Social and economic impact of the headscarf ban on women in Turkey

The headscarf ban in Turkey has provoked heated debate both in and outside the country. A great deal of research considers the broader philosophical, political, historical, and social implications of the ban but to this point, no large-scale study has focused on the social and economic implications for the women themselves. This study addresses this issue, arguing that the intensification of the ban after the 1980s served the exclusionist aims of the elite to protect their privileged positions and to slow social and regional mobility.

Using data collected in 2007 from 1,206 women, we show that women have been affected negatively in a variety of ways. Veiled women have a significantly lower level of education and are substantially more likely to be unemployed than unveiled women. Veiled women from cities where the ruling party argues for banning the headscarf in the public domain have lower levels of education and a higher level of unemployment than veiled women in cities where the ruling party is against the ban.