This study examines the historical trajectory of women’s movements in Turkey from the Ottoman period to the present, with a particular focus on the relationship between the state, civil society, and women’s organizations. The social and political positions of women are analyzed not only through legal arrangements and institutional changes, but also within their broader historical, social, and political contexts. In this respect, the study aims to demonstrate that women have not been passive subjects of social change; rather, despite various constraints, they have acted as agents who shaped and transformed their own fields of struggle.

During the Ottoman period, women’s social position began to change alongside the modernization process, and especially during the Tanzimat and Constitutional periods, women became more visible in the public sphere through education, publishing activities, and associations. This accumulated experience provided an important foundation for the legal and institutional reforms of the Republican era. However, the political and legal rights granted to women during the early Republic did not always translate into effective equality and representation. Particularly after the transition to multi-party politics, women’s parliamentary representation remained limited for a long period.

The study identifies the 1950–1980 period as a phase in which women were increasingly marginalized from parliamentary politics, a development closely linked to the male-dominated structure of the political sphere and intensifying electoral competition. From the 1980s onward, however, the strengthening of women’s movements and women’s civil society organizations enabled women to articulate their social and political demands through alternative channels. This transformation highlights that women’s movements in Turkey have been shaped not only by state-centered policies but also by organized social struggle.

In conclusion, the study argues that women’s movements in Turkey display a multi-layered structure shaped by both continuities and ruptures, and that women have played a significant role as both subjects and carriers of social change throughout the historical process.