Legal Counseling Project (2004-2005)

In Turkey women experience patterned inequalities and systematic discrimination at state institutions. Even though the letter of law offers a rather positive picture in terms of gender equality and legal codes establish the basis for this principle, women suffer from a number of symptoms in actual daily legal practice, which bring about massive gender inequality in access to, and systematic discriminations at, state institutions. Women mostly lack information about their rights and institutional entitlements. They face discrimination and a myriad of difficulties in initiating, or in the continuation of, lawsuits. Also the problems of coordination between the courthouse and the other state institutions foster gender inequality. In fact there is a sizeable gap between the law in the books and the law in action.

With Legal Counseling Project KAYA targets the actual daily operation of law. While there are problems in some of the articles of civil and criminal codes in terms of gender equality and in the actual daily legal practice, the letter of law still constitutes an important potential that can be mobilized in the struggle against gender inequality. In the frame of this project, KAYA aims to facilitate women's access to legal institutions through the establishment of a legal counseling service at Gazi District Community Center in Istanbul.