Women and Football in Turkey
Lale Orta

Abstract
As one of the first countries to constitute women's rights, Turkey failed to bring into force the rights that it granted women by means of laws, in terms of their de facto application. Although the time at which women began to take place effectively in society coincides with the beginning of the Republican Period, some discrimination stipulated as "women's sport" and "male sport", depending on social gender discrimination, caused women to remain underdeveloped. Despite the increasing interest of women in football today, the slogan of "Football is the sport of men" led women in Turkey to be alienated from this field, and caused football to be considered as a sports branch that belongs only to men. These misevaluations and wrong approaches prevented the number of women football players, women spectators, women managers, women referees and women football coaches — who might have taken place in both women football and football in Turkey — from reaching the desired level. In this study, determinations are made on women's rights, social gender discrimination, and women football in Turkey; their interaction with one another is investigated; and the results are introduced.

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