Biography
Mine Kösem Çınay is a gender equality specialist with a diverse experience, ranging from social protection to policy development. She worked in Beşiktaş Municipality for ten years. During this term, she played a leading role in the localisation of gender equality. By adopting a feminist social work approach, she developed social protection mechanisms and services against gender-based violence. She established first, the Women’s Directorate, then the Women’s Solidarity&Life Center which is a bipedal social support mechanism serving women, children, youth and LGBTQ+ individuals. Beyond this, she determined the local policy of gender equality. Within the scope of localisation advocacy, Mine developed communication materials and organised social media campaigns and public events to raise awareness for gender equality. She also drafted policy papers, speech notes and other documents for politicians in the municipality.
Mine holds a Master's Degree in Social Policy from the Boğaziçi University. She graduated by defending her thesis titled ‘Working Beyond Pension Age In Turkey: A Qualitative Analysis From A Life Course Perspective’. Besides her expertise, she has diverse political interests in social movements, labor, and aging.
As a Policy Leader Fellow, she will explore best practices of gender governance in the world and European Union (EU) policies that ensure women's participation in politics and decision-making processes, and the role of transnational actors in the implementation of these policies. Through this project, she aims to present policy recommendations with a comparative perspective on gender inequality in Turkey by examining examples of good gender governance around the world.