A qualitative exploration of women's empowerment model through the footballer development program in New Türkiye

Abstract

In recent years, the evolving socio-political landscape of New T & uuml;rkiye has presented significant challenges to women's empowerment, particularly in sports. As gender equality dynamics change, initiatives such as K & imath;zlar Sahada have become instrumental in empowering women in football through the Footballer Development Program, an initiative that closely resembles Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) interventions. This study explores how such programs shape women footballers' empowerment by integrating Northern and Southern approaches, blending the individual-focused, postfeminist, and neoliberal models of the North with development-oriented, structural frameworks of the South. Employing a basic qualitative study approach, we conducted interviews with nine women serving as volunteer trainers, consultants, and officials and analyzed 20 program-related documents. Our findings inform a novel empowerment model for the context of New T & uuml;rkiye. The study concludes that non-governmental organizations in New T & uuml;rkiye have taken on roles traditionally associated with government support, using SDP-like programs with Northern methodologies to empower women footballers, following a process similar to the empowerment model we have identified. These approaches, in turn, reflect the strategies that women footballers have historically relied on to sustain their initiatives.