Roots of Jineolojî
“A science which is developed around women is the first step towards true sociology”*
As scientific, political and ethical thinkers and many social institutions have stated, the 21st century will be the century in which woman’s freedom will triumph. This evaluation is based on the rise of women’s struggles in across the world, particularly in Kurdistan. Woman’s struggle for freedom, which has steadily and with great principles grown until today, has become a crucial dynamic of the development of social freedom. Women’s freedom, which is essential for the achievement of social freedom, has reached an unprecedented potential to expand. The social values that have thus been created require a scientific expression.
Woman’s science – Jineolojî – defines itself as a social science corresponding to today’s zeitgeist. Jineolojî’s definition originates in Kurdish. It consists of the words Jin; woman and Lojî; science. Kurdish people’s leader Öcalan first used this definition in his book ‘Sociology of Freedom’ written in 2008. He explained why there was a need for this kind of conceptualisation as follows:
“The lines referring to woman in the masculine discourse, which leaves its mark on the social sciences like on any other scientific field, carry propagandist approaches, which do not touch the reality at all. The true status of the woman is covered with this rhetoric, perhaps forty times, just as the histories of civilization cover up class, exploitation, oppression and torture. Instead of feminism, the concept of Jineolojî (woman’s science) can meet the purpose better.” (Sociology of Freedom, p.226).
This conceptualisation sparked important discussions in the Kurdistan Woman’s Liberation Movement. After these discussions reached a certain level, a working group that would play a fundamental role in the establishment of Jineolojî was created at the 8th congress of the Kurdistan Women’s Freedom Party (PAJK). The discussion process that started at the academies in the mountains of Kurdistan, gradually spread within society.
*Sociology of Freedom, Abdullah Öcalan