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Zeynep Hafsa Orhan, Academician

"I'm originally from a small city called Manisa in western Turkey. We had no Internet growing up and I was nine years old when I first watched TV. We had alot of time to think. From a young age I had already decided what I wanted to do with my future. I wanted to become an academician. You might find that strange but it was my dream. Hijab in Turkey was banned in schools and universities in the 90s & 2000s. I was home tutored during the high school period. When the time for university enrollment came along I was faced with a difficult decision. I rang countless universities, asking if they'd allow me to wear my hijab. No Universities agreed. None. It was an overwhelming and exhausting process. Sometimes in life you have to compromise, but I was adamant on wearing my hijab.

"To my relief, Bahçeşehir University allowed the girls to wear hats, or some kind of head covering and so 4 years later I graduated with a Business Administration-Economics degree. Hijab was still prohibited by the time I finished my Bachelor's degree, so I decided to move abroad to Sweden for my master degree in IR. I then moved to Bosnia to start my PhD journey in Islamic Economics. I worked very hard and many years later returned to Turkey. The first 3 graduates who scored the highest from the Business School I attended were girls. I was the third. Working in a male dominated Industry is hard at times. Recently I attended an Islamic Economics conference, in Istanbul, where I was the only woman in a sea full of men. But I'll leave you with this; If you want something, you go after it. Pursue it, regardless."

-Dr. Zeynep Hafsa Orhan. Lecturer at IZU in Finance and Islamic Economics.


“Aslen Manisalıyım. Büyürken internetimiz yoktu ve ilk defa televizyon izlediğimde 9 yaşındaydım. Düşünmek için çok fazla zamanımız vardı. Küçük yaşta gelecekte ne yapmak istediğime karar vermiştim. Akademisyen olmak istiyordum. Bunu garip bulabilirsiniz fakat bu benim hayalimdi. Türkiye'de 90'larda ve 2000'lerde okullarda başörtüsü takılması yasaktı. Lise dönemimde evde eğitim aldım. Üniversite tercihleri zamanı geldiğinde zor bir seçimle karşılaştım. Başörtüsü takmama izin verecekler mi diye sayısız üniversiteyi aradım. Hiçbir üniversite kabul etmedi. Hiçbiri. Bunaltıcı ve yorucu bir süreçti. Hayatta bazen tavizler vermek zorunda kalırsın fakat başörtümü takmakta kararlıydım.

 Şansıma Bahçeşehir Üniversitesi kızların şapka ya da bir tür kafa kapatıcı bir şey takmalarına izin verdi ve böylece 4 yıl sonra İşletme ve İktisat'tan mezun oldum. Ben mezun olduğumda başörtüsü hala yasaktı. Bu yüzden Uluslararası İlişkiler'de yüksek lisans yapmak için İsveç'e taşınmaya karar verdim. Sonrasında İslam Ekonomisi'nde doktora yapmak için Bosna'ya taşındım. Çok çalıştım ve yıllar sonra Türkiye'ye döndüm. 

 İşletme'den en yüksek dereceyle mezun olan ilk üç kişi kızlardı. Ben üçüncüsüydüm. 
Erkek egemen bir endüstride çalışmak bazen zor olabiliyor. Geçenlerde İstanbul'da ortamdaki tek kadının ben olduğum bir İslam Ekonomisi konferansına katıldım. Fakat size şunu söyleyeceğim; bir şey istiyorsanız peşine düşün. Çalışın. 
Ne olursa olsun.”

 -Dr. Zeynep Hafsa Orhan. Zaim Üniversitesi-Finans ve İslam Ekonomisi Öğretim Üyesi.
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