How I Met HeForShe
My story of starting to work on gender equality emerged with the awareness I gained from the stereotypes I was exposed to when I was only 13 years old.
When I was 13, I loved playing football and basketball. I was following the matches with interest, at the same time I was a fanatical Fenerbahce supporter. However, since I live in a small city, my interest in sports and football was met with a rather strange response by my family, friends, and teachers. I was constantly getting negative reviews. Many of my friends were putting pressure on me by saying “You are a girl, you will be a mother in the future, you must learn to cook” “Girls cannot be football players” “You should focus on women’s sports”. It was rare for girls to play with school balls in gym class at school. Because our teachers used to give the boys soccer and basketball balls. This situation bothered me a lot because sport is for everyone and it is a basic human right. For this reason, we decided to organize an astroturf match with my girlfriends from my class. With the event I organized that day, I felt freer and stronger than ever before.
When I won the university, I realized that I had to continue this struggle, that many women and girls had this problem and that I needed to take action for change. I was studying social work at Hacettepe University and the courses I took and the school clubs I attended made me understand that gender inequality exists in every field.
By the way, I met HeForShe. I contacted the HeForShe Turkey office and said that I wanted to establish a school club in my school and support the movement. UN Women’s Country Office supported me and my friends in this regard, enabling us to establish the school club.
I graduated when the school club was founded, but I was also aware that I could conduct my studies individually. As a result of my work, I was selected as one of the 300 Young Gender Activists selected worldwide for the UN Women’s Generation Equality Campaign. Recently, I was invited to the “HeForShe x Kerem Bürsin” event, which was selected as the first defender of HeForShe Turkey, and it was a very meaningful event for me.
Later, as Google Women Techmakers Ambassador, I started to organize various events for the visibility and safety of women in technology. To ensure the safety of women and girls in the world of technology, we organize different and exciting events with Google Turkey Community Manager Merve Isler and ambassador women.
Finally, gender equality is a human rights violation. I invite everyone, male or female, to the HeForShe movement.
If you need courage and want to be a part of making a difference, remember and ask yourself these questions:
“If not me, who? If not now, when?”
