Deputies discuss gender equality

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Women are not represented enough in decision-making processes, despite remarkable progress in recent years, according to Azize Sibel Gönül, deputy of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), speaking yesterday at a panel discussion at Sabancı University in Istanbul.

“There are four main fields that we aim to improve in Turkey in terms of gender equality. Those are decision making mechanisms, employment, education and health. For me, the most crucial one is women’s role in decision-making mechanisms. One of the weakest links for Turkish women is their absence in local government administration. But in the last two terms, female representation has increased,” said Gönül, who is also the chairwoman of Parliament’s Gender Equality Commission.

Gönül added that the increasing number of female managers in Turkey’s private sector was remarkable.

Criticisms

Speaking at the same panel, Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Melda Okur opposed Gönül’s statement about women’s participation in work life, by referring to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s suggestion that families have at least three children.

Okur said that if the Prime Minster suggests having lots of children, that means women cannot participate in work life. “Having three or five children means staying at home and looking after them,” Okur said.

The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) co-chair, Gülten Kışanak also criticized Gönül, by saying that Turkey was abusing women’s rights for the sake of becoming in the biggest 10 economies list of the world. “Women are already working but it is unrecorded. Their rights should be in question, not their contribution to the economy,” Kışanak said.