Erdoğan's Daughter Accuses Feminists Of Blaming Religion For Inequality

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's daughter Sümmeye Erdoğan, who is the deputy head of Turkey's Women and Democracy Association (KADEM), accused feminists of blaming religion for gender inequality and sought to justify men receiving a larger inheritance than women during a lecture in Brussels on Monday.

During the lecture, titled “Perception of Muslim Women in the World and Struggle for Equality” and organized by the Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) representation to the European Union, Sümmeye Erdoğan said: “From the feminist point of view, religion is why women have been assigned gender roles that focus on the home and why men are more often outside the home. They [Turkish feminists] select a few hadiths and verses to support their argument and claim that the victimization of women comes from religion. However, in terms of social roles, the only role clearly defined by religion [Islam] is that men are responsible for being the breadwinner and must provide for their wives and children. There is no rule in Islamic law about working women. Women are free and have the right to choose; they don't need permission from their fathers or husbands.”

Sümmeye Erdoğan further argued that it is “normal” for women to receive less inheritance than men, saying: “This question [of equality] is often raised on the subject of inheritance. [People] ask why male children receive a larger inheritance and why female children receive less. But when we look closely, we see that men are assigned the responsibility for bringing the bread home, while women are not. Naturally, giving a larger inheritance to men is normal, equitable and righteous.”

“For instance, both a married man and woman can work but even in this case men must give their wife a portion of their earnings, but women can choose for themselves how they will spend their own earnings,” she continued.

In November of last year, during the Women and Justice Summit organized by KADEM, President Erdoğan said: “You cannot make women and men equal; this is against nature. You cannot subject a pregnant woman to the same working conditions as a man.”

“You cannot make a mother who has to breastfeed her child equal to a man. … Our religion [Islam] has defined a position for women [in society]: motherhood. Some people understand this, but others don't. You cannot explain this to feminists because they don't understand the concept of motherhood,” the president added.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)