This article aims to introduce its readers the main findings of a January 2022 report entitled “An Assessment of Women's Rights in Corporate Compliance Programs in Turkey”¹, which tackles the current state of gender equality in business life in Turkey. However, let's begin by defining gender equality. What is gender equality, how is it defined in literature? According to UNESCO's 2003 dated framework on Gender Mainstreaming Implementation, which has come to be accepted widely, gender equality “means that women and men have equal conditions for realizing their full human rights and for contributing to, and benefiting from, economic, social, cultural and political development. Gender equality is therefore the equal valuing by society of the similarities and the differences of men and women, and the roles they play. It is based on women and men being full partners in their home, their community and their society.”² This definition classifies gender-based discrimination as a violation of basic human rights and is accepted across the board by those concerned with women's rights.

As a signatory of the basic conventions on gender equality, in the last 20 years Turkey has introduced new legal regulations and set itself goals to ensure gender equality in many different areas. However, despite these efforts, gender inequality continues to exist as evidenced by labor force participation rates and generally in business life. Available data shows that these inequalities are highly visible.

According to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), the number of people participating in the labor force in the population over the age of 15 is 30.6 million. Of this figure, 20.9 million are men and 9.7 million are women, which means that women are represented in the labor force at about half the rate that men are. Furthermore, women spend about half the time in business that men do over their working lives. And they earn about 30% less than men during this time. The more data we look at, the more disparities we are able to list. A glance at the research results of institutions that conduct detailed comparative analyses is enough to make us even more despondent. According to the World Economic Forum 2021 Gender Equality Report, Turkey ranks 133rd in a list of 153 countries. The Gender Inequality Index of the UNDP ranks Turkey at a slightly more positive position, 66th among 162 countries. Research shows that the proportion of women in senior management and decision-making roles in private companies is around 25% and at CEO level, this ratio drops to 15%³, and these ratios include women who are on the boards of family companies. These numbers of women in management drop off sharply as the company sizes assessed become smaller.

In brief, these findings reveal that women are significantly behind men in joining, continuing, earning and rising the Turkish labor force. Why? Is this a consequence of women choosing not to work or are there other reasons that are holding them back?

Of course, gender inequality in business life is not a problem that is unique to Turkey. This problematic picture is a reflection of the global picture, but there are also reasons for the inequalities that I mentioned above that are particular to Turkey, and as such, there are things that can be done locally to address and solve these problems.

One Turkey-specific reason is the lack of public services for child and elderly care. These are responsibilities which are almost always placed on women because of the established patriarchal order. Data from research confirms this. According to a study conducted by the Ministry for Family and Social Policy⁴ in 2014, the number one reason given for why women are not working is their “domestic responsibilities as spouses”. The “Gender Based Wage Gap Measurement Turkey 2020 Report”⁵ prepared jointly by the International Labor Organization and TUIK also supports these results. According to the study, it seems that women in the 30-39 age range are exiting working life in the greatest numbers and this corresponds to the stage in their lives when they are starting families.

In addition to family and childcare, cultural tendencies also hold women back from working life. According to studies conducted at Kadir Has University and Bahçeşehir University, the proportion of women who say that they need permission from their father or spouse to work is 47%, while another 27% of women do not find their working environment to be safe.⁶

Even though it might be impossible to change cultural norms in the very short-term, the larger corporate companies in particular have a supportive role to play in ensuring equal pay and equal opportunities for promotion; also in providing child care support and a transparently accountable work environment. These measures could help detect and prevent gender inequality in business and improve overall social perceptions by breaking down existing prejudices. 

So, how seriously do companies take gender inequality in the business world in Turkey, and what do they do about it? How sincere are the initiatives and campaigns launched, how inclusive are they? The first thing to note in answering these questions is that although this issue has become increasingly popular in recent years and though many companies have placed gender equality in their corporate principles, corporate policies and initiatives on women's rights in business are not strong, comprehensive and  inclusive enough.

Approaches and implementation varies greatly depending on the financial size and structure of companies. Companies that are leading the way by implementing relatively planned policies are for the most part multinational ones headquartered abroad and large-scale domestic companies that have operations throughout Turkey. Multinational companies tend to adapt and implement head office policies to the Turkish environment. A small number of large companies of national scale combine the existing Turkish legal framework with international norms to create their own principles of diversity, inclusiveness, sustainability and a fair business environment.

Some of the companies in these two categories express their commitment to women's rights in a strong way and are on the path to tangible goals. Others, who constitute the larger portion, consider the issue of gender equality under headings like “code of conduct”, “principles of business ethics”, etc. A very important issue that needs to be emphasized here is that in cases where significant, goal-oriented, transparent prioritization of principles of accountability is not apparent from the outset, the issue of gender equality is usually reduced to the level of a social responsibility project and becomes a mere public relations exercise.

For many companies operating beyond a certain economic scale, resorting to the rhetoric of diversity, inclusion, sustainability is viewed as aspirational brand image production and is part of an effort to appear progressive to public audiences. Though well intentioned, without clear and measurable goals, without establishing accountability mechanisms and without taking into consideration the differences within a given company, implementing these statements on fair practices is left to the discretion of senior management. In other words, these efforts will reach as far as the limits of global and national dynamics combined with personal motivation permit, but at the end of the day they will not lead to established corporate rules.

According to the available data from a study entitled “As Women Shine in Business”⁷, by the Mercer group, the Professional Women's Network and PERYÖN, of the 68 companies surveyed, 94% stated that they work towards diversity and inclusion, but when more detailed questions were posed, only 34% of these companies said that they have long-term and written rules. The proportion of employees of these companies in terms of diversity, inclusion and sustainability issues remained at 15%. Looking at these figures, it is difficult to say that the principles of diversity and inclusion, including gender equality, are fully applied in Turkish corporates.

Although there are few promising examples ex-Istanbul, the issue appears to be dependent on the individual in question and is being handled on a kind of voluntary basis at the distributors and business partners of national companies and small and medium-sized businesses. Some large companies that take the issue of gender equality more seriously are providing support, education, awareness-raising and incentive practices to women distributors. But when there are no mechanisms to compel, monitor and, most importantly, support implementation; or where these mechanisms are deficient, this process can become either arbitrary, or lacking in continuity, or gets blocked by the market’s competitive conditions. For example, a medium-sized company has to bear the “cost” of a flexible working opportunity that female employees are entitled to by law, and in cases where they want to provide additional postpartum rights. If there is a central office, or if it receives subsidies, the task becomes easier. In the absence of support, small and medium size companies (SME) will usually prefer profitability over rights.

The legal framework in Turkey protects women's rights in business life, and has been described by some as being “even ahead of the Nordic countries”. Women's rights lawyers, on the other hand, point out that there are gaps in the laws and a lack of follow-up in practice, and this situation always works against the woman. For example, the issue of flexible working is given by experts as an obvious example specific to the subject; because when the cost of the right to flexible working hours is borne by the employer, flexibility actually works against the woman: because companies that do not want to incur this cost will cease to hire women. A second example of this is nursery care at the workplace. The current law is based on the number of female employees in a company mandating the giving of nursery care: the obligation for companies to do so caps female employee numbers at 150, beyond which the company must provide on-site care. The implementation of this law among companies that are actually obliged to do so is also very limited. Most companies prefer to provide women with monetary nursery assistance instead of opening actual nurseries, and this amount is usually insufficient. In the end, many women have to take a career break or abandon their work altogether to care for their children.

Workplace mobbing and harassment is a topic that deserves a whole article devoted to it. Turkey's labor code gives the woman’s statement primacy, but if there are no institutionally arranged anonymous complaint lines or if written ethics committee principles have not been put in place, female employees are often unable to express the harassment they experience out of concern that they will be “excluded”. Many larger companies have implemented ethics boards or have an independent complaints mechanism, however, at SME's and companies that employ a majority of blue-collar workers even though the law protects women, it becomes very difficult to raise their voices to upset social or company balances. If a woman employee does not have her family's support or sufficient financial means, registering a complaint is pretty much impossible! There are initiatives in this space and voluntary support exists, but it is essential that these are transformed into sustainable mechanisms.

Women's rights and gender equality in business life is a topic that non-governmental organizations and social enterprises are very interested in. An expert interviewed as part of the research conducted used the phrase “this is a crowded area” to describe women's rights in business. Kagider, Turkishwin, HeForShe, Global Compact, The 30 Percent Club, Women's Association on Board of Directors, TEID, YenidenBiz, Sabancı Corporate Governance Forum, Kadem, PERYÖN, Professional Women's Network are just some of the names operating in this area. Some are working on raising awareness starting from university levels, some are mentoring female executive candidates, others are setting goals for companies, providing training and certificates. It is not possible to state that they are ineffective. The target-oriented studies, training and support programs are undoubtedly having a positive contribution to this space in which many problems are highlighted.

However, the names and circles that are active in this “crowded” area are actually limited. The civil society initiatives in question are often centered around the same people and groups. And the most important thing is that most of these initiatives are not geographically and sociologically inclusive. Although there are exceptions, most of these civil society initiatives specializing in women's rights at work are aimed at urban, secular, white-collar women working in the private sector, representing a certain sociological group that already has a relatively high social status. In summary, they act within a limited sociological envisioning. To give an example, an expert interviewed for the above-mentioned research stated that the rights of women in headscarves in working life are “pushed to one side” and “lack visibility” by both employers and civil society. This reveals the truth that existing implementations could be more inclusive.

In summary, efforts are being made by both through law, by companies and civil society to ensure gender equality in business life in Turkey. Companies that take their business seriously make a difference, at least within their own institutions. There are those that inspire, make you smile when you listen to, adopt promising policies, but they are few in number. This problem needs to be addressed by a much wider segment of the private sector in Turkey. It is necessary to promote practices not only at central offices, but also in the many different regions of Turkey, to observe sociological diversity, to create monitoring mechanisms without waiting for the audit process to be carried out by government agencies.

On the other hand, it's not enough to simply address gender equality: initiatives need to be inclusive, sincere, goal-oriented and transparent. The private sector must bear a great deal of the burden, and decision-makers and practitioners must assume responsibility. It is not sufficient to enact laws; it is necessary to create monitoring and supervision mechanisms, ensure their implementation, activate pressure mechanisms when these are not implemented, initiate incentives as soon as possible, resolutely and consistently raise this issue so that gender inequality gap in business life can begin to close.

Otherwise, when we celebrate March 8 by listening to elaborate speeches, promises will be made, we will be pleased with what we are hearing, and next year, the year after and the year after that, we will be continuing to talk about gender inequality at the same point as today, without moving forward.

¹In January 2022, the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), an NGO based in Washington DC, published a report entitled "An Assessment of Women's Rights in Corporate Compliance Programs in Turkey". 26 experts and company representatives were interviewed for the report, resulting in a comprehensive assessment of the ongoing gender inequalities in corporate working life in Turkey. This article is based on the results of this research and the main findings of the interviews. You can read the full report in this link: https://www.cipe.org/resources/an-assessment-of-womens-rights-in-corporate-compliance-programs-in-turkey/
²http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/BSP/GENDER/PDF/1.%20Baseline%20Definitions%20of%20key%20gender-related%20concepts.pdf
³For the Women Matter research conducted by TÜSİAD and McKinsey that includes data collected from 102 major companies and 240,000 white collar employees: https://www.mckinsey.com/tr/our-insights/women-matter-turkiye-2016
⁴You can read the full report released by the Ministry for Family and Social Policy in 2014 in this link: https://www.aile.gov.tr/uploads/ksgm/uploads/pages/dagitimda-olan-yayinlar/turkiye-de-kadin-isgucu-profili-ve-istatistiklerinin-analizi-nihai-rapor.pdf
⁵You can read the full version of the “Gender Based Wage Gap Measurement: Turkey 2020 Report” prepared jointly by the International Labor Organization and TUIK in this link: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---europe/---ro-geneva/---ilo-ankara/documents/publication/wcms_756659.pdf
⁶http://www.skdturkiye.org/esit-adimlar/yakin-plan/toplumsal-cinsiyet-ve-kadin-algisi-arastirmasi-2018; http://www.skdturkiye.org/esit-adimlar/yakin-plan/hangi-kadinlar-isgucu-piyasasindan-cikiyor
⁷https://www.mercer.com.tr/rapor-makale-arastirma/kadinlar-is-dunyasinda-parladikca-2020-turkiye-raporu.html

Illustration: Mary Long's illustration was used via Shutterstock's license.