Introduction: Conceptualising Gender Justice

Abstract

The introduction sets the scene for the study and briefly presents the rationale and aims of the book. It focuses on current debates on gender, education and development, and problematises the contested definitions of gender justice, drawing on the work of Naila Kabeer, Nelly Stromquist and Ramya Subrahmanian to develop a conception of empowerment in relation to gender and social justice literature, and presents an overview of the capabilities approach. Then, it introduces the Turkish context in relation to issues of gender and education and teases out how the capabilities approach coupled with feminist theories can offer a better understanding of gender and education in Turkey and be used to make recommendations to policy-makers in order to improve social and educational policies. Lastly, a short overview of feminist methodology on ways to reach women’s voices is presented and the key arguments that unfold in the book are stated and explained.