Gender Equality and Turkey In an increasingly globalized and interconnected world, it is crucial to utilize all social and economic assets for success Although the equality between men and women is regarded as an international principle, basic and inviolable human right, women still face discrimination, exclusion and alienation despite overall societal progress Gender equality, rooted in human rights, is recognized both as an essential development pre-requisite on its own and as vital to accelerating other sustainable development goals Unless women and girls are able to fully realize their rights in all spheres of life, human development will not be advanced The internationally accepted instruments like the Beijing Action Platform adopted by 189 UN Member States at the World 4th Woman Conference in 1995 and Millennium Declaration adopted by 189 countries in 2000 provide contribution within the framework of basic human rights Despite progress in the last decade, a range of challenges to gender equality and women’s empowerment remain These include women’s unequal access to economic and environmental resources; social and legal discrimination against women and girls; their disproportionate burden of unpaid work; and violence against women These challenges hold back progress not only for women but also for their families and their respective communities The current situation of gender equality in Turkey is not very promising Turkey is now an Upper Middle Income Country (MIC), with strong economic growth in for consecutive years, amounting to GDP of 10,666 USD per capita in 2012 In 2004, Turkey entered into the EU accession process with consequent demands for reforms towards meeting EU standards, including reforms on human rights, equality and a democratic judiciary Despite these numerous advancements, particularly in the Constitution, the Criminal Code, the Civil Code and the Labor Act, the implementation and de facto realization of these rights, is still a challenge, which is also reflected in the basic development indicators for women, that are far behind to comparable MICs and much further behind the EU member states The UNECE Report on achieving the MDGs in Europe and Central Asia 2012 shows that the target of eliminating gender inequality in primary education has almost been achieved, although the proportion of girls who are not taking up secondary education is noteworthy The Report highlights the existing structural inequalities; especially those related to geographical and social gender disparities as remaining challenges for the achievement of MDGs The primary gaps are found in the participation of women in decision making and in labor force: The representation of women in politics at the parliamentary level is 14.3% and that of local government is less than 2% Women’s participation in labor force is only 30.8%1 (TurkStat, 2013), which put Turkey below all other OECD members and many developing countries worldwide The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report benchmarks national gender gaps of countries on economic, political, education and health-based criteria In 2014, Turkey ranked 125th among 142 countries in the overall index In the Economic Participation and Opportunity sub index, Turkey is ranked 132th2 Closing the gender gap in all areas and empowering women to participate fully in economic life is essential to build strong economies, establish stable societies, and achieve international goals for development Global Compact Turkiye Women’s Empowerment Working Group The UN Global Compact was launched in Turkey in 2002 by UNDP and the Turkish Confederation of Employers Associations (TİSK) In 2012, the network attained formal status for which a Secretariat was established jointly by the Turkish Business and Industry Association (TÜSİAD) and TİSK Global Compact Turkiye is the largest and most inclusive sustainability platform in Turkey with nearly 300 members Within the UN Global Compact, Global Compact Turkiye is the 15th largest local network Within the 2013-2016 strategy of Global Compact Turkiye, women’s empowerment and social development more broadly, has been identified as a key issue area In particular, the network http://www.tuik.gov.tr/PreHaberBultenleri.do?id=16013 http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2014/economies/#economy=TUR seeks to mobilize business to advance such universally accepted principles at the core business level of companies, in their corporate culture, strategies and daily operations Secondly, with its strong and unique conveying power, provides a forum for multi-stakeholder dialogue and innovative partnerships to flourish on a broad range of issues, including women’s empowerment Furthermore, Global Compact Turkiye seeks to mainstream gender in its operations, partnerships and projects, ranging from representation of women at the local executive board level to representation of female speakers on conference panels Within this aim, a Working Group focusing on women’s empowerment and promoting gender equality was launched following the local Executive Board decision on May 9th, 2014 The Working Group is overseen and coordinated by the Turkish Confederation of Employer Associations (TİSK) and is supported financially and technically by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) What has been done to date? On June 17th, 2014, the Working Group held its first meeting with the participation of more than 35 representatives from the public sector, private sector, NGOs and academia The second meeting took place on 16 October 2014 with an increased participation rate for which subworking groups (see below for details) on specific topics were formed and the 2015 work plan was approved A mapping of existing initiatives within this framework has been conducted This analysis is useful in determining what priority areas private sector entities are working on and which stakeholders they are collaborating with It also enabled the private sector to learn more about non-business organizations that are also working in the same areas to reach common sustainable development objectives Technical Team (Global Compact Turkiye, Borusan Holding, Boyner Holding, Koỗ Holding, TİSK, UNFPA and UN Women): Seeks to oversee the Working Group and and facilitate its activities through their expertise Communications Team (Adana Business Women Foundation, Borusan Holding, Global Compact Turkiye, Keymen Pharmaceuticals, Koỗ Holding, TSK, UNFPA, UN Women and Yeim Textile): Seeks to support the Working Group in communicating the Working Group meetings and activities through Global Compact website and social media Capacity Development Team (Borusan Holding, BPW Turkey, Global Compact Turkiye, Koỗ Holding, Sabanci University, TSK, UNFPA and UN Women): Seeks to update Turkish WEPs Booklet, prepare a one page WEPs brochure and make a mapping of existing projects and resources Mentorship and Counseling Team (Bilim Pharmaceuticals, Borusan Holding, BPW Turkey, Eskisehir Chamber of Commerce, Garanti Bank, Global Compact Turkiye, KAGIDER, Koỗ Holding, TSK, TĩRKONFED, UNFPA and UN Women): Seeks to provide expert guidance to business on the topic of Women’s Empowerment through bro-bono consultations WEPs Implementation Guide Preparation Team (Borusan Holding, Boyner Holding, Global Compact Turkiye, Koỗ Holding, TİSK, Turkcell, UNFPA and UN Women): Seeks to translate the WEPs Reporting Guidelines document Training Materials Preparation Team (Borusan Holding, Global Compact Turkiye, Koỗ Holding, TSK, Turkcell, UNFPA and UN Women): Seeks to prepare the materials for the WEPs training which would provide capacity development to existing and potential WEPs signatories What are the next steps? Following the Inclusive Dialogue with the Private Sector on the Post-2015 Development Agenda National Consultation in Turkey (May-October 2014), one of the key messages from all stakeholders on what are the most relevant initiatives that private sector can undertake vis-àvis national development priority areas was to ‘create an enabling environment to increase female participation in the Turkish workforce’ This includes creating women-friendly work places but also on innovative partnerships such as the creation of childcare facilities in industrial and free-trade zones, as well as supporting skills (vocational) development across the nation In light of this, the formation of this working group comes timely and re-affirms that Global Compact Turkiye’s national strategy support national development strategies With the anticipation that a separate and dedicated Sustainable Development Goal on Achieved Gender Equality will be adopted by UN Member States at the next general assembly, this working group is eager to play an active role on providing input on the formation of indicators for private sector implementation as well as reporting guidelines Secondly, the working group intends to participate in the Annual Women’s Empowerment Principles Forum for which every year there is a growing interest and participation of Turkish business Why we think this group is unique? Although the Women’s Empowerment Principles are a joint initiative of UN-Women and the UN GC, it is relevant to the entire ONE UN Family as stipulated in the UN Core Values (Respect for Diversity) The formation of this working group is one of the few existing examples globally Not only is it inter-agency and also open to non-WEPs and non-UN Global Compact signatories, it has been established as a result of a participatory process for which all societal stakeholders are represented Vision & Objectives The Working Group seeks to: Bring together gender equality initiatives to support mutual learning processes Contribute to the nationwide promotion of Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Members of the working group have proposed the following objectives and related activities for 2014-2016 Objective Bring together private sector’s gender equality initiatives to support mutual learning processes Planned Activities: Gathering the resources on women’s empowerment and gender equality with the support of UNFPA and UN Women and profiling this information broadly on the Global Compact Turkiye’s website Forming a “Communication Team” which would support the Working Group in communicating the Working Group meetings and activities through Global Compact website and social media Publishing news items/information regarding WEPs in the bulletins of Global Compact Turkiye, UNFPA, UN Women and companies Creating a mail group between the Working Group members and opening a LinkedIn group account in order to announce upcoming meetings/activities related to women’s empowerment and make sure the Working Group is represented in the meeting Meeting biannually (İstanbul and Ankara) in order to review the activities, share experiences and facilitate knowledge sharing among the Working Group members Holding desired and required number of “Technical Group” meetings Creating a mail group among the “Technical Group” members Objective Contribute to the promotion of Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) in Turkey Planned Activities: Updating the WEPs booklet (in Turkish), adding a section on best practices and highlighting WEPs signatory benefits, preparing a one page WEPs info brochure and distributing these materials Preparing a WEPs Implementation Guide for the companies who have already signed WEPs or planning to sign Preparing WEPs Training Material and translating WEPs Reporting Guidelines to Turkish Organizing “Training for Trainers” for WEPs trainings (with the support of UNFPA and UN Women) Making the communication on WEPs through traditional media and social media platforms Offering mentorship to the existing WEPs signatories and potential signatories (especially SMEs) Offering coaching and counseling services to the existing WEPs signatories and potential signatories (especially SMEs) Starting a local “gender equality mapping” aiming to identify best practices, implementation challenges and requires resources Localizing the Global WEPs CEO Leadership Awards (with the support of UN Women in designing the criteria Awards to be distributed as of year 2016) Contact: Global Compact Turkiye Dr Yılmaz Arguden, Network Representative&Chairman of the Board, Global Compact Turkiye Deniz Ozturk, Advisor to the Board, Global Compact Turkiye Turkish Confederation of Employers’ Associations (TISK) Mr Ferhat Ilter, Deputy-Secretary General, TISK Ms Esra Belen, Research, Training and External Relations Expert, TISK Ms Sevgi Şairoğlu, Research, Training and External Relations Assistant Expert, TISK UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Dr Zahidul Huque, Country Representative Ms Elif Elci Carikci, Programme and Resource Mobilization Associate UN Women Regional Center for Europe and Central Asia (ECA) in Istanbul, Turkey Ms Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, Regional Director and Country Representative Ms Mehtap Tatar, Program Specialist Working Group Members*: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Accenture Adana Business Women Foundation Akỗansa Akkửk Holding AKUT - Search and Rescue Association Alvimedica Medical Technologies Aras Kargo ARGE Consulting B-fit Sports Center Bilgi University Bilim Pharmaceuticals Bilkent University Borusan Holding Boyner Holding BPW Turkey Coca-Cola ỗecek (CCI) Corporate Social Responsibility Association of Turkey Çimsa Cement Doğuş Construction Eczacıbaşı Holding Ekol Logistics Eskisehir Chamber of Commerce Family and Social Policies Ministry FIBA Holding Garanti Bank ILO JCI Avrasya JCI Istanbul Kadir Has University KAGİDER - Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey Kalite Sistem Group Keymen Pharmaceuticals Koỗ Holding Mart Group Ministry of Labour and Social Security Nilüfer Municipality, Bursa 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 Reks Reefer and Dry Container Service Sabancı Holding Sabancı Univerity-Corporate Governance Forum SEDEFED - Federation of Industrial Associations Soroptimist Turkey Sun Textile SUTEKS Textile TED University TİSK - Turkish Confederation of Employer Associations TOBB - Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey Turkcell TÜRKONFED - Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation TÜRSAB - Association of Turkish Travel Agencies TÜSİAD - Turkish Industry and Business Association UN Women UNFPA Yaşar Holding Yeşim Textile Last update on 22 November 2014 ... mail group between the Working Group members and opening a LinkedIn group account in order to announce upcoming meetings/activities related to women’s empowerment and make sure the Working Group. .. support the Working Group in communicating the Working Group meetings and activities through Global Compact website and social media Capacity Development Team (Borusan Holding, BPW Turkey, Global... Within this aim, a Working Group focusing on women’s empowerment and promoting gender equality was launched following the local Executive Board decision on May 9th, 2014 The Working Group is overseen