ERASMUS+ PROGRAMME, KEY ACTION 2

CAPACITY BUILDING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Furthering International Relations Capacities and Intercultural Engagement to

Nurture Campus Diversity and to Support Internationalisation at Home
(FRIENDS)

Unit 8: Understanding gender and gender roles in

different cultural contexts
Part 3
Dr. Cemre Erciyes, Lunie

TRANSCRIPT

Lunie: I’m Leonie but people call me Lunie. I am currently 23 years old. I’m from Germany
where I study Social Work in Frankfurt and I am currently doing my Erasmus term in
Istanbul. Ok, so I identify as a woman which for me, it just makes me be a human, a normal
person. But sometimes puts me in difficult situations or different situations that I don’t chose
to be in. And I think it’s not how I perceive myself but more about how other people, my
surroundings perceive me. I spend almost one year living in Sweden and a bit more than one
year in Argentina.
Dr. Cemre Erciyes: So, you have a variety of experiences in different cultures. Can you
elaborate on your experience in terms of gender in all these places?
Lunie: Yeah, so I think they are very different. Of course, as a woman, it relates a lot to culture
as well. So, in the different countries, I had different experiences. But of course, in every
country I had certain experiences, linked to being and identifying as a woman. So, for
example when I went to Argentina, I noticed much more of what they call “Machismo”. So,
for example when I was walking down the street, people would call me names or they would
whistle. And of course, also being like a white and blond woman, people noticed me and I
kind of stick out of the masses. Yeah, so that was a different experience. It is not that usual in
Germany I would say. But still it happens that people, especially men just talk to you on the
street sometimes when you pass by, but it has a different character in Argentina. And for me
it was a new experience and there were different phases of dealing with it. So, in the
beginning I was really confused. I wasn’t used to it and so I didn't know how to deal with it.
Then, I got really angry because I didn’t know how to react but I wasn’t feeling ok with it.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views
only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein. 1
And then there came a phase of acceptance where I started reacting to it in a funny way which
also made it more fun for me.
So, I perceive it also very different in Turkey but I still haven’t figured out all of it. Also, there
is a huge language barrier still. But I think if I compare Germany and Turkey, it’s very
different countries also in terms of cultural aspects but also from religious influences. And
as I have spent only four months in Turkey so far, it’s very difficult for me to tell specific
things but I noticed some differences.
When I was younger, I wasn’t playing football. But when I went to Argentina, I was
participating in a project where we went to prisons for minors and we were playing football
with them and I really enjoyed it a lot. And when I came to Turkey, I started playing again
because a friend of mine, he is playing in a team, it’s like a mixed team. So, it’s opened to all
genders and it doesn’t matter how well you play. It’s just about having fun and playing with
other alternative teams as well. So, I got to play with them. I have to admit that I am not
playing football very well but I enjoy it very much. Then also, as I am still an Erasmus student,
we had some events from the Erasmus group and one of them was a football match. There
was supposed to be one Erasmus team and one Turkish team. So, when they asked in the
WhatsApp group who wanted to participate, I said “Oh, I want to participate”. Apparently, I
was the only woman who wanted to participate and I never got any information about it. So,
when I went to see someone at the Erasmus office, I asked about the organisation, how it was
going to be, if there was any group. And the guy who put this information in the group before,
he told me he didn’t know because he was in charge for the Turkish team, not for the Erasmus
team. And we started discussing about football because apparently, also he had a very
different perception of what football is about. For him it was really competitive. So, he stated
that for him it’s not that much fun to play with women because you cannot just run into each
other and play as competitive as he wanted to play. And he stated that he wanted to play
with people who know how to play well. So unfortunately, in the end, I never got included
into that activity.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views
only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein. 2