The concluding section relates the questions and hypotheses advanced throughout the entire study to the fieldwork. It states that all the hypotheses advanced, each in its own way, contribute to explain the Diyanet’s decision to support its own feminization. In the early 2000s, a state amnesty allowed the reinstatement of those women who had been excluded from public sectors because of the head scarf ban. However, such a reconfiguration of the political opportunities structure led to a broader effect: the emergence of a pious female bureaucrat who calls into question the role of devout Muslim women within both religious circles and Turkish society. The general conclusion is that the vaize institution testifies to an accomplished reinstatement of a generation of women within the state bureaucracy. Moreover, the emergence of a pious female bureaucrat redefines the boundaries of the Turkish state vis-à-vis religion.

In this chapter, the debates over secularism, laicism, and secularization are presented. The oppositional ideas of an “official” and an “unofficial” religion, which date back to the Ottoman Empire, are pointed out in relationship to Turkish secularism (laiklik). In its assertive nature, the latter is not a static concept; it evolved from a state “mission” associated with modernization and westernization of society to an “instrument” by which the state could make use of religion as cement to promote national unity. Within this changing environment, the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), a state institution charged with religious affairs, evolved as well. In the last forty years, its bureaucratic structure of an agency in charge of the management of mosques and the employment of religious officers has been reshaped as the bearer of a modern interpretation of Islam. The chapter provides a concluding section devoted to the crucial role that the Diyanet has played over the past decade.

The chapter introduces the topic of the feminization of the Diyanet within the context of Turkish secularism. It disrupts and breaks down the conceptualizations that are mainly associated with the decision to establish new offices for women within the Diyanet. It provides a conceptual and epistemic toolbox that allows for the gendering of the religious–secular divide. Four hypotheses are then presented and critically examined: The first relates the Diyanet’s decision to employ an increasing number of women to the debate on Islamic feminism. The second deals with devout women’s access within the Diyanet bureaucracy, pointing out their engagement within Islamist movements in the 1990s. The third relates the increase in Diyanet’s female personnel to the evolution of the Turkish state’s monopoly over religion. The fourth focuses on the state-sponsored moral support directed toward women and families within the frame of a redefinition of religious services. Finally, the chapter illustrates the methodology of the work, stressing the importance of ethnographic observations to include a perspective from within on public policies.