A series of posters have appeared in cities across Turkey featuring well-known women wearing false moustaches. It's part of a new campaign aimed at increasing the number of women elected to parliament. This report from Sarah Rainsford:

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Ideally the campaigners want positive discrimination to end that - the introduction of a legal quota for women MPs. But for this year's general election they're pressuring party leaders, all of them men, to change the way they draw up their party lists. Instead of putting a token handful of female candidates at the very bottom, campaigners want women in the top slots. They're hopeful that would ensure at least ten percent of MPs in the next parliament are women - not the full equality they're after but a start.

Parties traditionally see women candidates as a risk, especially in the less developed east of the country. But campaigners quote a recent poll that they say shows opinions are changing. It suggests more than eighty percent of Turks believe parliament would be a better place with more women there and it shows political parties could boost their share of the vote considerably if they only took the plunge.

Sarah Rainsford, BBC, Istanbul

Listen to the words

vast posters
very large pictures that are used to advertise something

facial hair
hair which grows on the face, e.g. a beard or moustache

a very patriarchal society
a society which is dominated by men and male thinking

funds
money which is often needed to support a plan or project

a legal quota
a specific size of a group which is agreed by law

party lists
lists of candidates that represent a political party for election

a token handful
here, a small number of people who are chosen in order to pretend that a problem is being dealt with

top slots
the first, and most important, places on a list

boost their share of the vote
increase the number of people who vote for a political party

took the plunge
took the risk, dared to do something

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