Turkey's gender gap in higher education: An analysis of IR doctoral students

Abstract

This article assesses gender research patterns among Ph.D. students in International Relations (IR) discipline in Turkey with a particular focus on women. We examined 622 IR doctoral dissertations accepted by institutions of higher education in Turkey between 2009 and 2019. We found a statistically significant gender-based pairing among students and advisors, in addition to a higher number of male students and advisors, which suggests greater male visibility in graduate school and academia. Dissertation keyword analysis shows that similar topics are studied by both men and women, and reveals a noticeable absence of gender-sensitive issues, even among the work of female researchers. The striking omission of feminist IR reveals the importance of ‘minding the gap’ in contexts outside of the Western domain. © 2024 Elsevier Ltd