TÜSİAD in collaboration with the Ministry of Family and Social Policy and the World Bank reviewed "Gender Equality and Development" in Gaziantep

Ministry of Family and Social Policy, collaborated with TÜSİAD and the World Bank organized a meeting titled “Gender Equality and Development” on March 17th, 2012, in Gaziantep as part of the “Anatolia, Step by Step – Gaziantep Reunion”.

The purpose of the seminar was to contribute to the awareness about the gender equality in the society and participation of women in social life and particularly their participation to education and working life. Opening speeches of the seminar were delivered by Ms. Fatma Şahin, Minister of Family and Social Policy, Mr. Erdal Ata, Governor of Gaziantep, Ms. Ümit Boyner, President of the Board of Directors of TÜSİAD, and Mr. Martin Raiser, World Bank Country Director for Turkey.

In her speech, Ms. Ümit Boyner noted that Turkey can be an economically, socially and democratically developed country only if it if it releases the potential of its women and in so far as women get their fair share of the social welfare, and she emphasized that access to education is the first determinant of the active participation of women to every aspect of social life, from the working life to the politics. Ms. Boyner promoting gender equality in the education materials and creating support mechanisms actively encouraging equal access to the education are the basic elements capable of accelerating the social transformation. Underlining the significant positive effect of education on the women’s labor force participation rates Ms. Boyner remarked that, “still it is not possible to explain the low labor force participation and employment rates of Turkish women merely by educational deficiency.” She urged NGOs and business world to encourage every regulation to make the life easier for women by enlarging the scope of equal opportunities and noted that in TÜSİAD member companies 35% of employees are women.

Ms. Boyner pointed out that the role of small and medium sized enterprises will determine the outcome of the social transformation and she said: “The companies must pay a special attention for the employment of women everywhere in Turkey and the continuity of the support for this process with public incentives and relevant changes in the labor laws are essential. Another source of concern is ensuring the social security rights of women working in the unrecorded economy, one of our unremitting problems.”

Ms. Ümit Boyner stated that the violence against women has been one of the most important items on the public agenda in Turkey for a long time, and she praised the new bill on this subject as being instrumental in protecting the victims, preventing the incidence of violence, and achieving the transformation of the mindset of the society, and expressed hope for the effectiveness of the implementation of the new regulation.

Following the opening speeches, the World Bank Report on “Gender Equality and Development” was presented by Mr. Cristobal Ridao-Cano, World Bank Human Development Sector Coordinator.

The seminar concluded with a panel discussion coordinated by Ms. Şirin Payzın, Program Producer at CNNTurk. Ms. Aşkın Asan, Deputy Minister of Family and Social Policy, Ms. Funda Kocabıyık, General Director for Pre-Primary Education of the Ministry of National Education, Ms. Nur Ger, President of TÜSİAD Gender Equality Working Group, Dr. Özkan Yıldız from the Gaziantep University, and Ms. Mehpare Şayan Kileci, Chairperson of TOBB Gaziantep Provincial Council of  Women Entrepreneurs