Navigating Marginality: Agency and Empowerment of Turk Women in Azerbaijan

Focusing on the agency and empowerment of Turk women in the Azerbaijani region of Iran, this study critiques the liberal framing of Muslim women’s resistance and advocates for a more nuanced, intersectional approach. The study reveals how Turk women navigate the complexities of intersecting identities—facing both ethnic discrimination and patriarchal oppression—and actively challenge these stereotypes. Highlighting the importance of understanding agency as context-dependent and shaped by factors such as ethnicity, gender, and class, the study draws on case studies of three Turk women to show how agency manifests in different forms, from political activism to economic survival, offering a localized interpretation of empowerment. Central to this analysis is Saba Mahmood’s framework, which emphasizes that agency operates within cultural constraints yet challenges them in meaningful ways.