"Recently I was contacted to help a TV talk show, based in the US but airing globally, locate mothers around the world for an upcoming show.

They wanted to find out about the lives of these women. While contacting Turkish mothers I started thinking about the image of Turkish women. Who, I wondered, would be able to give the best and most accurate reflection? A woman from İstanbul, arguably the most Westernized city in the country? Or is the face of Turkish women a mother from a small town or rural village?

As I went through my contact list I found a wide variety of women with a mix of personal, religious and professional differences. I know many working mothers, juggling home and job. There are also many stay-at-home moms, some content with doing so, others waiting for the chance to re-enter the workforce. Some would be indistinguishable from any other woman in the West, following the latest fashions and trends. Others more modest dressers, many never without a headscarf, who may fit more of the image of Turkish women found in the West. And what of village women, toiling in the fields? Are they too not the face of Turkish women?

Using my circle of acquaintances as a sample group, surprisingly, I found that some friends who wear headscarves are much more liberal in their political and social views than others who would never dream of covering up, much less entering a mosque. Turkish women do not fit any specific mold. But then do women anywhere? In every country there are extremes of dress, attitudes and values. How do we arrive at our basic assumptions about women of a given country? How do we find one person to represent an entire country’s culture, much less a country comprised of many cultures blended together?

In the end I left the decision of who, if anyone, would be chosen for the show to the producer’s discretion. I gave her several contacts with differing backgrounds and values. The face of Turkish mothers is a composite: modern, traditional, educated, illiterate, stay at home, toiling in the office or field, covered or not, conservative, liberal and middle of the road. All of these are the faces of the women here.

From a seemingly simple request to help find a spokeswoman, I discovered that the face of the Turkish woman is still evolving. From the ancient goddess cults to hip, mini-skirted executives, we are still in the process of defining that image".


Kathy Zamilton, Today's Zaman, 27.03.2007

HELLO....

What an excellent piece of writing!
Very well put, and point well taken!

Thanks for that little "brain food" which allows all of us to take at look and things we tend to overlook.

Let us know when and where the program shows, as it would be exciting to see how the producers handled the information given them!

Thanks,
Dockit

Will they air it in the UK?

Kathy Zamilton wasted her breath in vain.As usual, the one from a godforsaken village in rural Turkey ( preferably a buttugly,covered,poor and illeterate one) will be shown as the 'typical turkish' woman Or an islamist one with a headscarf,at best.Some things never change.I have yet to see any balanced and somewhat accurate picture of Turkey being drawn in any western production.