 Women protesting in Turkey | |
| General Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Maternal mortality (per 100,000) | 20 (2010) |
| Women in parliament | 20.1% (2023) |
| Women over 25 with secondary education | 26.7% (2010) |
| Women in labour force | 29.7% (employment rate OECD definition, 2020)[1] |
| Gender Inequality Index[2] | |
| Value | 0.272 (2021) |
| Rank | 65th out of 191 |
| Global Gender Gap Index[3] | |
| Value | 0.639 (2022) |
| Rank | 124th out of 146 |
| Women in Turkey |
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Women obtained full political participation rights in Turkey, including the right to vote and the right to run for office locally, in 1930, and nationwide in 1934. Article 10 of the Turkish Constitution bans any discrimination, state or private, on the grounds of sex. It is the first country to have a woman as the President of its Constitutional Court. Article 41 of the Turkish Constitution reads that the family is "based on equality between spouses".
There are many historical examples of Turkish women involved in public life and activism. The Turkish feminist movement began in the 19th century during the decline of the Ottoman Empire when the Ottoman Welfare Organisation of Women was founded in 1908. The ideal of gender equality was embraced after the declaration of the Republic of Turkey by the administration of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, whose modernising reforms included a ban on polygamy and the provision of full political rights to Turkish women by 1930.
Turkish women continue to be the victims of rape and honour killings, especially in Turkish Kurdistan, where most crimes against women in Turkey take place.[4] Research by scholars[5][6] and government agencies[7] indicate widespread domestic violence among the people of Turkey, as well as in the Turkish diaspora. Turkey is the first and only country to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. It was estimated in 2012 that 40 percent of women have experienced physical sexual violence.[8] About two thirds of Turkish women do not have personal income, and the participation of Turkish women in the labour force stands at about 24 percent.[8]
Women in Turkey face significant discrimination in employment, and, in some regions, education. The participation of Turkish women in the labor force is less than half of that of the European Union average, and while several campaigns have been successfully undertaken to promote female literacy, there is still a gender gap in secondary education. There is also widespread occurrence of child marriage in Turkey, especially in the eastern and central parts of the country.[citation needed]
In 2018, Turkey ranked 130th in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report, out of 149 countries.[9]
- ^ "LFS by sex and age - indicators". stats.oecd.org. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
- ^ "Human Development Report 2021/2022" (PDF). Human Development Reports. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
- ^ "Global Gender Gap Report 2022" (PDF). World Economic Forum. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
- ^ "Turkish girl was 'buried alive'". 5 February 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2018 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ Sallan Gül, Songül (May–June 2013). "The role of the State in protecting women against domestic violence and women's shelters in Turkey". Women's Studies International Forum. 38: 107–116. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2013.01.018.
- ^ Henneke, J. (2008). "Combating domestic violence in Turkey" (PDF). Sweden: Goeteborgs University.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "Kadin ve kizlara yönelik şiddetten kaçmanin üç adimi" (PDF). United Kingdom: Home Office.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help); this document is in Turkish, use a translator such as Google, if you cannot read Turkish. - ^ a b Sussman, Anna Louie (24 July 2024). "The Brothel Next Door". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
- ^ Turkey ranks 130th in gender gap index