The roads to empowerment: an intersectional analysis of Kurdish Alevi women’s struggle for equality and freedom

This paper explores how Kurdish Alevi women use their identity markers and the public discourse surrounding them to claim space for freedom, respect (both from others and themselves), and social recognition as sources of empowerment. It examines the processes of empowerment by analysing the interrelationships between various identities, categories, and dynamics that contribute to self-realisation. The findings are based on three short life stories that represent recurring themes in the narratives of fifteen Kurdish Alevi women interviewed in Dersim and Istanbul. Adopting an intersectional approach to empowerment, we illustrate how empowerment occurs on multiple levels and through various impulses and factors. We argue that the roads to empowerment are not one-directional; rather, the same factors that contribute to the subaltern position of Kurdish Alevi women can also serve as sources of empowerment. Through the life stories of the respondents and an exploration of how they cultivate a sense of empowerment, this article suggest that social processes linked to intersectional hierarchies can be strategically utilised by Kurdish Alevi women to demand social equality and challenge forms of discrimination. In this way, multiple layers of identity and minority status—often perceived as disempowering—can be redefined through activism and everyday practices as sources of empowerment.