Patriarchal Attitudes in Turkey 1990-2011: The Influence of Religion and Political Conservatism

While contemporary theories associate gender equality with the process of modernization and economic development, we find that Turkey does not follow this pattern. We investigate changes in patriarchal attitudes from 1990 to 2011 in Turkey, and how the country has been influenced by religiosity and political conservatism. By studying how institutional changes affect gender inequality in Turkey, we find that Turkey has become more patriarchal since the 1990s. Moreover, the effect of religion on patriarchal attitudes has diminished over time while the effect of political conservatism has remained stable. The effect of religion is strongest for economic and weakest for educational patriarchy, while the effect of political conservatism does not vary.