including forced marriage, polygamy, bride price, bride exchange and arranged marriage.
• Addresses incest, rape, honor crime and prostitution as its field of struggle with the highest priority and actively struggles against them.

POVERTY    

• DÖKH defines the main reason of poverty as unjust distribution of national and global income as well as all other social and global resources.
• DÖKH perceives development and social justice problem as a political problem. DÖKH emphasizes that while poverty and injustice have exacerbating effect on women, it is not merely a ‘women problem’ but a democracy problem. It works for transforming unequal power relations between women and men.
• DÖKH bases women poverty on poor working conditions of the paid labor and gender discrimination embedded in social and cultural norms.
• All components of DÖKH make pressure for a general and comprehensive change in social and economic policies and also develop and implement direct action plans for women in order to emancipate them from the burdens of poverty.
• DÖKH works for gender budgeting at local and national level in order to ensure just resource allocation to the women development programs.
• DÖKH refutes unequal social relations that are the result of the dependency and charity culture created by impoverishment of social groups. It struggles against this inequality and the approach that promotes women’s traditional gender roles.

LABOR

• DÖKH attributes fundamental importance to equal pay for equal or equivalent work done by men and women. It struggles for women being entitled to equal rights with men in recruitment, vocational training, promotion and working conditions.
• DÖKH works for necessary legal arrangements being taken for rendering women’s domestic labor visible and compensating its market value.
• DÖKH establishes women organizations (women cooperatives) for women’s more effective participation in the labor market and increasing women’s employment opportunities. It provides vocational training and awareness raising programs.
• For the workers in informal sectors (small scale workshops, domestic work, casual labor, child care, workplace cleaning) and agriculture most of whom are women and children, DÖKH makes pressure to the executive for policy development concerning these sectors as well as for protective law making and changing informal status of these sectors so that workers will be entitled to social security.
• DÖKH works for changing employment policies regarding marriage, pregnancy, and child delivery, which negatively discriminate women, to their favor.

MIGRATION

• DÖKH struggles against forced migration policies of the state which were implemented in the region by the militarist state rationale, and makes pressure to the state authorities to provide the internally displaced people with redress and compensation, such as installation of necessary legal arrangements for return, secure return for the ones who want to go back to their villages and unconditional material and immaterial compensation for those effected.
• DÖKH works for development of social policies and programs which address economic, social, legal, cultural, and psychological problems that internally displaced women and children experience in their new settlements.

LAW  

• DÖKH recognizes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and Pekin+5 documents as fundamental documents, and struggles for the inclusion in the national law of all the articles of these international conventions that Turkey is a signatory of.
• DÖKH works for changing all laws, regulations and case-laws which are discriminatory against women. DÖKH makes efforts for women initiatives’ involvement in legislation and implementation processes concerning these issues and works for making these laws known by and visible to women.
• DÖKH provides free legal counseling and support services to the women whose rights are violated in any spheres of life.

REPRESENTATION

• Considering the impossibility to have a real democracy without achieving women’s representation, DÖKH aims to promote gender quota in all mechanisms, increase women’s representation and advocate women’s active and widespread involvement in decision-making processes.
• DÖKH recognizes positive discrimination principle as its fundamental principle until women-men equality is achieved. In its struggle against all oppressive approaches which would impede women’s will power, it advocates any activity that helps disclose and strengthen women’s will. DÖKH organizes women around this perspective and runs advocacy programs.

MEDIA

• DÖKH defines current media as one of the main components of the male dominated system. It struggles for changing the media that portrays women’s body as a commodity, reproduces violence against women and gender discrimination.
• DÖKH works for the development of a media network which works with respect to women's perspective, provides solidarity and information exchange among women's organizations, conducts research on and presents knowledge about women's experience and literature such as women's history.

PEACE STRUGGLE

• DÖKH considers the peace struggle, waged for peaceful and safe living conditions, as a part of the women's freedom struggle and actively works for this end.
• DÖKH considers the end of the undeclared war between men and women that could be reached only if gender equality is attained at every layer of society as a guarantee for the peace between societies in the world.
• DÖKH struggles against capitalism, militarism, armament and other systems of war. It approaches differences as prosperity and struggles against othering.
• DÖKH works collaboratively with all organizations, institutions and individuals who work for the attainment of peaceful, fair and just solutions to armed and unarmed conflicts between societies and countries.

EDUCATION

• DÖKH recognizes education in mother tongue as a constitutional right; struggles for constitutional recognition and realization of this fundamental right.
• DÖKH works for refining education from all approaches, methodology and knowledge  that imposes gender discrimination.
• DÖKH aims to remove all mechanisms that prevent women’s access to free production and usage of information, and promotes positive discrimination in education for women.
• DÖKH develops education policies and programs which problematizes patriarchy in the spheres of life including economy, politics, philosophy, science, art, history, family, religion, law, culture, technology, media, etc. for awareness-raising and capacity-building among women.

HEALTH

• DÖKH works for changing the male dominated approach and its implementation in health policies. It promotes knowledge sharing and development and implementation of the health policies which would provide women free access to qualified information, education, and service about health.
• DÖKH works for the protection of mother and child rights, recognition of child-raising and child-care as a responsibility of the state and for the precautions being taken for the health of working mothers and their children. It works for women to take paid leave during pregnancy and postpartum period.
• DÖKH works for the development and implementation of health policies which provide comprehensive, inclusive, qualified, free and easily accessible health education, information and services to women. 

Contact Address: Oğuzlar Mah. Barış Manço Cad. 1388 Sk. No:137 Balgat Ankara/Turkey

Tel: +90 312 220 19 50

E-mail: bdpwomandiplomacy@yahoo.com.tr

Website: