A video shared on Twitter by Turkey’s top religious authority to warn against mobile phone addiction has triggered accusations of sexism and stirred debate about gender equality.
The Presidency of Religious Affairs’ (Diyanet) video, released on 6 November, shows a woman serving tea to her husband, who is seen staring at his mobile phone without paying attention to her.
She also brings him two pieces of cake and a fork as he drinks his tea and seems unaware of her presence.
After sitting on a sofa next to her husband, she texts him: “If only you paid more attention to your wife!”
The video prompted anger on social media about its portrayal of the role of women in Turkey, which ranked 130 out of 149 countries in the World Economic Forum’s 2018 Gender Gap Report.
“The woman brings tea. The woman brings cake. When will we completely destroy these stereotypical role models? Especially in this day and age… The year is 2019,” journalist Menekse Tokyay tweeted on 6 November.
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Telefonun değil, eşinin yüzüne bak!#MevlidiNebiHaftası pic.twitter.com/rPIVPDiZTn
— Diyanet (@diyanetbasin) November 6, 2019
