Asst. Prof. Dr. Melis Boyacı, a faculty member of the Department of Communication and Design, organized the "2nd World Women's Day" organized by Trakya University on March 8, International Women's Day, between 8 March and 8 April 2021. The artist participated in the “National Group Exhibition of Women Academics”.
The exhibition, which was held virtually due to the pandemic, aims to highlight and make visible women's labor and solidarity. He participated in the exhibition with one hundred and fifty-two artists from sixty universities in different cities with his painting "Vital Memory XVI". Melis Boyacı expressed the importance for herself of participating in the exhibition with these words:
“March 8, working women's Day has an even more important meaning in Turkey, the republic founded by Atatürk. In Turkey, under the leadership of Atatürk, in 1934, women were given the right to vote and be elected, while there were no other European countries. In 1935, 18 deputies entered the Turkish Grand National Assembly. As a result of all these developments, the International Women's Union Congress was held in Istanbul in 1935. As we approach the 100th anniversary of the Republic, according to the latest data obtained according to the United Nations and Inter-Parliamentary Union Studies, Turkey ranks 102nd among 141 countries in terms of female parliamentarians. In addition, our country is among the countries with the lowest employment rate among European Union member and candidate countries. While the employment rate for men is 39.3%, the employment rate for women is 19.3%. Unfortunately, violence against women is increasing day by day in our country. On the one hand, while such data and developments are in question, our women are still trying to make themselves exist in every field. In this respect, I need to exist by producing in the Republic of Turkey, founded by Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who was a pioneer in giving women the right to vote and to be elected, and who stated that women should take an active part in every stage and every field of society, and to contribute to these efforts of women with my artistic production. A life in which gender equality is in question in all areas of life, where there is no discrimination such as age, gender, marital status, disability, or class status in sociological diversity, and a life in which equality in every sense is the dream of all women. I wanted to take part in the exhibition with my paintings, which take as a starting point that every being is one.”
