Men and Women

Turkey bills itself as a "secular Muslim" country. This is to separate themselves from the rest of the more religious Muslim world, especially now in their quest for inclusion in the European Union. For example, it is unlawful for women to wear a veil, or even a head scarf. Public schools are mixed sex and men and women teach at all levels. It is very unusual to see a woman dressed in black, and only rarely do you see women in a head scarf.

I, however, teach in a private school. The Fatih schools (they are a chain in several countries, are more conservative. Here men and women sit separately in the lunch room (separated by a screen), women wear traditional clothes if they choose, and a place is set aside for prayer. Out of the 10 English teachers in my school, there are 9 women and one man -- he, of course, is the department chair. He also has a separate office. He would even if he wasn't the department chair. Of the nine, 6 wear head scarfs and traditional dress. The clothes involve a long dress or pants and an ankle length coat of some kind which is never opened so I don't know what is underneath. There is no animosity, however, between the scarf wearers and the non-scarf wearers, it is purely a matter of choice.

The Ministry of Education, however, forbids the wearing of hijab (scarf) in front of students so the teachers wear it to school and at 9:00 remove the scarf and put it back on at 4:00. The MoE also require ALL teachers to wear white lab coats in class. Presumably this is for immediate identification of the teacher in the room but it serves the double purpose of making sure that you are modestly dressed.