Meet Sultan Ünal: the story of resilience, determination, and empowerment

Sultan Ünal was forbidden to go out of her house, visit her family, or even open the curtains of her house without the presence of her husband. She experienced psychological and physical violence repeatedly. Whenever she decided to leave her husband, the life of her and her three children have changed entirely. She studied and worked at the same time, became candidate for nomination to run for mayor for the district of the province Kahramanmaraş during the local elections in 2019, and attended the Local Politics Workshops organized by UN Women in Turkey. She is now working at the COVID-19 counseling center, helping and supporting the response efforts during the pandemic.

Sultan Ünal (48) was born in Cağlayacerit, a small village in Kahramanmaraş, a city located in southeastern Turkey in a family of ten children. Her father didn’t let her study after primary school, and she got married when she was 18. She had three children by the time she turned to 27. During her entire marriage, she was not allowed to go out of the house or visit her family without her husband, and she experienced physical and psychological violence. Even though she hadn’t had any livelihood or worked before, she was determined to leave her husband.  

Sultan Ünal started to work in several different jobs below the minimum wage. However, the lack of a high school diploma was preventing her from having decent jobs.

“I was determined to study and get my diploma. By the time my eldest daughter started to go to the secondary school, I enrolled myself in an open secondary school for adults as well. I was both working and studying. My determination helped me to complete my education. I got a bachelor’s degree both in social services and sociology, and a master’s degree in public administration,” says Sultan Ünal proudly.

She is not the only one in the family who studied. She says proudly that her eldest daughter becomes a doctor, her son becomes a forest guard, and her youngest daughter is studying law.

She became candidate for nomination to run for mayor of Caglayancerit during local elections in March 2019, but she was not nominated because the constituency was given to the alliance. “If I was nominated, I definitely would have been selected as mayor!” she says.

Before the elections, together with more than 160 women, she attended the Local Politics Workshops, held by UN Women to strengthen women political aspirants in campaign management, negotiation technics and communication skills.

Sultan Ünal is now working at the COVID-19 counselling center at a public hospital and supporting the patients. The UN Women workshops and trainings she attended helped her to build positive relationships with the patients and to support them with empathy during the hard times of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“During the pandemic, the patients feel extremely stressed, and they may even become violent sometimes. As a supporting staff and counselor, I am very confident in myself and I feel fully competent when dealing with the patients thanks to the conflict resolution technics I learned during UN Women workshops,” says Sultan Ünal.

Although Sultan Ünal has not been nominated in the local elections in 2019, she is planning to run for mayor at the next local elections in Turkey and would like to attend the trainings and workshops that UN Women is organizing.

“Communications and leadership skills are very important for women leaders and political aspirants. These skills strengthen women to find and use their voices, and to reach their constituents. Local Politics Workshops supported women in building empathy with their target audiences and learn negotiation and conflict resolution technics. Women who are acting as transformative leaders in their parties, communities, and local municipalities, can respond to issues and disputes effectively,” stated Aslısu Şahin, trainer of the Local Politics Workshop.

Local Politics Workshops aimed to support women leaders’ knowledge and skills as candidates. They attended several workshops on transformative leadership, communication with constituents, public speaking, violence against women in politics, and gender awareness.

“Supporting women political aspirants and leaders especially at the local level remains key for us. Women who attended the workshops have been showing their leadership and communications skills, they are confident to run for the next elections, and work for gender equality in politics and all spheres of life,” says Duygu Arığ, Project Coordinator at UN Women.

UN Women continues supporting women’s leadership in politics and business life. Through the new “Advancing gender equality and women’s leadership in political and business life” project, UN Women provides support for increasing women’s leadership in political decision-making, especially at the local level. Three-year project is being implemented with the support of Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

“During the pandemic, the patients feel extremely stressed, and they may even become violent sometimes. As a supporting staff and counselor, I am very confident in myself and I feel fully competent when dealing with the patients thanks to the conflict resolution technics I learned during UN Women workshops,” says Sultan Ünal.

Although Sultan Ünal has not been nominated in the local elections in 2019, she is planning to run for mayor at the next local elections in Turkey and would like to attend the trainings and workshops that UN Women is organizing.

“Communications and leadership skills are very important for women leaders and political aspirants. These skills strengthen women to find and use their voices, and to reach their constituents. Local Politics Workshops supported women in building empathy with their target audiences and learn negotiation and conflict resolution technics. Women who are acting as transformative leaders in their parties, communities, and local municipalities, can respond to issues and disputes effectively,” stated Aslısu Şahin, trainer of the Local Politics Workshop.

Local Politics Workshops aimed to support women leaders’ knowledge and skills as candidates. They attended several workshops on transformative leadership, communication with constituents, public speaking, violence against women in politics, and gender awareness.

“Supporting women political aspirants and leaders especially at the local level remains key for us. Women who attended the workshops have been showing their leadership and communications skills, they are confident to run for the next elections, and work for gender equality in politics and all spheres of life,” says Duygu Arığ, Project Coordinator at UN Women.

UN Women continues supporting women’s leadership in politics and business life. Through the new “Advancing gender equality and women’s leadership in political and business life” project, UN Women provides support for increasing women’s leadership in political decision-making, especially at the local level. Three-year project is being implemented with the support of Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).