In Turkiye, women’s employment and their access to the labor market and livelihoods are becoming increasingly important every day. While women make up 49.9% and men 50.1% of Turkiye’s population, the Household Labor Force Survey results show that in 2021, the labor force participation rate for individuals aged 15 and older was 32.8% for women and 70.3% for men.
Studies in this field not only have the potential to offer new employment opportunities to women from different segments of society but also play a critical role in removing barriers to women’s employment and in the transformation of the labor market.
The ActHuman Social Inclusion Initiative, conducted in collaboration with İNGEV and Sabancı University’s Istanbul Policy Center (IPC), focused on developing strategies to increase women’s employment and participation in the workforce in its sixth year.
A highly participatory workshop with significant representative capability took place in April. At the meeting, attended by 33 representatives from the private sector, public sector, international organizations, civil society, and United Nations agencies, the focus was on barriers and opportunities in women’s employment and what could be done to increase it, with practical solutions being derived.
Some key topics from the workshop include:
- Developing an approach to make work more compatible with women’s lives (making layoffs harder, improving working conditions).
- Reviewing prohibited occupations for women and taking action to promote employment in these areas.
- Amending legislation related to daycare and increasing sanctions for employers who do not provide daycare facilities.
- Revising legislation from “working mother” to “parenting” and increasing the postnatal responsibilities of fathers. Working on a system where time cannot be transferred between parents.
- Localizing the issue specifically for provinces and internalizing that the needs of women in one city differ from those in another.
- Increasing the share of the service sector in production, prioritizing regulations that will boost women’s employment in industrial zones where manufacturing is intense.
- Developing policies targeting women in the upcycling economy, an important issue in sustainable consumption.
The study, under the academic rapporteurship of Esra Durceylan Kaygusuz, will finalize as a practical social policy document in mid-May and will then be disseminated.