9 - Concluding Remarks

Summary

The concluding section relates the questions and hypotheses advanced throughout the entire study to the fieldwork. It states that all the hypotheses advanced, each in its own way, contribute to explain the Diyanet’s decision to support its own feminization. In the early 2000s, a state amnesty allowed the reinstatement of those women who had been excluded from public sectors because of the head scarf ban. However, such a reconfiguration of the political opportunities structure led to a broader effect: the emergence of a pious female bureaucrat who calls into question the role of devout Muslim women within both religious circles and Turkish society. The general conclusion is that the vaize institution testifies to an accomplished reinstatement of a generation of women within the state bureaucracy. Moreover, the emergence of a pious female bureaucrat redefines the boundaries of the Turkish state vis-à-vis religion.