Mustafa Enes Şahin
YOL AND SOCIOLOGY
Yol is a 1982 movie and
directed by Yılmaz Güney. In 1982, there was a kind of tyranny in Turkey so;
story of the movie is about some prisoners lives who were arrested at that time
by government. Moreover, context of the movie reflects gender roles and also we
can understand 1980s Turkish society’s perspective on gender and sex.
First of all, sex is biological
or genetic component while gender is constructed by society, meaning that
society determines the behavior, think or feeling of men and women. For
example, in the movie Mevlüt who is one prisoner go to Gaziantep in order to see
his fiancee. When he goes to home then, all men who are in the house eat dinner
but women do not eat and they just serve men. This situation is normal for them
because society construct this situation. At that time, people thought that
each woman must serve their husband. In addition, Mevlüt and his fiancée go
jaunt and Mevlüt explains his expectation of his fiancée. He says that “We'll marry
as soon as I get released. As the head of the family my word counts. You'll
have to accept everything I say. You won't talk to men or joke with them. I'll
get mad. You won't talk with other men except for you brothers and closed relatives.
You'll do what I say. You won't go against my word. I will determine what you
will do and put on.”. This conversation shows that Mevlüt dominant character of
family. We can say that there is a kind of patriarchy because males exploiting
women’s labour in the household and excluding women from public life.
Consequently, According to Mevlüt, his roles take care of his wife and interfere
in his wife’s private life. The position of Mevlüt is head of the family.
Secondly, Seyit Ali’s
wife is good example of gender roles. When Seyit Ali arrested his wife left her
children and cheated on someone. We can understand from that, female roles are
taking care of her children and becoming loyal wife to her husband. Her wife
was punished for these crimes. They did not give any food and let her to do
bath. They did not see her as human being any more. In addition, Seyit Ali’
wife did not resist this situation. She consented to do nothing and just
waiting die. In this direction we can say that women are not questioning their
gender roles. They do not aware of themselves. Woman roles just take care of
her children and become royal wife. The position of women is a kind of servant
for the society.
To conclude, Entire of the movie men dominate women. According
to society men are superior to women.
Women in Turkish Society
Since
the establishment of the Turkish Republic in
the 1920s, women have had equal
status with men in Turkish society, at least in law.
But
Turkish society was ruled by shari'a (Islamic religious law) and a body of
medieval social custom for 500 years during the Ottoman Empire,
and significant cultural change does not come overnight.
The status of women in Turkey is different from what it is in your
home country. Not "better," not "worse," but different. In some ways, women
may seem subservient to men; but Turkey had a female supreme court justice long
before the USA did, and Turkey has had a female head of government, something the USA, for all its success
in women's liberation, has not yet had.
Men's and women's roles were clearly defined in
traditional Turkish society and each gender was more or less sovereign within
its appropriate realm. The husband-father was
head of the household, but the wife-mother
was in charge of the house and family. Men went out of the house to deal
with the world of business, government and military; women stayed close to home
and tended the crops, the animals and the household.
The ranking, behavior and appropriate attitude for
each family member was clearly defined: imperious mother-in-law, submissive
youngest child, etc. (It was the same even in the sultan's palace: although the
sultan was the monarch, it was his mother, the Valide Sultan, who decided which
harem girls he would sleep with, and when!)
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Atatürk's reforms hoped to blast these centuries-old
traditions to smithereens, and to liberate
women completely so they could participate in every aspect of
society equally with men.
The veil was outlawed;
civil marriage and divorce were established; Turkish women obtained the right
to vote (long before women in Switzerland had that right), to hold political
office, and to bequeath and to inherit wealth in their own right.
Though
these reforms weredramatically
effective, society does not change easily or quickly, and even Atatürk's bold, foresightful
measures could not change everyone's thinking all at once.
Arranged marriages are still common
in the countryside and among the more traditional, religious families, although
in the cities modern ideas of girl-boy courtship, love and marriage are not
uncommon. Female virginity upon
marriage is valued (and often expected), though it is not universal anymore.
In
Turkey, as in most societies—even the ones thought to be most liberal in their
attitudes toward women—you'll find a range of attitudes toward women.
If
you, a foreign female visitor, observe
Turkish cultural norms (ie, behave as a Turkish woman would
behave), you will be treated with politeness and respect.
Whether
you do this or not, you will probably be in far less physical danger in Turkey
than you'd be in many more "liberal" countries.
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