Is Turkey a difficult country for women travellers? This is a valid question given that the country is both Muslim and partially Mediterranean in culture, two factors that have been known to cause problems for women elsewhere. But the good news is that Turkey is not Iran or Egypt or Morocco. Nor yet is it the Italy of old where women unaccompanied by men always had a very hard time.
What to wear
The common advice to female travellers always focuses on what they should wear but in my experience this doesn’t always make as much difference as one might expect. Of course if you walk around in skimpy shorts and all-but-non-existent tops you are courting trouble here as you would be anywhere. But some of my worst experiences in terms of being groped and molested have actually been in the east when I was wearing many layers of excess clothing.
These days in trendy parts of İstanbul, along the coast and in Cappadocia there are as many Turkish women wearing skimpy clothing as Westerners which makes things easier. Out east, however, women still wear lots of clothing and it pays not to draw adverse attention to yourself by not doing likewise. Rarely, however, will anyone expect a non-Muslim woman to put on a headscarf (başörtüsü) except when going into a mosque.
But the sad reality is that no matter what you wear you will still be identifiable as a “Western” women which is enough in the eyes of a misguided few to create problems.
Street harassment
What is interesting about Turkey is how different the experiences of different women are. I have spent more than twenty years of my life travelling here, almost always alone, and although when I was younger I certainly had to put up with unwelcome street hassle, I’ve never found the problem too bad. But every now and then I still come across a woman who reports having had a particularly tough time and there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why this should be.
Much of the harassment is of tourists in the hotspots such as Sultanahmet and is as much commercial as sexual.
So is it safe for women to walk around alone? On the whole I’d say yes even in more conservative parts of the country. But it still pays to exercise the same caution as you would do at home. Don’t walk alone in parks after dark, for example. And if you’ve had a lot to drink consider taking a taxi back to your hotel to be on the safe side.
Hotels
I’ve only ever once been refused a room in a hotel explicitly because I was a woman (oddly, that was in the capital, Ankara). However, I have had to put up with annoying knocks on the door at midnight and the sort of overly-friendly attention that left me feeling anxious. Never open your door at night to someone you have not specifically invited to the room. These days most starred hotels have chains on their doors; some also have peepholes so you can see who’s knocking. At the slightest sign of trouble complain to the management. Don’t let things escalate.
Restaurants
If restaurants generally struggle to cope with the idea of solo diners, that’s even more the case when that lone diner is a woman. Many restaurants, especially in the east, still have “aile (family)” sections, often upstairs, where lone women should sit. If you choose to sit with the men instead you will usually be treated as an honorary man, but if you use the aile section and anyone bothers you you will have every right to complain.
Public transport
Now that most travellers fly around the country I hear fewer stories of problems on public transport. However, it’s still worth knowing that on long-distance buses it is not normal to seat a lone woman beside an unrelated man. You may even be asked to move to sit beside an unrelated woman in order to ensure this doesn’t happen. This may seem pretty extraordinary to Western visitors but you may come to appreciate it on overnight journeys. Some of the better bus companies now have one row of single seats to facilitate single-sex seating.
In Turkey it is the norm for a single passenger to sit in the back of a taxi. In general getting straight into the back sends a signal that you want to be treated like a local woman.
So what can you do to ensure your visit goes smoothly?
- I would certainly advice dressing modestly so as to attract the least attention. Almost no one expects non-Muslims to wear a headscarf. Just covering your shoulders, knees and chest should be enough.
- It’s advisable not to be too immediately friendly with people offering services. Western women are usually brought up to think that it’s rude not to smile and be friendly to waiters, taxi drivers etc. Here, however, such behaviour can be misinterpreted, especially away from the big cities. Keep a respectable difference until you know someone well. Don’t sit in the front of a cab. Don’t stay chatting to the waiter long after everyone else has left. Resist the temptation to smile at strange men in the street.
- When travelling around the country take basic safety precautions. Don’t wander off into remote countryside alone (and this includes walking in the more obscure Cappadocian valleys). Don’t hitchhike alone. However friendly people may seem, hang on to some of your Western reserve, and don’t take up offers of hospitality unless you are sure that other family members will be around.
The difficulty lies in finding a way to balance the need to protect yourself against the pleasure of going with the flow and getting to know a country that is famous for its hospitality.
What else can I say?
Keep listening to what your gut is saying probably. And have fun.
