A couple in the western province of Izmir has set the stage for a new trend in Turkey by signing a “gender equality agreement” before getting married, saying there can be no love when there is no equality.
The remarkable wedding ceremony that took place recently attracted attention in the country.
Zeleha Shemin and Murat Büyükülmaz got married in a ceremony led by Filiz Sengel, Mayor of Selcuk Region, and signed a wedding agreement in front of the guests.
In an agreement, the couple declared: “We, as two free individuals, declare that we will be the two sides of an equal life and will unite our lives on this basis of equality.”
“We promise to protect and strengthen this equality agreement at all times of our lives together.”
“No equality, no love,” the couple announced.
The agreement entered the country’s agenda with an Instagram post by the UN Turkish Women section on September 3. The institution noted: “The inspiration of the day comes from a couple signing the ‘equality agreement.’ We wish the couple happiness and hope their inspiration for equality extends throughout their lives.
The newlyweds told the Turkish daily Miliyet: “We believe that the main reason for the problems people are experiencing is based on social inequalities. We thought our love could only exist if we could maintain equality and decided to sign the unusual agreement in front of our guests,” they added.
Equality at home, equality in society
In 2017, UN Women in partnership with Promundo, ABAAD – Resource Centre for Gender Equality and Connecting Research to Development (CRD) conducted the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES) study in Lebanon which analysed the perceptions of masculinity and the impact it has on the lives of women and girls, on men themselves, and for gender equality more broadly. The study found that for 35 per cent of men ‘to be a man, you need to be tough,’ and 19 per cent of men also agreed that it is “shameful when men engage in caring for children or other domestic work”.
See also UN Women’s Men and Women for Gender Equality Programme, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
