TÜSİAD, World Bank and the Ministry of Family and Social Policy Reviewed "Gender Equality and Development" in Erzurum

TÜSİAD, in collaboration with the Ministry of Family and Social Policy and the World Bank organized a meeting titled “Employment Opportunities for Women” on November 10th, 2012, in Erzurum. The meeting was the third activity within the scope of the “Anatolia, Step by Step”seminar series. “Anatolia, Step by Step” meetings are organized to contribute to the awareness about the gender equality in the society and participation of women in social life, particularly their participation to education and working life with a special emphasis on the concept of sustainable development.

Asst. Prof. Aşkın Asan, Deputy Minister of Family and Social Policy, Ms. Nur Ger, Chair of theTÜSİAD Gender Equality Working Group  and Mr. Florian Fichtl, World Bank Turkey Lead Operations Officer made a speech in the meeting. In addition, Mr. Şemsi Bayraktar, President of the Union of the Agricultural Chambers of Turkey, Mr. Ahmet Küçükler, Mayor of the Erzurum Metropolitan Municipality and Mr. Sebahattin Öztürk, Governor of Erzurum delivered a speech in the meeting.

Ms. Nur Ger stated that TÜSİAD supports the active participation of women in the business life as the international ranking of Turkey with respect to the participation of women to the economic activities is quite low. Ms. Ger emphasized the importance of economic liberation of women in Turkey and she said: “We believe that ‘We Cannot Fly to the Future with One Wing’. If we cannot use one half of the potential of our country, we cannot fly to our target; we would have to walk while we have the capacity of flying. And this means that we would be left behind the developed countries. We would miss the opportunity to create a better life for ourselves, our families and our children. If we cannot include women to the economic activities, if we do not share wealth and prosperity with our women, we cannot rank among the major league players of the world.”

The seminar included case studies from the Erzurum Province about woman entrepreneurship, with the participation of the supporting institutions. A drama performance prepared by the woman farmers was also presented.

The first seminar of the “Anatolia, Step by Step” seminar series was held in Gaziantep on March 17th, 2012, and the second in Trabzon on June 28th, 2012.