Turkey hits bottom in OECD gender equality

[Petros Houhoulis]

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/tur...&NewsCatID=339

Turkey hits bottom in OECD gender equality

ISTANBUL


‘Turkey is still the lowest performing country from the OECD on the overall Index,’ reads the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Gender Gap 2014 report.


Turkey has shown slight improvement in narrowing its wide gender gap, though it still languishes in the lower reaches of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2014, published on Oct. 28.

Turkey ranked 125th out of 142 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report 2014, though a 5.7 percent improvement on its overall score has been measured since the report was first published in 2006, and a 1 percent improvement has been made since 2013.

Turkey had ranked 120th out of 136 countries in last year’s report, and Turkey dropped five places this year despite a 1 percent overall increase between 2013 and 2014. This could be explained by taking into account the rise in the number of countries observed.

The WEF, which organizes the high-powered annual Davos summit, aims to measure the relative gaps between women and men across the areas of health, education, economic participation and political empowerment in its annual Global Gender Report.

Since the WEF first started measuring the gender gap in 2006 “the world has seen only a small improvement in equality for women in the workplace,” according to its press release.

The gender gap for economic participation and opportunity is at 60 percent worldwide, while this figure was 56 percent in 2006, according to the report. “Based on this trajectory, with all else remaining equal, it will take 81 years for the world to close this gap completely,” it added.

In 2014, among the 49 countries in the high-income group, the Nordic countries led the way, while Turkey is among the lowest ranked of the 40 countries in the upper-middle income group.

“Turkey has experienced a steady improvement of its overall score since 2011. Compared to 2006, all of its sub-index scores have improved. Yet, Turkey is still the lowest performing country from the OECD on the overall Index; and it is the lowest performing country from the region on the economic participation and opportunity sub-index, ranking 132nd. The country ranks 128th overall on the labor force participation indicator and is part of the 20 lowest-ranked countries on the legislators, senior officials and managers’ indicator,” reads the report’s analysis on Turkey.

Nordic countries top the list

There is no country that has closed the overall gender gap, though the Nordic countries remain the most gender-equal societies in the world.

Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark top the list respectively, whereas Yemen is at rock-bottom, a rank at which the country has remained since the beginning of the measurements in 2006. Rwanda, which entered the list for the first time in this year’s report, is at 7th in the list, whereas the United States climbed three places to 20 in 2014.

In 125th place, Turkey holds the lowest spot from the Europe and Central Asia region, which includes 46 countries. Twelve of the countries from this region occupy the top 20 positions, with Germany ranking 12th and France 16th, a great leap from 45th place in 2013.

Israel is the highest-placed country from the Middle East and North Africa region at 65, followed by Kuwait at 113.
October/29/2014

[Faklon]

Violence against women in Turkey still a problem despite women's rights movement

Female activists, public figures and politicians gathered on Saturday in İstanbul's Şişli district to discuss the growing issue of women in the country being subjected to abuse by their husbands.

Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Sedef Küçük spoke to the audience, saying, “We have been living through the nightmare of the AKP [Justice and Development Party (AK Party)] for 12 years.” She went on to remind the audience about some of the injustices towards women that have been perpetrated by the AK Party since it came to power. Many speakers at the conference reiterated that women were criticized by members of AK Party for laughing and even blamed women when they fell victim to rape.

Küçük stressed the importance of women not remaining quiet in these matters of injustice and said only if women speak will change and progress occur. Many of the speakers at the conference also highlighted the incompetent efforts of Family and Social Policy Minister Ayşenur İslam, a conclusion they came to due to the high numbers of women murdered every year by men in Turkey. According to the latest report on violence against women by bianet.com, in 2014, male perpetrators left 235 women killed, 88 raped, 499 battered and 95 sexually harassed.

Another speaker at the conference stressed that women who suffer violence at the hands of their husbands do not have the government's protection, saying that in all of Turkey there are only 70 shelters for women, and only eight women's shelters in İstanbul, a city of nearly 15 million people.

A recent incident that was reported in the Turkish media, causing shock and controversy, is the case of successful Bloomberg news anchor Kübra Eken, who allegedly suffered a stroke due to the abuse of her husband, Neptün Eken. The anchorwoman, who gave birth to her son on June 20, 2013, was hospitalized two days later after having suffered a stroke. Her family visited her at the hospital, under the impression that their daughter's health was in serious danger due to her caesarean section, as they were told so by her husband. It was two months later when the mother of the victim spoke with the surgeon that he informed them that the new mother had in fact been beaten. According to the Cihan news agency, the doctor asked the family, “Were you unaware that your daughter was battered?”

The news anchor was unconscious for some time but when she was finally able to give her statement to the police, she admitted that her husband had abused her. She communicated this by using the alphabet to help her express herself and answer questions, due to her inability to speak. She said her husband had hit her in the head, using his hand, four times. When asked whether she had previously been battered by him, she replied, 'No'.”

Her mother, Nuran Yelkenci, shared her perspective on the matter, saying: “They couldn't get along after they got married; they even went to a psychologist together. Kübra would share a lot with her friends and we knew too [that the couple experienced problems], but we did not know the details. We only learned after through their Facebook messages that they were right on the brink of separating when she became pregnant. Her husband had said, ‘Just give birth, then leave!'”

A lawsuit has been brought against her husband at the Anadolu Courthouse. He denies the allegations.

Many of the Turkish media's reports highlight how shocking the incident was because Eken is an educated, successful career woman, while the image of women suffering violence at the hands of their husbands is often seen to only be those who are financially dependent and uneducated.

In another case that surfaced on Monday, a man in İzmit murdered his two wives. According to allegations, 33-year-old Levent S. had one wife, 33-year-old Fadime Ser, recognized by the state, and an additional wife, 20-year-old İnci Ateş, whom he married in an illegal religious ceremony. The two women were living in the same house with their shared husband until Monday, when an argument broke out due to unknown reasons and Levent S. lost control and shot his two wives. Ateş was found dead at the scene whereas Fadime Ser was taken to Seka State Hospital and later died there despite doctors' efforts. Levent S. had previously spent time in jail after being found guilty for wounding a man.

Zeynep Karataş (Cihan/Today's Zaman)