Where Is The Support For Women's Employment?
HURRIYET- The Turkish Women Entrepreneurs' Association recently opened an office in Brussels and took out a newspaper ad saying that the European Union is the only way to ensure that Turkey's women are strong and free. Everyone dreams of such women. I'm among those who believe that EU membership can make this dream come true. Even if EU looks distant now, I would never give up my dream of strong, free women. But what's the situation of Turkish women today? To mark tomorrow, March 8, International Women's Day, let's take a look:
According to the Directorate General on the Status of Women, over 640,000 Turkish girls of primary school age aren't attending class. A little over half, or 52.2%, of girls attend high school or an equivalent – an 18% rise from 10 years ago. The rate of girls attending universities is 17.41%, a twofold increase, compared to a decade ago. Although hundreds of thousands of girls still don't attend school, there's been improvement in the percentage attending high school and university.
Shouldn't this be reflected in the world of work as well? In other words, wouldn't you expect more women to be working? But the situation is just the opposite. According to the latest data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TUIK), 237,000 women withdrew from the labor force market in Turkey over the last year. Women's employment has been falling in Turkey for a few years, even as it's rising both worldwide and in the EU. For example, in 2000-2005 EU countries managed to boost women's employment to 56.3%. In Turkey, the rate of women's participation in the labor force fell 23.4%. In 1990 there was a rate of 34.1%, which fell to 26.9% in 2002.
Today, one out of four in Turkey women works, and half of the nation is gradually withdrawing from the work world. So is the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government taking measures to boost women's employment? Columnist Sukru Kizilot wrote that while the new social security bill was being discussed, there were promises of Social Security Institution (SSK) incentives to encourage employers to hire more women. But this never happened.
Meanwhile, the requirement for businesses to offer childcare was withdrawn from social security reforms. Most people consider this a heavy blow to women's employment. There's also another situation. Again, according to the Directorate General on the Status of Women, there's been a huge rise in the number of women academics in the last decade, from 18,000 to 35,000. Besides academics, the situation in management isn't so bad. According to a study done by Boyden Turkiye, 40% of prospective managers are women. So, when a woman graduates from university, she can easily mkae her way. I wonder what the situation will be the next time we mark March 8, International Women's Day.
Have you visited We are the Turks lately?
Sema Karaoglu, Founder Meltem Birkegren, Director
www.DofA.org
www.wearetheturks.org
Daughters of Atat�rk is proud to promote Turkish Heritage across the globe. Mustafa Kemal Atat�rk shaped the legacy we proudly inherited.
His integrity and dynamism and vision constantly inspires us. We are thankful to him for walking the untrodden path, achieving the unimaginable dream, living the eternal vision. We are the Turks, we are the future of Turkey.
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