Kamu Hukukunun Eşitlikle İmtihanı: Cinsiyet ve Normlar

The principle of equality has a long history in Türkiye. In the centenary year of the Republic of Türkiye, today, the Constitution guarantees that men and women are equal, that no one can be denied equality on any grounds, and that allows for the application of duly enacted international treaties when our laws fall short of equality. On paper, one can admit that the domestic legal basis for equality in Türkiye is not weak at all. Yet, practice does not match what the law says. In order for the law to be effective in eliminating inequality, we must first and foremost acknowledge the law’s hidden problems with inequality. This short article aims to open up these hidden problems for discussion through the lens of a gender perspective and discuss the heteronormative assumptions in public law and its practice. The article argues that as long as the law embraces and protects heteronormative values, equality and the legal means of asserting equality are and will remain guarantees of the privilege of one group over another. Therefore, the public law’s struggle to ensure equality cannot be successful unless the root cause of the problem is not addressed. …