Female soldiers maneuvring visibility in the Turkish Armed Forces

Abstract

How do Turkish female soldiers’ (TFS) relate to and manage their (in)visibility within the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF)? Guided by a social-constructionist approach and driven by a gendered perspective, we display the embeddedness of gender role expectations and TFS struggle for visibility within TAF and the wider social context. We explore TFS accounts displaying cultural and organizational practices inhibiting their visibility along with how they manage it. Our findings provide insight into the dynamics of social and organizational practices that impact women’s visibility and advance the understanding of how marginalized members in similar settings may relate, manage and navigate their careers in their daily organizational life elsewhere.