Firewoman Nurcan Değirmenci works at Başakşehir Station. (Credit: İBB Press)

“They thought women couldn’t handle the job. Then they saw that we are well able.” Nurcan Degirmenci is one of 37 women to have become the first female firefighters in Istanbul’s fire service.

“We are stronger together,” the 37-year-old says. “I was nervous at first, but now I have more confidence in myself. We should start employing people for their skills, not their gender.”

She says her male colleagues were surprised to find a woman within their ranks at first, but got used to her over time. They have had to – the streets of Turkey’s largest city are changing.

Women are also starting to drive trams, patrol car parks and collect rubbish. The increased visibility of women is down to a decision taken by Ekrem Imamoglu, the city’s current mayor and a member of the opposition Republic People’s Party (CHP).

Ekrem İmamoğlu shared this photo captioning -Here is new- IBB and introduced woman tram driver. (Credit: Twitter)

He won control of Istanbul from the socially conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) in historic June 2019 elections with a campaign that included the promise of a huge boost in municipal jobs for women.

Imamoglu’s administration aims for half of municipal roles to be filled by women, compared with 10 per cent nationally. Three Istanbul municipal agencies are now being run by women.

Recently sharing a photo on social media of Burcu Kasap, a female tram driver on the city’s Kadiköy-Moda line, Imamoglu wrote: “Here’s the new IBB [Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality].”

This championing of female visibility comes in sharp contrast to the policies of the AKP, whose leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – himself a former Istanbul mayor – has consistently emphasised his support of so-called traditional family values and the role of women as homemakers.

Erdogan, who is attempting to shore up support among nationalist and conservative sectors as his popularity falters, withdrew Turkey from a landmark UN treaty on the prevention of violence against women last March. With elections due next year, the role of women in public life is set to be among the major issues at stake.

Firewoman Nurcan Değirmenci works at Başakşehir Station. (Credit: IBB Press)

“The administration’s base is a conservative demographic,” says Sati Burunucu, former director of the Union of Municipalities and Local Service Workers.

“Even though it’s gotten better over time, these populations have a mindset of ‘the man provides for the family’, which traps women at home and erases them from professional life.”

Those driving the recruitment of women into roles in local services hope they are starting a trend that cannot be reversed. “Our colleagues are not only serving Istanbul successfully, but also setting examples for little girls and young women in the city,” says Sengül Altan Arslan, a senior Istanbul municipal official.

She notes that female employment at the administrator level has nearly doubled since CHP took power in June 2019.

“We should look not just at the qualitative data on female employment, but also at the quality of their positions,” she says. “At IBB, we now employ women in all branches, and will continue to do so, with gender equality in mind. We know women will persevere as long as equal opportunities are provided, and they are doing exactly that.

“For the first time in its history, IETT [which runs the city’s electric trams] employs female drivers, while the Istanbul Parking Trade Corporation, which operates the city’s car parks, now has women on its staff. The first female sailors, firefighters and train conductors work with love for their profession and belief in themselves.”

Sinem Dedetas is the first woman ever to head the City Lines water transport authority, which is also now employing female staff for the first time in its 170-year history.

Sinem Dedetaş. (Credit: IBB Press)

“Female staff on City Line ferries have increased by 124 per cent – 27 women to 47,” says Dedetas, a marine construction and technology engineer who previously worked in the historic Haliç shipyard. She adds that five women were already on their way to becoming fully fledged captains on the city’s ferries, with recruitment ongoing for female sea taxi crews and ferry café staff.

Izmir city cleaning worker Sevim Karakartal says that 216 female employees now clean streets, boulevards and avenues in the city’s 11 districts – a sector once entirely male-dominated.

“This is a first in this line of work,” she says. “But [people] will get used to it. The idea that women can’t work like this is obsolete.”

The CHP is also rolling out its strategy of boosting female visibility beyond Istanbul, having won control of the major cities of Izmir and Ankara in recent years.

“We’ve started employing women in areas where we hadn’t employed them before,” said Izmir’s CHP mayor, Tunç Soyer, at a public meeting in June.

It is now possible to see female bus drivers in Izmir as a result of this initiative. “People are first surprised to see a female driver under the municipality, but their reaction is positive,” says one of them, Hülya Demir, who works for the city’s Eshot bus service. Even her family was initially sceptical, she explains, with driving usually seen as an exclusively male preserve.

“My family are used to it now, they’re proud of me. Men are used to being in any job, but we exist too.”

This article was first published on i news.