The Turkish minister of family and social affairs in a social media post said her ministry was working on new regulations that would allow more remote-work and hybrid-work options for women, causing raised eyebrows among women’s rights activists.
Minister Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş said they were working on more flexible employment models and daycare options for women. However, activists said such a move could result in women having to assume most care-giving duties.
One social media user said women were already disproportionately burdened with care-giving duties and that a hybrid work model would only intensify this. “If the ministry was working on a work schedule where women have one day off, that would be better,” she said in response to Özdemir Göktaş’s tweet.
Another social media user said the regulations would create an expectation that women take up more cleaning and cooking duties along with childcare. “These are not the duties of women alone, and I oppose your approach,” said the social media user.
Lawyer Sevdagül Tunçer said in a conservative society such regulations would segregate women from social life. “Women will continue to work outside the home; they will socialize and will actively take part in social life,” she said.
Pointing out that women were already undertaking most of the domestic work and care duties in Turkey, social media users said the government should work on regulations to ensure gender-equality instead.
Although Turkey is party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) of 1985 and ratified the Optional Protocol to CEDAW in 2002, gender inequality is a big problem in Turkey.
According to the 2022 Gender Gap Index of the World Economic Forum, Turkey ranks 124th among 146 countries in gender equality, 101st in educational attainment for women, 112nd in their political empowerment, 134th in economic participation and opportunity and 99th in health and survival.
According to recent data on participation in labor markets and political and economic decision-making in Turkey, women’s labor force participation rate is 35 percent, while they occupy 22 percent of company management positions, 18 percent of board memberships and 11 percent of senior executive position. Furthermore, the gender wage gap is 15 percent.
Turkey was the first country to sign (2011) and ratify (2012) the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention. On March 20, 2021 Turkey announced its withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention by a presidential decree, causing outrage among women’s rights activists and international organizations.
